Western Chalukya literature
Encyclopedia
Kannada language
Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...
was produced during the reign of the Western Chalukya Empire (973–1200 CE) in what is now southern India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
. This dynasty, which ruled most of the western Deccan
Deccan Plateau
The Deccan Plateau is a large plateau in India, making up the majority of the southern part of the country. It rises a hundred meters high in the north, rising further to more than a kilometers high in the south, forming a raised triangle nested within the familiar downward-pointing triangle of...
in South India, is sometimes called the Kalyani Chalukya Dynasty, after its royal capital at Kalyani (now Basavakalyan
Basavakalyan
Basavakalyan is a town in Bidar District of the state of Karnataka, India, and was historically known as Kalyan.-History:Basavakalyan's history dates back to 3000 years with its name being mentioned in Guru Charitra....
), and sometimes called the Later Chalukya Dynasty for its theoretical relationship to the 6th-century Chalukya dynasty
Chalukya dynasty
The Chalukya dynasty was an Indian royal dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynasty, known as the "Badami Chalukyas", ruled from Vatapi from the...
of Badami
Badami
Badami , formerly known as Vatapi, is a town and headquarters of a taluk by the same name, in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It was the regal capital of the Badami Chalukyas from 540 to 757 AD. It is famous for rock cut and other structural temples...
. For a brief period (1162–1183), the Kalachuris, a dynasty of kings who had earlier migrated to the Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
region from central India and served as vassal
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
s for several generations, exploited the growing weakness of their overlords and annexed the Kalyani. Around 1183, the last Chalukya scion, Somesvara IV
Somesvara IV
Somesvara IV was the last king of the Western Chalukya empire. He made a brief attempt to revive the Chalukya kingdom by defeating the waning Kalachuri kingdom. He managed to capture Basavakalyana but failed to prevent the other feudatories, the Seuna, Hoysala and the Kakatiya dynasty from...
, overthrew the Kalachuris to regain control of the royal city. But his efforts were in vain, as other prominent Chalukya vassals in the Deccan, the Hoysalas, the Kakatiyas and the Seunas destroyed the remnants of the Chalukya power.
Kannada literature
Kannada literature
Kannada literature is the corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, a member of the Dravidian family spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script....
from this period is usually categorised into the linguistic phase called Old-Kannada. It constituted the bulk of the Chalukya court's textual production and pertained mostly to writings relating to the socio-religious development of the Jain faith. The earliest well-known writers belonging to the Shaiva faith are also from this period. Under the patronage of Kalachuri King Bijjala II
Bijjala II
Bijjala II 1130 - 1167 CE was the most famous of the southern Kalachuri kings and ruled initially as a feudatory of Chalukya Vikramaditya VI. He ruled as the Mahamandalesvara or chief and ruled over Karhada 4,000 and Tardavadi 1,000, designations given to...
, whose prime minister was the well-known Kannada poet and social reformer Basavanna, a native form of poetic literature called Vachana literature (lit "utterance", "saying" or "sentence") proliferated. The beginnings of the Vachana poetic tradition in the Kannada-speaking region trace back to the early 11th century. Kannada literature written in the Sanskritic champu
Champu
Champu or Champu-Kavya is a genre in Sanskrit literature. It consists of a mixture of prose and poetry passages , with verses interspersed among prose sections...
metre
Meter (poetry)
In poetry, metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study of metres and forms of versification is known as prosody...
, composed of prose and verse, was popularised by the Chalukyan court poets. However, with the advent of the Veerashaiva (lit, "brave devotees of the god Shiva") religious movement in the mid-12th century, poets favoured the native tripadi
Tripadi
Tripadi is a metre in the Kannada language dating back to c. 700 CE.-Definition:...
(three-line verse composed of eleven ganas or prosodic units), hadugabba (song-poem) and free verse
Free verse
Free verse is a form of poetry that refrains from consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern.Poets have explained that free verse, despite its freedom, is not free. Free Verse displays some elements of form...
metres for their poems.
Important literary contributions in Kannada were made not only by court poets, noblemen, royalty, ascetics and saints who wrote in the marga (mainstream) style, but also by commoners and artisans, including cobblers, weavers, cowherds and shepherds who wrote in the desi (folk) style. These Vachana poets (called Vachanakaras) revolutionised Kannada literature, rejecting traditional themes that eulogised kings and noblemen, and writing didactic poems that were closer to the spoken and sung form of the language. In addition to hundreds of male poets, over thirty female poets have been recorded, some of whom wrote along with their husbands.
Political developments
| Developments | Date |
|---|---|
| Dominance of Jain devotional writings, in champu metre | 973–1150 CE |
| Early Secular writings by Jain authors | 1000–1100 CE |
| Early Vachana poems by Veerashaivas, in native metres | 1040–1120 CE |
| Consolidation of Kannada grammar | 1042 or 1145 CE |
| Veerashaiva movement and the proliferation of Vachana literature | 1150–1183 CE |
| Jain–Veerashaiva literary competition | 1150–1200 |
Towards the end of the 10th century, a new Karnataka dynasty, called the Western Chalukyas, had come to power by overthrowing the Rashtrakuta Empire of Manyakheta
Manyakheta
Manyakheta on the banks of Kagina River in Gulbarga district, Karnataka state was the capital of Rashtrakutas from . It is 40 km from Gulbarga city. The capital was moved from Mayurkhandi in Bidar district to Mānyakheṭa during the rule of Amoghavarsha I...
(modern Malkhed in the Gulbarga district
Gulbarga District
Gulbarga district is one of the 30 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. Gulbarga city is the administrative headquarters of the district...
, Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
). Their earliest inscription is dated to c. 957 and is ascribed to a subordinate ruler, Tailapa II
Tailapa II
Tailapa II had titles Nurmadi Taliapa and Satyashraya Kulatilaka. He re-established the Western Chalukya dynasty after a period of 220 years during which time they had been in eclipse. The revived Chalukya kingdom rose to its height of power under Vikramaditya VI. The revived dynasty came to be...
of Tardavadi, later to become the founding king of the empire, in the Bijapur district
Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh
Bijapur district is one of the 18 districts of Chhattisgarh state in central India. It is one of the two new districts created on May 11, 2007. As of 2011 it is the second least populous district of Chhattisgarh , after Narayanpur...
, Karnataka. An inscription from c. 967 suggests that an unsuccessful rebellion was staged by Chattideva, a local king belonging to the Chalukya family, with the help of the Kadamba chief from the temple town Banavasi
Banavasi
Banavasi is an ancient temple town in Uttara Kannada District bordering Shivamogga district in the South Indian state of Karnataka .-History:Banavasi is one of the oldest towns in the Karnataka state...
. These events, however, paved the way for Tailapa II to launch a successful rebellion against the Rashtrakuta King Karka II
Karka II
Karka II succeeded his uncle Kottigga Amoghavarsha to the Rashtrakuta throne. He had military successes against the Gurjaras, Rajputs and his feudatory, the Western Ganga King Marasimha II defeated the Pallavas...
with the help of the Kadamba chief of Hangal
Hangal
Hangal is a town in Haveri district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is 75 km away from Hubli-Dharwad.It is on the left bank of the Dharma river, and has ruins of some fortification on the...
.
A century before these political developments, the age of great Sanskrit and Prakrit
Prakrit
Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...
epics and classics had come to an end. This productive period had made available a vast corpus of literature that could be expressed in the local language of Kannada. Kannada, which had flourished both as a language of political discourse and literature in the Rashtrakuta court
Rashtrakuta literature
Rashtrakuta literature is the body of work created during the rule of the Rastrakutas of Manyakheta, a dynasty that ruled the southern and central parts of the Deccan, India between the 8th and 10th centuries...
, found enthusiastic support from the Chalukya kings. The influential Jains, who according to historian A.S. Altekar may have comprised 30 percent of the population, not only dominated the cultural landscape of 9th and 10th century Karnataka, but were also eager to encourage literature in the local language. According to Professor S.N. Sen, a research fellow at the Indian council of historical research, Kannada literature under the Chalukyas reached a "perfection of form". Scholars Sheldon Pollock
Sheldon Pollock
Sheldon I. Pollock is a scholar of Sanskrit, Indian intellectual and literary history, and comparative intellectual history. He is currently the William B. Ransford Professor of Sanskrit and South Asian Studies at the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies, Columbia University...
and Jan Houben have claimed that 90 percent of the Chalukyan royal inscriptions are in Kannada, a virtual displacement of Sanskrit as the language of courtly discourse.
Mainstream literature
For a few centuries after KavirajamargaKavirajamarga
Kavirajamarga is the earliest available writing on rhetoric, poetics and grammar in the Kannada language. It was written by the famous Rashtrakuta King "Nripatunga" Amoghavarsha I and some say that it is based partly on an earlier Sanskrit writing, Kavyadarsa...
("Royal path for poets", c. 850), the earliest available Kannada literary work, Jain writings had adhered to Sanskritic models that had been recognised by the state as the path for future Kannada writers, while relegating native poetic forms (compositions such as Chattana and Bedande) to subordinate status. The stranglehold that the Sanskritic models had over Kannada literature is best exemplified by Ranna's lexicon Rannakanda (990), where native day-to-day Kannada words had been translated into Sanskrit. This implied that the pure form of the local language was not viewed as equal to Sanskrit, from the cosmopolitan viewpoint. Kannada writings by Jain authors thus used impressive Sanskrit-derived verses interspersed with prose to extol the virtues of their patron kings, who were often compared to heroes from the Hindu epics. While Adikavi Pampa
Adikavi Pampa
Pampa , called by the honorific Ādikavi is one of the greatest Kannada poets of all time.He is very famous even today for his philosophical beliefs...
(Pampa Bharata, 941) compared his patron, the feudatory Chalukya King Arikesari, to Pandava
Pandava
In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, the Pandava are the five acknowledged sons of Pandu , by his two wives Kunti and Madri. Their names are Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Although, Karna is told by Lord Krishna that according to the laws and ethics he is the first son of Kunti making...
prince Arjuna
Arjuna
Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...
, in Vikramarjuna Vijaya
Vikramarjuna Vijaya
Vikramarjuna Vijaya , also known as Pampa Bharatha is a classic work of the 10th century Jain poet Pampa . It is an Kannada version of the great epic, the Mahabharata of Vyasa. Pampa choose the Arjuna, the central figure of the Pandava Clan, as the hero of his epic...
, his version of the Hindu epic Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, Ranna
Ranna
Ranna was one of the earliest poets of Kannada language.Ranna, Adikavi Pampa and Sri Ponna together are called "three gems of Kannada literature".-Early days:Ranna was born on 949 C.E. in Muduvolalu Bagalkot district, Karnataka....
(983) found it suitable to compare his patron, King Satyasraya
Satyasraya
Satyasraya , also known as Sattiga or Irivabedanga, was the king of the revived Western Chalukyas. Towards the end of his rule with the great Chola Rajaraja Chola I and had to face disastrous consequences of entering into a war with the Cholas which greatly endangered his own survival as well as...
, to Pandava prince Bhima
Bhima
In the Mahābhārata, Bhima is one of the central characters of Mahabharata and the second of the Pandava brothers...
.
Folk literature
Bhakti
In Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...
(devotional) literature, such generalisations tend to disguise the very esoteric and anti-bhakti positions taken by many Vachanakaras. The origin of the Veerashaiva ideology and the beginnings of their poetry is unclear. According to D.R. Nagaraj, a scholar on literary cultures in history, modern scholars tend to favour two broad views: integrationist and indigenist. The integrationists, such as L. Basavaraju, trace the source of Vachana poetic tradition to the Sanskrit Upanishad
Upanishad
The Upanishads are philosophical texts considered to be an early source of Hindu religion. More than 200 are known, of which the first dozen or so, the oldest and most important, are variously referred to as the principal, main or old Upanishads...
scriptures and the Agama
Āgama (Hinduism)
Agama means, in the Hindu context, "a traditional doctrine, or system which commands faith".In Hinduism, the Agamas are a collection of Sanskrit scriptures which are revered and followed by millions of Hindus.-Significance:...
doctrine, though this does not explain why the movement did not blossom earlier or in the neighbouring Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
-speaking region where radical Shaiva sects were known to be active. The indigenists, such as Chidananda Murthy, M.M. Kalaburgi and G.S. Shivarudrappa, propose a native Karnataka origin of the poetry, though they are yet to fully explain its unique nature.
Other developments
Vishnuvardhana
Vishnuvardhana was an emperor of the Hoysala Empire in present day Indian state of Karnataka. Vishnuvardhana took the first step in consolidating the Hoysala Empire in South India through a series of battles against his overlords, the Western Chalukya empire...
(1108–1152) of the southern Kannada-speaking region converted from Jainism to the Hindu sect of Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism is a tradition of Hinduism, distinguished from other schools by its worship of Vishnu, or his associated Avatars such as Rama and Krishna, as the original and supreme God....
. The popularity of Ramanujacharya's philosophy had spread in the Hoysala lands and Srivaishnavism, a sub-sect of Vaishnavism, was in the ascendant. By the late 13th century, the Veerashaiva writers, who were by now writing allegorical inscriptions and biographies of famous Vachanakaras of the 12th century, were in stiff competition with the Jains. The earliest attempts by the Jains to veer away from traditional puranic (philosophical) themes of renunciation are seen in the writings of Hoysala writers Nemichandra and Andayya
Andayya
Andayya was a notable 13th-century Kannada writer during the rule of the Hoysala empire. Andayya was a Jain by faith and came from a family of accountants...
. Lilavati Prabhandam, a novel written by Nemichandra (1170) on the topic of love, erotica, and of the victory of Kamadeva
Kamadeva
Kāmadeva is the Hindu god of human love or desire. Other names for him include; Atanu , Ragavrinta , Ananga , Kandarpa , Manmatha , Manasija ,...
(god of love) over his arch-rival Shiva, is the first among such writings. It was followed by Kabbigara Kava ("Poets defender", 1215–1237) by Andayya, also a work depicting a war between Kamadeva and the god Shiva. Despite these efforts, the Jain literary influence was to recede in the coming decades and centuries, being relegated mostly to the coastal Kannada-speaking region. Works of enduring quality were still produced by maverick authors such as Ratnakaravarni
Ratnakaravarni
Ratnakaravarni was a 16th-century Kannada poet and writer. He is considered to be one of the trailblazers in the native shatpadi and sangatya metric tradition that was popularised in Kannada literature during the rule of the Vijayanagara empire in modern Karnataka...
(1557), though their numbers were fewer.
Contemporaneous to these developments, Nagavarma II
Nagavarma II
Nagavarma II was a Kannada language scholar and grammarian of the 11th or 12th century Western Chalukya court centred in Basavakalyan, modern Karnataka state, India. He was the earliest among the three most notable and authoritative grammarians of Old-Kannada language...
wrote his Kannada grammar Karnataka bhashabhushana ("Ornament of Karnataka language", 1042 or 1145). A milestone in the history of Kannada literature, it helped consolidate the language as competitor to established languages such as Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
and Prakrit
Prakrit
Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...
, bringing the local language within the realm of literary cosmopolitanism. Writing a Kannada grammar in Sanskrit language was essential to Nagavarma II, a subtle rebuttal to Sanskritic scholars of the day who may have considered Kannada a language of the common man and its grammar as underdeveloped. In addition to the Chalukya patronage, Kannada poets and writers of this period were popular in the courts of neighbouring kingdoms of the western Deccan. The Hoysalas, the southern Kalachuris, the Seunas, the Gangas and the Silharas are some of the ruling families who enthusiastically used Kannada in inscriptions and promoted its literature.
Age of Ranna
The late 10th century was a period of consolidation for the fledgling empire. Founding King Tailapa IITailapa II
Tailapa II had titles Nurmadi Taliapa and Satyashraya Kulatilaka. He re-established the Western Chalukya dynasty after a period of 220 years during which time they had been in eclipse. The revived Chalukya kingdom rose to its height of power under Vikramaditya VI. The revived dynasty came to be...
and his successor, King Satyasraya, warred against their neighbours: the Shilharas of south Konkan
Konkan
The Konkan also called the Konkan Coast or Karavali is a rugged section of the western coastline of India from Raigad to Mangalore...
, the Chaulukyas of Gujarat, the Paramara
Paramara
Paramara is a Maratha, Gurjar,& Rajput clan of India.The Paramara clan belongs to the Agnivansha of Rajputs ancient Kshatriyas...
of central India and the Chola Dynasty
Chola Dynasty
The Chola dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which was one of the longest-ruling in some parts of southern India. The earliest datable references to this Tamil dynasty are in inscriptions from the 3rd century BC left by Asoka, of Maurya Empire; the dynasty continued to govern over varying territory until...
of Tanjore. Unaffected by these political developments, Kannada literature continued to flourish in the royal court. The foremost writer of this period was Ranna
Ranna
Ranna was one of the earliest poets of Kannada language.Ranna, Adikavi Pampa and Sri Ponna together are called "three gems of Kannada literature".-Early days:Ranna was born on 949 C.E. in Muduvolalu Bagalkot district, Karnataka....
