Somadeva

Somadeva
Language	Sanskrit

Somadeva was an 11th century CE writer from Kashmir. He was the author of a famous compendium of Indian legends, fairy tales and folk tales - the Kathasaritsagara.

Not much is known about him except that his father's name was Rama and he composed his work (probably during the years 1063-81 CE) for the entertainment of the queen Suryamati, a princess of Jalandhara and wife of King Ananta of Kashmir. The queen was quite distraught as it was a time when the political situation in Kashmir was 'one of discontent, intrigue, bloodshed and despair'.

Though he was a Shaiva Brahmin, he was respectful of Buddhism and some of the tales in the Kathasaritsagara show Buddhist influences.

References

• The Katha Sarit Sagara, or Ocean of the Streams of Story, Translated by C.H.Tawney, 1880

External links

• Works by Somadeva Bhatta at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Somadeva Bhatta at Internet Archive
• Works by Somadeva at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Somadeva Bhaṭṭa at Library of Congress, with 43 library catalogue records
• Template:Worldcat id