Daṇḍin

Life

Daṇḍin's account of his life in Avantisundari-katha-sara states that he was a great-grandson of Dāmodara, a court poet from Achalapura who served, among others, the Pallava king Siṃhaviṣṇu and the Ganga king Durvinīta. Avanti-sundari-katha-sara is the verse version of Avanti-sundari-katha, a prose text attributed to Daṇḍin: it is mostly faithful to the original text, but the original text states that Damodara was a distinct poet, whom Bharavi introduced to prince Vishnuvardhana.

Yigal Bronner, a scholar of Sanskrit poetry, concludes that 'These details all suggest that Daṇḍin’s active career took place around 680–720 CE under the auspices of Narasiṃhavarman II. Daṇḍin was widely praised as a poet by Sanskrit commentators such as Rajashekhara (fl. 920 CE), and his works are widely studied. One shloka (hymn) that explains the strengths of different poets says: दण्डिन: पदलालित्यम् (daṇḍinaḥ padalālityaṃ: "Daṇḍin is the master of playful words").

In his Avantisundarikatha, Dandin, a poet associated with the Pallava court at Kanchipuram, refers to the Pallavas and their territory of Thondainadu as Dramila (Tamil). The term occurs more than once in the work.

David Shulman notes that the Dandin describes a story as being located in dravidesu, which he interprets as referring to the Tamil country. Shulman also notes the use of the term drāviḍa-dharmika (“Dravida ascetic”) as a recurring motif in Sanskrit narratives.