Magha
Magha (c. 8th century CE) was a Sanskrit poet who lived under King Varmalata in Srimala in present day Rajasthan. His Mahakavya Shishupalavadham in twenty cantos is based on the Mahabharata episode of the slaying of the defiant king Shishupala by Krishna.
In the Indian tradition, Magha is recognized as one of the greatest poets of Sanskrit. Indian tradition speaks of the sweet melody of the words of Dandin, the profoundest thoughts in the words of Bharavi and the similes of Kalidasa; in Magha, all the three are combined. It is even said that in the first half of Shishupalavadham, Magha has exhausted the vocabulary of Sanskrit.
Shishupalavadham has been esteemed as one of the most important pieces of poetry in Sanskrit. Magha attempts to excel Bharavi in each one of the devices of poetic subtlety. Though Magha has drawn the material for this epic from Mahabharata, even so he is not entirely dependant on the legend as it appears in the grand epic. His main interest lies in descriptions and sketches.
In the selection of similes Magha has been as original as possible. Thus he compares the drops of sweat of Balarama’s body, that became reddish on account of his anger towards his enemy, with the stars that appear in the red sky of the evening (Shishupalavadham, 2.18). He excels in the play of words and especially in the usage of words having two meanings. In Canto 16, a messenger of Shishupala delivers a message to Krishna that is purposely so worded so as to bear two meanings—the same stanzas offer a humble apology expressed in courteous words and constitute an impudent declaration of war simultaneously (Shishupalavadham, 16.2). In this epic we also find a good number of verses displaying Magha’s knowledge of nitishastra or science of life and politics. At one place he says:
Not exclusively on Fate,
Not wholly on his own manhood,
Does a wise man depend absolutely,
But upon both of them, he does rely equally,
Like a good poet, on both, word and meaning. (Shishupalavadham, 2.86)Canto 19 is entirely devoted to the display of the most complicated devices of poetry. Here, one finds a lot of verses that give a second meaning when read from below or from right to left. The Indian scholars of poetics have always held him in high esteem by quoting him frequently in the manuals of poetics.
(Compiled and presented by Dr. Sampadananda Mishra, Sanskrit Research Coordinator, Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry)