Kaviraj

This article is about the title of honor. For the lyricist in Kannada cinema, see Kaviraj (lyricist).

Kaviraj (or Rajkavi, Kaviraja) is a title of honor, which was given to poets and litterateurs attached to royal courts in medieval India.[1][2] Eminent Charans who were inducted into the royal courts due to their literary merit as royal poets and historians were given the rank of Kaviraja (King of Poets). Such Charans assumed positions of great influence in the medieval polity.[3][4][5] Few well known people are Kaviraja Shyamaldas, Kaviraja Bankidas, etc.[6] The descendants of such persons also started using the surname, Kaviraj.

The surname is usually found in people of Gujarat, Rajasthan, etc. One of the community where this surname is often found is Charan, who were the State poets & historians in the Rajput kingdoms of these regions.

  1. ^ [1] Report on the antiquities in the Bidar and Aurangabad districts:in the territories of His Highness the Nizam of Haidarabad, being the result of the third season's operations of the Archæological survey of Western India, 1875-76
  2. ^ [2] SELECTIONS FRM[clarification needed] THE RECORDS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 1884
  3. ^ Rao, Velcheru Narayana; Nārāyaṇarāvu, Vēlcēru; Shulman, David Dean; Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (2003). Textures of Time: Writing History in South India 1600-1800. Other Press. ISBN 978-1-59051-044-5. Charans came to be instructed not only in oral recitation and memorisation but also in such subjects as religion and astrology, at times being accepted into royal courts with the titles of Kaviraja or Barhat ('Guardian of the Gate').
  4. ^ Ziegler, Norman P. (1976). "The Seventeenth Century Chronicles of Mārvāṛa: A Study in the Evolution and Use of Oral Traditions in Western India". History in Africa. 3: 127–153. doi:10.2307/3171564. ISSN 0361-5413. JSTOR 3171564. S2CID 156943079. A few of the most prestigious Caranas were also accepted in the royal darbars ("courts"), attaining the rank of Kaviraja or "court-laureate" and assuming positions of great influence because of the power of their words.
  5. ^ Ziegler, Norman P. (April 1976). "Marvari Historical Chronicles: Sources for the Social and Cultural History of Rajasthan". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 13 (2): 219–250. doi:10.1177/001946467601300204. ISSN 0019-4646. S2CID 144835701.
  6. ^ Hooja, Rima (2006). A History of Rajasthan. Rupa & Company. ISBN 978-81-291-0890-6. Kaviraj Shyamaldas, later author of the well-known history of Mewar called the Vir Vinod, was appointed to look after this library. It was during Maharana Sajjan Singh's reign that Shyamaldas wrote the major part of his now-renowned history of Mewar. The title of 'Kaviraj', or 'King of Poets', was bestowed on Shyamaldas for his skills.