, who was born to a family of bangle sellers in the town of Mudhol
Mudhol
Mudhol is a town in the Bagalkot District in the Northern part of the state of Karnataka, India. It is about 60 km from the district headquarters of Bagalkot town on the left bank of the Ghataprabha River...
. Ranna is considered by historians K.A. Nilakanta Sastri and Sailendra Nath Sen as one of the "three gems of Kannada literature" along with his seniors, Adikavi Pampa
Adikavi Pampa
Pampa , called by the honorific Ādikavi is one of the greatest Kannada poets of all time.He is very famous even today for his philosophical beliefs...
and Sri Ponna
Sri Ponna
Sri Ponna was a Kannada poet in the court of Rashtrakuta Dynasty king Krishna III . The emperor honoured Ponna with the title "emperor among poets" for his domination of the Kannada literary circles of the time, and the title "imperial poet of two languages" for his command over Sanskrit as well...
. Ranna became the court poet of King Tailapa II and King Satyasraya. In his early days, he was also patronised by the well-known Ganga minister Chavundaraya
Chavundaraya
Chavundraya was a military commander, poet and a minister in the court of the Western Ganga Dynasty of Talakad . A person of many talents, in 982 he commissioned the Gomateshwara, a monolithic sculpture in Shravanabelagola, an important place of pilgrimage for Jains...
. Ranna is famous for writing Ajitha purana
Ajitha purana
The Ajitha Purana written by Ranna in 993 AD narrates the story of Ajithanatha, the second Tirthankara of Jainism. This is the shortest Jinapurana in Kannada...
(993), which recounts the life of the second Jain tirthankar
Tirthankar
In Jainism, a ' |ford]]-Maker", ) is a human being who achieves moksa through asceticism and who then becomes a role-model and teacher for those seeking spiritual guidance....
Ajitanatha. However, it is in his magnum opus, the work Sahasa Bhima Vijaya ("Victory of bold Bhima", also called Gada Yudda or "Conflict of Clubs'", 982) that he reaches his zenith of poetic grace while describing the conflict between Pandava
Pandava
In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, the Pandava are the five acknowledged sons of Pandu , by his two wives Kunti and Madri. Their names are Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Although, Karna is told by Lord Krishna that according to the laws and ethics he is the first son of Kunti making...
Bhima
Bhima
In the Mahābhārata, Bhima is one of the central characters of Mahabharata and the second of the Pandava brothers...
and Kaurava prince Duryodhana
Duryodhana
In the Hindu epic the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers, Emperor of the world at that time which means Emperor of India or Bharatvarsha as it was known at that time, cousin and the chief...
in his Jain version of the Hindu epic Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
.
Unlike Pampa who glorifies Arjuna
Arjuna
Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...
and Karna
Karna
Karna or Radheya is one of the central characters in the epic Mahābhārata, from ancient India. He was the King of Anga...
in his writing, Ranna eulogises his patron King Satyasraya and favourably compares him to Bhima, whom he crowns at the end of the Mahabharata war. He calls Bhima's adversary Duryodhana mahanubhava ("a great person"). The work contains some of the earliest examples of elegiac
Elegy
In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
verses (called shoka gita or charama gita) in the Kannada language, noted among which is one piece that describes the heart-rending lamentation (called karuna rasa or "sentiment of pathos") of Duryodhana on seeing the slain bodies of his brother Duhshasana, his inseparable friend in joy and sorrow, Karna, and Arjuna's valorous son Abhimanyu
Abhimanyu
Abhimanyu is a tragic hero in the Hindu epic, the Mahābhārata. He is the son of Arjuna and Subhadra, who is the half-sister of Lord Krishna...
. The effect given to the writing, the language, the diction and the style maintained throughout the narration has earned Ranna a place among the most notable authors of Kannada literature. Ascribed also to Ranna is the earliest available dictionary in Kannada language called the Rannakanda (990), of which only eleven verses still exist. His other notable writings were the Chakeresvaracharita and the Parashuramacharitha. According to historian Suryanath Kamath, the latter work, which is now lost, may have been a eulogy of Chavundaraya, whom the poet admired. For his literary contributions, the title Kavi Chakravathi ("Emperor among poets") was bestowed upon Ranna by his patron king.
Another notable writer from the close of the 10th century, Nemichandra, wrote the Kaviraja kunjara and Lilavati (c. 990) with Prince Kavdarpa Deva of Jayantipura (modern Banavasi
Banavasi
Banavasi is an ancient temple town in Uttara Kannada District bordering Shivamogga district in the South Indian state of Karnataka .-History:Banavasi is one of the oldest towns in the Karnataka state...
, Karnataka) and Princess Lilavati as the protagonists of the latter poem. Other writers whose works are now lost but have been praised by the Chalukya minister Durgasimha (1031) are Kavitavilasa (patronised by King Jayasimha II), Madiraja, Chadrabhatta, Kannamayya and Manasija.
