Nava-sahasanka-charita (IAST: Nava-sāhasānka-carita, "the biography of the New Sahasanka") is a Sanskrit-language epic poem written by the Paramara court poet Padmagupta, who lived in 10th-11th century.
It is fantasy re-telling of the exploits of the Paramara king Sindhuraja, who bore the title Nava-sahasanka, and ruled the Malwa region in central India.
The deer escapes to its owner, the Naga princess Shashiprabha, who sees the hero's title "Nava-Sahasanka" written on the arrow.
Shashiprabha's father has decided to marry her to the man who brings him a golden lotus in the possession of the demon king Vajrankusha.
Sindhuraja goes on a campaign against Vajrankusha, guided by the river goddess Narmada and sage Vanku, and supported by the Naga warrior Ratnachuda and the vidyadhara leader Shashikhanda.
[1] Padmagupta was a courtier of the epic's subject, the Paramara king Sindhuraja (r. c. 990s), who ruled the Malwa region in central India.
According to it, Vasistha, in a dispute over Kamadhenu, created the ancient non-Aryan tribes of the Sakas, Pahlavas, and Kambojas to fight Visvamitra.
[6] Written in the Vaidarbhi style, Nava-sahasanka-charita does not feature long compounds or heavy alliteration, except in the description of the battle in Canto 12.
After the animal disappears into the forest, Sindhuraja's minister Ramangada (alias Yahsobhata) advises the king to avoid the hot sun at the noon, and get some rest.
The men follow a track marked by blood drops, and see goose flying with a pearl necklace in its beak.
In Canto 5, Patala tells him that Shashiprabha is a Nāga princess, who is more beautiful than goddesses and nymphs, and her father Shankha-pala rules from the kingdom's capital Bhogavati.
[9] Patala also tells Sindhuraja that the deer shot by him belonged to Shashiprabha, and the princess had fallen in love with him after seeing the name "Nava-Sahasanka" on the arrow.
[10] In Canto 6, Shashiprabha's companion Malayavati tells her that Nava-Sahasanka is a handsome and skilled king of Avanti, and would make an ideal husband for her.
[11] In Canto 8, Sindhuraja's meeting with Shashiprabha ends abruptly, when a voice instructs the princess to return to her home in the underworld (patala).
On the way to the underworld, he overcomes several obstacles: these include a lion and an elephant who vanish when he draws his bow; and a river that turns anyone who touches it into a stone - Sindhuraja jumps over it using a bamboo.
[11] Sindhuraja ultimately reaches a golden palace city, where a caged parrot informs him that the river goddess Naramada will welcome him as a guest.
The goddess urges Sindhuraja to do this, telling him that he was a partial incarnation of the god Vishnu, and that the sage Vanku would guide him to Vajrankusha's capital Ratnavati.
[15] On the one hand this large eyed girl, her body softer than the śirīṣa (flower), And on the other this fever of love, rough as a fire of chaff!
[15] He sends Ramangada as an envoy to Vajrankusha, asking the demon king to hand over the golden lotus to enable Sindhuraja to marry Shashiprabha, and offering his friendship in return.
After emerging victorious, Sindhuraja grants protection to the residents of Ratnavati, and appoints Ratnachuda as the ruler of Vajrankusha's former kingdom.
[18] The man explains that he used to be a commander of the guard (pratihara-pala) of Sindhuraja's father Siyaka alias Harsha, and had turned into a deer because of a curse by the sage Kanva.
When the warrior-turned-sage Vishvamitra stole this cow, Vasishtha made a ritual sacrifice on Mount Arbuda, and an armed warrior wearing a royal crown sprang from the sacrificial fire (agni).
Padmagupta probably invented the legend to fabricate a mythical genealogy for the Paramara dynasty, as all other neighbouring dynasties claimed origins from mythical heroes or gods by this time: the Pratiharas from Lakshmana, the Chahamanas (Chauhans) from Surya (Sun), the Chaulukyas from Brahma's water pot (chaluka), and the Chandelas from Chandra (Moon).
[24] The medieval text Prithviraj Raso states that apart from Paramara, progenitors of three other dynasties - Pratihara, Chaulukya, and Chahamana - were created from fire by Vasishtha.