With reference to the scholars/litterateurs of ancient India, consider the following statements:
1. Panini is associated with Pushyamitra Shunga.
2. Amarasimha is associated with Harshavardhana.
3. Kalidasa is associated with Chandra Gupta – II.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Explanation
Statement 1 is incorrect: Panini, the celebrated Sanskrit grammarian who composed the Ashtadhyayi, lived during the pre-Mauryan era (generally assigned to the 6th to 4th century BCE). Pushyamitra Shunga was a post-Mauryan monarch who founded the Shunga dynasty in the 2nd century BCE (Patron of grammarian Patanjali, not Panini).
Statement 2 is incorrect: Amarasimha, author of the famous Sanskrit lexicon Amarakosha, was a noted Buddhist scholar and one of the legendary Navaratnas (Nine Jewels) patronized during the Gupta period, not in the court of Harshavardhana (7th century CE, whose court poets included Banabhatta and Mayura).
Statement 3 is correct: Classical literary tradition and epigraphic records widely associate India’s foremost poet and dramatist Kalidasa with the court of Gupta Emperor Chandra Gupta II (Vikramaditya) (reigned circa 375–415 CE).
Hence, only statement 3 is correct — Option C.