Early secular writings
According to Kannada scholar R. Narasimhacharya, despite the production of some important secular writings, repeated Chola invasions into Kannada lands in the 11th century may have adversely affected literary production. This situation was brought about by intense competition between the Western Chalukyas and their arch-rivals, the Cholas of Tanjore. Among notable writings, Chandraraja's Madanatilaka ("Forehead ornament of passion", 1025), written in the champu metre, is the earliest available work on erotica in the Kannada language and an adaptation of the Sanskrit Kamasutra by VatsyayanaVatsyayana
Vātsyāyana is the name of a Hindu philosopher in the Vedic tradition who is believed to have lived during time of the Gupta Empire in India...
. The narration is a dialogue between the patron and his wife in posakannada, the most modern Kannada in usage at the time. He was under the patronage of Machiraja, feudatory of King Jayasimha II (also called Jagadekamalla I). Shridharacharya, a Jain Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
patronised by King Somesvara I
Somesvara I
Somesvara I succeeded his father Jayasimha II as the Western Chalukya king. He was one of the greatest kings of the later Chalukya Dynasty. In spite of many reverses he managed to safeguard the integrity of the Chalukya kingdom. He founded the city of Kalyani, present day Basavakalyana and moved...
(also called Ahvamalla or Trailokyamalla) showed his ability to write on scientific subjects in Jatakatilaka (1049), the earliest available writing on astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
in Kannada, citing the Sanskrit astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
Aryabhata
Aryabhata
Aryabhata was the first in the line of great mathematician-astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy...
. His other work is the lost Chandraprabha Charite, on belles-lettres
Belles-lettres
Belles-lettres or belles lettres is a term that is used to describe a category of writing. A writer of belles-lettres is a belletrist. However, the boundaries of that category vary in different usages....
.
Chavundaraya II, a Shaiva Brahmin (Brahmin devotee of the god Shiva) by faith and a protege of King Jayasimha II, wrote Lokopakara (c. 1025) in the champu metre. It is the earliest available encyclopaedia in the Kannada language, written at times with a poetic touch. It comprises twelve chapters and has found popularity in later references as well. The work is on various topics such as daily life, astronomy, astrology and forecasting of events based on the Indian calendar (panchanga phala), sculpture, construction of buildings (vastu vichara) and reservoirs (udakargala), omens, divination of water, preparation of medicine from herbs and plants (vrikshayurveda), general medicine (vaidya), perfumery, cookery and toxicology (vishavaidya). Mentioned in this book is the popular South Indian dish Idli and its preparation by soaking Urad dal (black gram) in butter milk, grinding it to a fine paste, and mixing with spices and the clear water of curd
Curd
Curds are a dairy product obtained by curdling milk with rennet or an edible acidic substance such as lemon juice or vinegar, and then draining off the liquid portion. The increased acidity causes the milk proteins to tangle into solid masses, or curds. The remaining liquid, which contains only...
.
Durgasimha
Durgasimha
Durgasimha was the minister of war and peace of Western Chalukya king Jayasimha II . Durgasimha adapted the well-known set of fables, Panchatantra , from Sanskrit language into Kannada language in champu metre...
, the Sandhi Vigrahi (minister of war and peace) of King Jayasimha II wrote the well-known Panchatantra
Panchatantra
The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian inter-related collection of animal fables in verse and prose, in a frame story format. The original Sanskrit work, which some scholars believe was composed in the 3rd century BCE, is attributed to Vishnu Sharma...
("The five stratagems", 1031) in champu style, basing it on Gunadhya's Paishachi language original Brihatkatha. This fable
Fable
A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates a moral lesson , which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.A fable differs from...
is the first adaptation of the original into a vernacular language of India. Containing sixty fables in all, thirteen of which are original, each is summarised by an ethical moral based on a Jain tenet. Durgasimha also authored the Karnataka Banachatantra, the earliest available commentary in the Kannada language, giving a brief commentary on all the Sanskrit verses he quoted in the Panchatantra.
There were other notable writers from the latter part of 11th century. Shantinatha, patronised by King Somesvara II, wrote the poem Sukumaracharita in c. 1068. Nagavarmacharya, a Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
Advaita saint of Balligavi
Balligavi
Balligavi a town in Shikaripura taluk Shimoga district of Karnataka state, India, is today known as Belagami or Balagame. Its ancient names are Dakshina Kedara,Valliggame and Valligrame. Dakshina Kedara means Kedarnath of the South. A place of antiquity, it is known for its ancient monuments...
, who was patronised by King Udayatidya, a vassal of Chalukya King Somesvara II, wrote Chandrachudamani sataka (c. 1070) in the sataka (hundred-line verse) metre. In this centum of verses, where each ends with the term "Chandrachudamani" as another name of the god Shiva, the author treats on viragya (ethics of renunciation). Other writers whose works are considered lost but have been referenced in contemporary writings are Gunachandra and Gunavarma. Gunachandra, who was admired by King Somesvara II (also called Bhuvanaika Malla), wrote Parsvabhyudaya and Maghanadisvara. Gunavarma, who earned the honorific Bhuvanaika Vira, a title befitting a warrior rather than a poet, is mentioned by grammarian Keshiraja (c. 1260) as the author of Harivamsa. His title identifies him with a Ganga prince called Udayaditya who was a minister and general under Chalukya King Somesvara II. Other writings ascribed to the author are Pushpadanta Purana and Devachandra Prabha Stotra.
Vikrama era
The 12th century heralded an age of peace and prosperity. Cultural and literary developments received impetus during the rule of King Vikramaditya VIVikramaditya VI
Vikramaditya VI became the Western Chalukya King after deposing his elder brother Somesvara II. Vikramaditya's reign is marked by the start of the Chalukya-Vikrama era. Vikramaditya VI was the greatest of the Western Chalukya kings and had the longest reign in the dynasty. He earned the title...
