Bhasa: A Literary Rebel of the Ancient World

In 1912, the discovery of a codex of palm leaf manuscripts in a small town in Kerala set off a sensation in the Indian literary world. It would be described by commentators and scholars as “the most important event in 20th century Sanskrit literary scholarship“. And this discovery was connected with someone called ‘Bhasa’, a name unknown to most Indians.

Mahakavi Kalidas (5th century CE), Ban-Bhatta (7th century CE) and Dandin (8th century CE) are some of the big names in the world of ancient classical Sanskrit literature. But all these literary giants revered one man as one of the greatest kavis (poets) of all time. This was Bhasa, one of the most elusive and enigmatic poets of ancient India.