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| Abhinavagupta - the Great King of Kashmir (950 -1030 CE) | | | Sh. Nikhil Gupta
It is known that great Kashmiri King Lalitaditya had enlarged his kashmiri kingdom upto Gangetic plains of India and defeated and killed King Yashovarman in 8th century of the common era CE and after this defeat by kashmiri King Lalitaditya, no trace of Yashovarman line is found. It is possible that the remote ancestor of the great kashmiri scholar Abhinavagupta i.e. Atrigupta was a great warrior and scholar in the time of kashmiri king Lalitaditya and rendered huge help to the war effort of King Lalitaditya and after victory over Yashovarman, King Lalitaditya rewarded Atrigupta with a huge house and jagir on the banks of river Vitasta (Jhelum) in Kashmir. In this way the lineage of Abhinavagupta the Great may have started in Kashmir. It is wrong to assume every scholar or intelligent personality as brahmin whereas Abhinavagupta himself mentions about warriors of Kashmir who were highly intelligent thus indirectly referring to kshatriya castes. Further Gotra cannot determine the caste since same gotra can be there for different people from different castes and thus it is wrong to assume that remote ancestor of Abhinavagupta i.e. Atrigupta was a brahmin of some gotra as he could well have been a kshatriya of that same gotra. Further kashmiri hindu King Lalitaditya’s elder brother King Chandrapida was said to have been killed by a brahmin by witchcraft since King Chandrapaida had earlier severly punished a brahmin for killing another brahmin vide Rajatarangini of Kalhana Prabhu who himself was either from kshatriya caste or kayastha caste as can be judged by his Prabhu surname . Both King Chandrapida and King Lalitaditya were powerful kings of Kashmir and were recognized by the Chinese kings of that time. Since King Lalitaditya was a kshatriya warrior who spent most of his life in battles in defeating Tibetans or Gangetic kings of India and warriors respect warriors and it is more likely that Abhinavagupta’s remote ancestor Atrigupta was a warrior kshatriya rather than a brahmin and may be due to his battle help or logistic help rendered to King Lalitaditya and his subsequent reward , he came to Kashmir . There is good example of sage Vishvamitra of kshatriya caste who had to face huge opposition from sage Vashistha and after good amount of penance sage Vishvamitra was assumed to be brahmin whereas the later writers have referred sage Vishvamitra as kshatriya only. Abhinavagupta the Great has written a beautiful commentary on Bhagwat Gita and has explained the Kshatriya as the one who embraces his inevitable duty in the context of battle aligned with dharma. The great Abhinavagupta mentions about his Gupta ancestors in two of his world famous monumental works namely Tantraloka and Paratrimsika vivarna.
In any case it is totally correct to say that Atrigupta and his line in Kashmir was a Gupta clan since great Abhinavagupta himself gives names of his ancestors from Atrigupta to Varahagupta to Narsimhagupta to Abhinavagupta and for more than 200 years this Gupta clan was there in Kashmir. This scholarly Gupta clan in kashmir could be of kshatriyas who were also scholars of Sanskrit grammer and kashmiri Shaivism.
In ninth and tenth centuries CE there were large number of Guptas living in Kashmir and in adjoining areas and most of the Guptas at that time were great warriors and belonged to kshatriya caste. There was a local kashmiri kshatriya Gupta dynasty of Kashmir that ruled kashmir from 948 – 1003 CE. The Guptas of medieval Kashmir, caste wise were kshatriyas and had nothing to do with merchant vaisya class or with religious brahmin class. The region of Kashmir came under diarchy of British and Dogra Rajputs after Sikhs were defeated around 1850 CE by British and a state of Jammu and Kashmir was carved and permanent British Residents posted in both Jammu and Kashmir. Before 19th century CE there was no Rajput rule in Kashmir region and Kashmir was ruled by her own kshatriya communities till about 14th century CE.
The Gupta Kings of Kashmir built many Temples in Kashmir. King Parvagupta built atleast two temples - Parvagupteshwara Temple on the right bank of river Jhelum near 6th bridge and a temple of Yashkaraswamin. King Kshemagupta built atleast three temples – he destroyed Buddhist Jyendra Vihara and made his temple Kshemagaurishvara, another temple dedicated to God Varaha in Varahamula (modern Baramulla) and third temple in village of Bumazuv (Matan in Srinagar) and this last temple was Bhimakesava Temple built by King Bhima Shahi of Kabul ( Afganistan) when Kashmir was under the rule of King Kshemagupta . The Gupta kingdom’s Didda Rani built sixty four temples . She built town of Abhimanyupura (present day Bemina in Srinagar) and a temple in the name of her son King Abhimanyugupta. She built Kankanapura (present Kangan village ) . She built many temples of God Vishnu also. Thus the Gupta kings built many temples all over Kashmir but it is very difficult to trace them now as Kashmir saw huge destruction of sanatan hindu Temples in later period.