, a patron of the fine arts. The king, who ascended the throne in 1076 and ruled for fifty years occupies a pride of place in the history of Karnataka
Political history of medieval Karnataka
The political history of medieval Karnataka spans the 4th to the 16th centuries, when the empires that evolved in the Karnataka region of India made a lasting impact on the subcontinent. Before this, alien empires held sway over the region, and the nucleus of power was outside modern Karnataka...
. His reign marks the end of the use of Saka Varsha (Indian calendar, the "Saka era") in Chalukya inscriptions and the start of Vikrama Varsha ("Vikrama era"). His court was adorned with some of the most well-known writers of Kannada and Sanskrit literature. Nayasena, whose writings are dated by the scholars D.R. Nagaraj and Sheldon Pollock to the 10th century, and by E.P. Rice and R. Narasimhacharya to c. 1112, wrote the Dharmamritha, a book containing fifteen stories that belong to the genre of fable and parable
Parable
A parable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive principles, or lessons, or a normative principle. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human...
. Well known among these stories teaching about Jain tenets are "Yajnadatta and the mongoose", "Kapalika and the young elephant" and "Serpent, tiger, monkey and the goldsmith who had fallen in the old well". The writing is one of intense self-interrogation where the author criticises the beliefs of all contemporaneous religions while decrying the contamination in the original Jain beliefs due to external cultural influences, such as the practice of violent and bloody rituals and the caste system.
Brahmashiva, the court poet of King Vikramaditya VI, earned the title Kavichakravarti ("Emperor among poets") from his patron for his writing Samayaparikshe ("Analysis of the doctrine", c. 1125). In this philosophical writing, containing touches of propagandist satire and humor, the author seeks to prove the virtues of Jainism superior to all other contemporary religions. Brahmashiva portrays contemporary life and beliefs of the people of the Kannada-speaking region. He criticises Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and the conversion of a Jain temple originally dedicated to the Tirthankar
Tirthankar
In Jainism, a ' |ford]]-Maker", ) is a human being who achieves moksa through asceticism and who then becomes a role-model and teacher for those seeking spiritual guidance....
Chandrapraba in Kholapur into a Hindu temple deifying the goddess Mahalakshmi
Lakshmi
Lakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...
. He expresses reservation regarding the existence of religious cosmopolitanism within a household where family members followed multiple faiths. The author is concerned about the eroding popularity of Jainism in southern India due to the rising popularity of the Veerashaiva movement. Prince Kirtivarma, a younger brother of King Vikramaditya VI, wrote Govaidya ("Cattle Medicine"), the earliest available writing in Kannada on veterinary science, which mixes medicine and magic.
After the death of Vikramaditya VI, his successors, Somesvara III and Jagadhekamalla II continued to support poets and writers. Karnaparya's account of the life of the 22nd tirthankar Neminatha, the Neminathapurana (c. 1145) in champu metre, includes details of the Hindu epic Mahabharata and of the god Krishna from a Jain outlook. Jagaddala Somanatha's Karnataka Kalyanakaraka (1150), a translation of the Sanskrit writing Kalyanakaraka by Pujyapada, is the earliest writing on medicine in Kannada. It prescribes an entirely vegetarian and non-alcoholic diet.
Consolidation of grammar
Nagavarma II
Nagavarma II was a Kannada language scholar and grammarian of the 11th or 12th century Western Chalukya court centred in Basavakalyan, modern Karnataka state, India. He was the earliest among the three most notable and authoritative grammarians of Old-Kannada language...
is credited to be the author of the earliest exhaustive Kannada grammar, the author mentions his predecessors, Sankavarma and Nagavarma-I
Nagavarma I
Nagavarma I was a noted Jain writer and poet in the Kannada language in the late 10th century. His two important works, both of which are available are, Karnataka Kadambari, a champu based romance novel and an adaptation of Bana's Sanskrit Kadambari, and Chandombudhi Nagavarma I (c. 990) was...
(the extant Chhandombudhi, "Ocean of Prosody", c. 984) as path-makers of Kannada grammar. The exact time when grammarian Nagavarma-II lived is debated by historians. Until the discovery of Vardhamana Puranam ("Life of Varadhama", c. 1042) written in Kannada by an author who goes by the same name, it was broadly accepted by scholars including E.P. Rice, R. Narasimhacharya and K.A. Nilakanta Sastri that Nagavarma II lived in the mid-12th century (1145) and was also the Katakacharya ("poet laureate") of Chalukya King Jagadhekamalla II
Jagadhekamalla II
Jagadhekamalla II followed Somesvara III to the Western Chalukya throne. His rule saw the slow decline of the Chalukya empire with the loss of Vengi entirely, though he was still able to control the Hoysalas in the south and the Seuna and Paramara in the north...
. However, of late, the Encyclopaedia of Indian literature, published by the Sahitya Akademi
Sahitya Akademi
The Sahitya Akademi ', India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India...
(1988), and scholars D.R. Nagaraj and Sheldon Pollock concur that Nagavarma II lived in the mid-11th century and was the poet laureate of Chalukya King Jayasimha II, who had the epithet Jagadekamalla ("Lord of the world").
