To Pandit Damodar:

“As regards the present state of literary activity I can say, that I saw one really distinguished Pandit who would be able to hold up his head high anywhere- Damodar, the son of Sahebram, the chief teacher in Maharaja’s madresa. He possesses all the characteristics of a Kashmirian scholar, great quickness and sharpness, a considerable fund of good-natured humour and flow of eloquence combined with through knowledge of Sanskrit poetics and poetry and a very respectable knowledge of grammar, of Nyaya and of Shaiva philosophy. He explained to me several verses from Sanskrit poems which had baffled not only myself but also some of the best Pandits of India. His own poetical composition, a continuation of Rajatarangini and a letter writer entitled Praudhalekhah which he was good enough to read and to explain to me for hours, certainly surpasses Sri Harsha and Bana and can be only compared to Sabandhu’s Vasvadatta.

“Pandit Damodar was however not the only man of a scholarly turn of mind. His brother Pandit Dayaram was an authority on the ancient geography and history of Kashmir. The same subject occupied Pandit Govind Kaul, the son of Pandit Bal Kaul, who showed me portions of a Hindi translation of Rajatarangini and which contained many new explanations of difficult passages. He possessed a truly scientific spirit of inquiry.”
- Georg Buhler.

(writing in 1875) - The Report - In Search of Sanskrit Manuscripts in Central India, Kashmir and Rajputana.

“Pandit Damodar possesses a very intimate acquaintance with all that the Sanskrit poets of Kashmir have produced and is thus perhaps better qualified than anybody else to expound the intricacies of Kalhana’s style.” - Aurel Stein.

(writing in 1892) Kalhana’s Rajatarangini.

To Pandit Govind Kaul and Pandit Mukundram:

“Among those who have assisted me in carrying out this task I must mention in the first place Pandit Govind Kaul of Srinagar whose help in connection with Rajatarangini I was fortunate enough to secure during my visit to Kashmir. Pandit Govind Kaul accompanied me to Lahore in 1888 and has since rendered me very valuable assistance in communicating oral traditions of Kashmirian Pandits as well as of his own researches on many points connected with Kalhana’s narrative and with ancient topography of the country. Pandit Govind Kaul’s spirit of scientific enquiry and his through acquaintance with the history and geography of his country which attracted already in 1875 the notice of Professor Buhler have enabled him to find new explanations to many difficult passages of Rajatarangini. These explanations which will be duly noticed in the second volume have frequently influenced me in the selection of readings for my text. I owe to Pandit Govind Kaul a careful collation of the manuscript which was made before I obtained the use of archetypus. Pandit Govind Kaul’s aid has also facilitated my collating the archetypus for the first half of the text and when his subsequent absence from Lahore prevented him from assisting me further in this task, he still continued to render valuable help in connection with the reading of proofs. I have received equally useful assistance for the second half of the text from a younger Kashmiri scholar Pandit Mukundram, who also prepared under my direction provisional indices to the Rajatarangini of which I have availed myself with advantage when revising the texts of cantos VI to VIII. I am indebted to both the scholars for much information on Kashmirian topics without which correct comprehension of Kalhana’s text is unattainable and I gladly take this opportunity to thank them publicly for unflagging zeal and industry which they have shown in collecting it. I trust the services they have thus rendered to all students of the chronicle of Kashmir will meet with due recognition in their own country.” - Aurel Stein

(writing in 1892) Kalhana’s Rajatarangini.