Coming back to Abhinavagupta - the Great: He is one of the most profound and keenest minds that India has ever known. Even today after more than 1000 years his poetical and philosophical theories hold their ground . Abhinavagupta in renowned work of Malinivijayavarttika is referred as Kashmiriko Abhinavagupta, Shriman Abhinavagupta Natha Surya and Shriman Abhinavagupta Natha Chandra. The work of Gurunathaparamarsa is an eulogy on Abhinavagupta including poetic eulogy and it refers to the tradition that the teachers and Yoginis once met and made Abhinavagupta the sole head and respository of the entire Saiva teaching in Kashmir. In the work of Anuttarasrigurupahktiparamarsa, a list of Pratyabhijna Saivism teachers namely Utpala, Laksmanagupta, Abhinavagupta, Ksemaraja and Sura are mentioned. At the end of the monumental work of Paratrimsika, the great Gupta Abhinavagupta gives his geneology thus “The Kutastha (remote ancestor) is Atrigupta; Abhinavagupta’s’s father is Narsimhagupta and grandfather is Varahagupta. “ Nowhere the great Abhinavagupta calls himself as brahmin but he definitely calls himself Gupta . Later writers mentioned him as Dvija ( twice born ) and it is well known that dvija can be anyone from kshatriya , brahmin and vaisya . Still later on the 20th century CE writers just assumed Abhinavagupta as brahmin since he wrote perfect sanskrit and used very difficult sanskrit vocabulary but it is known that Abhinavagupta’s father Narsimhagupta himself was a teacher of sanskrit grammer who taught his son about usage of sanskrit . Not only Abhinavagupta but the King Lalitaditya is also now claimed by some brahmins which is wrong . It is mentioned in the Sanskrit text of the Satapatha-brahmana vide Verse 5.1.1.12 that “ unsuited for kingship is the brahmana “ . In modern India many castes have started claiming historical Kings as their own without any basis. King Suheldev is now claimed by Rajput caste ( general), Passi (dalit community) and Rajbhar caste ( OBC) . Brahmin and Peasant/Farmer communities are now claiming various kings. Another King Mihir Bhoja is bone of contention between Rajput caste and Gurjer caste. This should end as the Greats like Abhinavagupta belong to all humanity and they are above castes. In his monumental Tantraloka, the great Abhinavagupta says that there is no conceptual construct such as caste in the true nature of Conciousness and that the caste construct actually veils one’s nature with an extrinsic identity. Thus he opens spirituality to all the castes and for him the realization with Bhairava Saiva can be attained by all castes since it is the inner spiritual thing and not outside veil like caste. Like Abhinavagupta the spiritual masters and the bhakti saints of India emphasized on purity of soul for inner realization of Saiva Bhairava and rejected outside veil of castes . Like Abhinavagupta the bhakti saints also mentioned internal life spring on the internal royal highway where the soul transcends to the inner spiritual path. On the Dvija or twice born the Abhinavagupta says that one becomes Dvija only when one attains Saivahood spiritually.
Abhinavagupta’s lineage starts from Atrigupta and after gap of about 150 years : Abhinavagupta’s’s father is Narsimhagupta and grandfather is Varahagupta. Further it is known that Manorathagupta was brother of Abhinavagupta. Two more members of Abhinavagupta’s family are known from his works. One is Abhinavagupta’s paternal uncle, Vamanagupta, a poet whose verses are quoted by great Abhinavagupta. The other name is Yasoragagupta who was Abhinavagupta’s father’s (Narsimhagupta’s) maternal grandfather. Four cousin brothers of Abhinavagupta were Ksema, Utpala, Chakraka and Padmagupta. All of them including Manorathagupta were highly educated and devoted to Saiva bhakti. This Gupta clan of scholars in Kashmir in the 10th century was just awesome. Till now about 248 manuscripts composed around 41 granthas or huge works of the exceptional mind of the great Abhinavagupta have been found. Through his great monumental works Abhinavagupta opened spirituality and God realization to all the castes and to all the humanity. But strangely he was forgotten in Kashmir and also in India. Kalhana Prabhu failed to mention about Abhinavagupta in his Rajatarangini . Only in 14th century CE a scholar mentioned Abhinavagupta and then very late in 20th century CE another scholar Swami Chaitanya mentioned him. After this many Sanskrit manuscripts of Abhinavagupta were found and thus we know about kashmiriko - Abhinavagupta the Great who wrote his initial works around 985 CE and completed later works by 1014-15 CE. Afterwards he immersed himself in meditation and spiritual endeavors. In his honour some place should be earmarked in Kashmir as he proudly called himself a Kashmiriko and it is proposed that Srinagar airport may be named as Abhinavagupta airport. Some say Abhinavagupta was avatara of Sheshnaga while some say he was Bhairava incarnate. Let us all pray and seek his divine blessings.
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