Kalhana (Sanskrit: कल्हण|translit=kalhaṇa) was the author of Rajatarangini (River of Kings), an account of the history of Kashmir. He wrote the work in Sanskrit between 1148 and 1149.[1] All information regarding his life has to be deduced from his own writing, a major scholar of which is Mark Aurel Stein.
Kalhana was born in a Hindu Brahmin family to a Kashmiri minister, Chanpaka, who probably served king Harsha of the Lohara dynasty.[2] It is possible that his birthplace was Parihaspore and his birth would have been very early in the 12th century. The introductory verses to each of the eight Books in his Rajatarangini are prefaced with prayers to Shiva, a Hindu deity. In common with many Hindus in Kashmir at that time, he was also sympathetic to Buddhism, and Buddhists tended to reciprocate this feeling towards Hindus.[3] Even in relatively modern times, Buddha's birthday has been a notable event for Kashmiri Brahmins and well before Kalhana's time Buddha had been accepted by Hindus as an avatar of Vishnu.[4]
Kalhana was familiar with earlier epics such as the Vikramankadevacharita of Bilhana, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, to all of which he alludes in his own writings.[5] However, his own writings did not employ what Stein has described as "the very redundant praise and flattery which by custom and literary tradition Indian authors feel obliged to bestow on their patrons". From this comes Stein's deduction that Kalhana was not a part of the circle surrounding Jayasimha, the ruling monarch at the time when he was writing the Rajatarangini.[6]