Kshemendra Vyasadasa. "Foundations of True Ethics". /Intro., Tr. from Sanskrit and Commentaries by M. I. Mikhailov. The book is a part of a larger research project initiated by Professor I. D. Serebryakov (Moscow) on occasion of the birth millenary (which can be placed approximately at 1995--2000) of Kshemendra, the Kashmirian medieval versatile genius, polymath and prolific writer of the XIth century, who occupies a unique place in Sanskrit Literature with his numerous narrative, didactic and satiric poems, several works on Poetics and Metrics, versified abstracts of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Gunadhya’s Brihatkatha, Buddhist Avadanas, the Bana’s Kadambari and the Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra. Kshemendra was a well-known figure in the literary circle of his time. Nowadays, at least a dozen of his works have been translated into six Indian languages and four European languages. The project embraces translation and study of select poems of Kshemendra and philosophical commentaries to the Shaiva ethical manuals signed “Kshemaraja”. This book contains apart from the prose and metrical translations of the most famous and popular didactic and satiric poems of Kshemendra, such as “Caru-carya-shataka”, “Catur-varga-sangraha”, “Darpa-dalana”, “Kala-vilasa” and “Sevya-sevakopadesha”, an extensive Introduction, which gives sketches of the history of Kashmir and of Sanskrit satiric and didactic literature (with full attention to the selected poems). It classifies also main works and analyses the ethical and aesthetic ideas of the poet. The selection is motivated by the topicality of the poems, which were composed with the pious intention of reforming the society. The poet states more than once that his satire is not merely for the sake of satire, but for the sake of moral regeneration of the country. He detected, classified and ridiculed unlawful occupations, ignoble manners, antisocial customs, multifarious forms of hypocrisy, sham and loop-holes. Finally, his Carucarya, Caturvargasangraha, Canto X of the Kalavilasa and Sevyasevakopadesha may be perused for the ethical ideals advanced by Kshemendra for his compatriots. The analysis of the poetical implications is based on original Sanskrit writings by Kshemendra-Kshemaraja treated in the context of the precedent tradition of the Vedic, Tantric and Buddhist ethics epitomized in dharma- and niti-shastras and modern investigations. An attempt is made to substantiate our contemporary search for rediscovering the world cultural history and for promulgating spiritual cosmology and integrated and synergistic ethical view of life from a background of a comparative Sanskrit Study. The aim of the Introduction, which starts from the assumption that the original significance of the Kshemendra’s ethics lies in its encyclopaedic character, is to justify the contemporary relevance of unfolding the interconnections of this basic feature of the ancient Indo-European educational tradition carefully preserved in Sanskrit cultural milieu. The study of Kshemendra’s ideas made with special reference to Vedas or cryptic sutras of knowledge (Veda simply means “knowledge”), Puranas, Itihasas, Dharmashastaras, Tantras, Kavyas is to fill a serious gap in Russian and Belarusian historical, literary, ethical and sociological investigations, tending to become a comprehensive, yet at the same time, highly specific research, centred in a concrete figure of world-wide renown, whose multiple synopses of the most eminent Sanskrit literary opuses serve as a kind of prism for the better understanding of the most complicated problems of the ancient mythological cosmology, ethics, aesthetics and pedagogy. It is emphasised in the commentaries that this study is not only an attempt to establish Kshemendra on the Russian cultural stage, but also is an approach to the more adequate understanding of the Indo-European educational tradition and its main sources such as the Vedas. Specifically, the mythological commentaries, which are exceptionally dense in the case of “Caru-carya-shataka”, contains a lot of observations and even some calculations, which may be useful in the reconstruction of the basic chronological and calendar concepts of the Aryans. A comparison of Sanskrit and Russian/Belarusian words was not once utilised as an illustration of cultural affinities and also as a tool for capturing the innermost spirit of Sanskrit language. Curiously enough, Belarusians have preserved despite many historical vicissitudes (Belarus’ was never occupied by Huns, Mongolian Tartars, or Turks, though) not only the very word “Veda” in the sense of “science”, but the broad scientific outlook as well.

Sincere gratitude to everyone, who will support this project in a pertinent way!!!

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