Irrespective of when Nagavarma II lived, it is accepted that few scholars in the history of Kannada literature made important contributions in as many subjects as he did. His writings on grammar, poetry, prosody, and vocabulary are standard authorities and their importance to the study of the Kannada language is well-acknowledged. Among his available writings, the historically important Kavyavalokana ("Treatise on the art of poetry") on grammar, poetics and rhetoric is considered path-breaking and contains all the essentials of Kannada grammar. The first section of the book is called Sabdasmriti and contains five chapters dealing with euphonic combinations, nouns, compounds, nominal derivatives and verbs respectively. It is based on earlier works by the Sanskrit grammarians Dandin and Bhamaha. The Karnataka Bhashabhushana, a consolidated and exhaustive Kannada grammar written by Nagavarma II in the Sanskrit language, follows the fundamental framework of the Katantra school of Sanskrit grammar. For his contribution to Kannada grammar, Nagavarma II earned the honorific Sarvavarma – the name of the noted Sanskrit grammarian of the Satavahana
Satavahana
The Sātavāhana Empire or Andhra Empire, was a royal Indian dynasty based from Dharanikota and Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh as well as Junnar and Prathisthan in Maharashtra. The territory of the empire covered much of India from 230 BCE onward...
era. His Abhidana Vastukosa ("Treasury of significations"), a lexicon, gives Kannada equivalents of nearly eight thousand Sanskrit words and is considered an achievement which gave Kannada language considerable footing in the world of Sanskrit literary dominance. Modern Kannada poet Govinda Pai proposed that the author of Karnataka Bhashabhushana was a different Nagavarma who belonged to the mid-12th century.
Early poets
H.S. Shivaprakash
H.S. Shivaprakash is a leading poet and playwright writing in Kannada. He is professor at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, currently serving as the dean of the school. He has seven anthologies of poems, twelve plays, and several other books to his credit...
, is a possible influence of the 63 Nayanmars (poets devoted to the god Shiva, 5th–10th century) of the Tamil-speaking region. The followers of the faith prayed not to a conventional image of a God but rather wore a linga (symbol of the god Shiva) on their body. The beginnings of the Vachana poetry (called Vachana Sahitya – "Vachana literature", or Anubhava Sahitya – "mystic literature" and sometimes Sharana Sahitya – "literature of the devotees"), a unique form of expression in the Kannada language, can however be traced back to the 11th century.
Names of three poets from the 11th century and some of their poems are available. Madara Chennaiah, a cobbler turned saint, is considered by H.S. Shiva Prakash as the first Vachana poet, and was held in high esteem by latter day poets of the 12th century, including Basavanna. Only ten of Chennaiah's poems, expressing his resentment of the caste system in metaphors taken from the cobblers' trade, are extant
Extant literature
Extant literature refers to texts that have survived from the past to the present time. Extant literature can be divided into extant original manuscripts, copies of original manuscripts, quotations and paraphrases of passages of non-extant texts contained in other works, translations of non-extant...
today. Dohara Kakkaiah is the second poet. A dalit
Dalit
Dalit is a designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as Untouchable. Dalits are a mixed population, consisting of numerous castes from all over South Asia; they speak a variety of languages and practice a multitude of religions...
by birth, his six available poems are confessional in nature, a theme seen in the later poems of Basavanna. Devara Dasimaiah (or Jedara Dasimaiah, 1040) is better known because a hundred and fifty of his poems are available. Written in a deft and concise language of proverbs and metaphors, his poems encourage monotheistic belief in the god Shiva. Dasimaiah's wife Duggale qualifies as Kannada's first women poet, though only a few of her poems are available.
Rebel literature
In mid-12th century, the KalachuriKalachuri
Kalachuri Empire is this the name used by two kingdoms who had a succession of dynasties from the 10th-12th centuries, one ruling over areas in Central India and were called Chedi or Haihaya and the other southern Kalachuri who ruled over parts of Karnataka...
s successfully warred against their overlords, the Western Chalukyas, and annexed their capital Kalyani
Basavakalyan
Basavakalyan is a town in Bidar District of the state of Karnataka, India, and was historically known as Kalyan.-History:Basavakalyan's history dates back to 3000 years with its name being mentioned in Guru Charitra....
. During this turbulent period lasting three decades (1153–1183), Veerashaivism gained popularity. According to H.S. Shiva Prakash, the Kalachuri period is one of the high points of medieval Kannada literature. Basavanna (or Basava), a social reformer and the prime minister of Kalachuri King Bijjala II
Bijjala II
Bijjala II 1130 - 1167 CE was the most famous of the southern Kalachuri kings and ruled initially as a feudatory of Chalukya Vikramaditya VI. He ruled as the Mahamandalesvara or chief and ruled over Karhada 4,000 and Tardavadi 1,000, designations given to...
, is generally regarded as the inspiration behind this movement. Allama Prabhu
Allama Prabhu
Allama Prabhu is a mystic-saint and Vachana poet of the Kannada language in the 12th century. Prabhu is the patron saint , the undisputed spiritual authority, and an integral part of the Lingayata movement that decisively shaped society in medieval Karnataka and...
, Chennabasava
Channabasavanna
Channabasavanna was Basava's nephew and one of the foremost Shivasharanas of the 12th century. He, along with Basava, Allama Prabhu and Akka Mahadevi, played a pivotal role in the propagation of the Veerashaiva faith...
, Siddharama, Akka Mahadevi
Akka Mahadevi
Akka Mahadevi was a prominent figure of the Veerashaiva Bhakti movement of the 12th century Karnataka. Her Vachanas in Kannada, a form of didactic poetry are considered her greatest contribution to Kannada Bhakti literature. In all she wrote about 430 Vachanas which is relatively fewer than that...
, and Kondugoli Keshiraja are other well-known poets among several hundred in this cadre.
A centre of religious discussions called Anubhava Mantapa ("Hall of experience") in Kalyani became the conclave where devotees gathered to discuss their mystic experiences. Here, they expressed their devotion to Shiva in simple poems which were spontaneous utterances of rhythmic, epigrammatical and satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
prose emphasising the worthlessness of riches, rituals and book learning. Many of these poems are anonymous, but the authors are identifiable by the unique divine name of the god Shiva that is invoked in the poem.
Basavanna
Born to Brahmin parents in the town of Basavana Bagewadi
Basavana Bagewadi
Basavana Bagewadi in India is an important center of pilgrimage for people of the Lingayat faith. It is located in Bijapur district of Karnataka state. This is the birth place of Basavanna, the founder of the Lingayat and is therefore an important center of pilgrimage for Lingayats....
, Basavanna (1106–1167) rejected the upanayanam
Upanayanam
Upanayana is the initiation ritual by which initiates are invested with a sacred thread, to symbolize the transference of spiritual knowledge .- Significance of the sacred thread :...
("ritual thread ceremony") and left home for Kudalasangama
Kudalasangama
Kudalasangama in India is an important center of pilgrimage for people of the Lingayat faith. It is located about 15 km from the Almatti Dam in Bagalkot district of Karnataka state. The Krishna river and Ghataprabha river merge here and flow east towards Srisaila in state of Andhra Pradesh...
, a holy place at the confluence of the Krishna
Krishna River
The Krishna River , is one of the longest rivers in central-southern India, about . It is also referred to as Krishnaveni in its original nomenclature...
and Ghataprabha
Ghataprabha
Ghataprabha is a village in the southern state of Karnataka, India. It is located in the Gokak taluk of Belgaum district in Karnataka.-Demographics:As of the 2001 India census, Ghataprabha had a population of more than 20,000...
rivers in Bagalkot district, Karnataka. According to historian P.B. Desai, it was here, during his tutelage under the saint Ishanyaguru, that Basavanna had visions of his life's purpose. The life of Basavanna marks a milestone in the history of Karnataka state, India. A towering personality, his zeal and socio-cultural achievements in the realm of peace and equality of mankind have brought about enduring changes in society.
Information about his life and achievements come from the many Kannada writings, the earliest of which were written just after his death. Hoysala poet Harihara
Harihara
Harihara is the name of a combined deity form of both Vishnu and Shiva from the Hindu tradition. Also known as Shankaranarayana , Harihara is thus worshipped by both Vaishnavites and Shaivities as a form of the Supreme God, as well as being a figure of worship for other Hindu traditions in general...
's Basavarajadevara ragale is the first known biography on Basavanna. Vijayanagara poet-writer Bhima Kavi's Basavapurana (1369), Singiraja's Amala Basavacharite (1500), Vijayanagara minister Lakkanna Dandesa's Shiva Tatwachintamani (1425–1450) are some of the important sources. The cornerstone of Basavanna's philosophy was "work-worship is heaven", the rejection of mere worship of God and the acceptance of one's own body as a temple of God. Basavanna strongly advocated a life of complete commitment to work. As a poet, he finds a pride of place in Kannada literature. His deftly written poems end with the word "Kudalasangama" which literally means "God of the confluence of two rivers", the poet's version of the god Shiva. About 1,300 such poems have survived, and have been described by H.S. Shiva Prakash as lyrical, satirical, deeply contemplative and self-critical.
In one satirical poem, Basavanna decries the hypocrisy of a snake charmer and his wife, who on their way to find a bride for their son cancel the journey when they come across a bad omen – another snake charmer and his wife. Though Basavanna himself was a minister under the patronage of the king, some of his poems betray his contempt towards kingship and deep devotion to the god Shiva.
A poem by Basavanna:
Allama Prabhu
Allama, also known as Allama Prabhu (lit, "Allama the master") was a mendicant saint-poet who took to the path of asceticism after the untimely death of his wife Kamalate. He was born into a family of hereditary temple performers and was himself an expert on the drum (called maddale) in Balligavi
Balligavi
Balligavi a town in Shikaripura taluk Shimoga district of Karnataka state, India, is today known as Belagami or Balagame. Its ancient names are Dakshina Kedara,Valliggame and Valligrame. Dakshina Kedara means Kedarnath of the South. A place of antiquity, it is known for its ancient monuments...
, a town of great antiquity in the Shivamogga district, Karnataka. Wandering around grief-stricken by his wife's death, he came across a saint called Animisayya who initiated him into asceticism.
Ascribed to Allama are 1,321 extant poems, each of which end with the word "Guhesvara" (lit, "Lord of the Cave", a form of the god Shiva), for it is said Allama found enlightenment in a cave. Allama's cryptic poems, though full of kindness, are known for their satire, mockery, invective and rejection of siddhis (occult powers). H.S. Shiva Prakash compares Allama's poems to the Koans in Japanese Zen poetry. According to D.R. Nagaraj, Allama's mystic poems are in a category all of their own and do not qualify as bhakti poems, which are typically characterised by transparent devotion.
While Basavanna's zeal and influence led to the formation and popularity of the Veerashaiva movement in Kalyani, it was Allama who was the undisputed spiritual authority presiding over the gatherings of the devotees. Chamarasa, a well-known 15th-century Kannada writer in the court of Vijayanagara
Vijayanagara
Vijayanagara is in Bellary District, northern Karnataka. It is the name of the now-ruined capital city "which was regarded as the second Rome" that surrounds modern-day Hampi, of the historic Vijayanagara empire which extended over the southern part of India....
King Deva Raya II
Deva Raya II
Deva Raya II was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire from the Sangama Dynasty. Perhaps the greatest of the Sangama dynasty rulers, he patronised some of the famous Kannada and Telugu poets of the time...
wrote Prabhulinga Lile (1430), an account of the preachings and achievements of Allama; it was translated into the Telugu and Tamil language
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
s at the behest of his patron king, and later into the Sanskrit and Marathi language
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
s. In the story, Allama is considered an incarnation of the Hindu god Ganapathi while Ganapathi's mother, Parvati
Parvati
Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
(Shiva's consort), takes the form of a princess of Banavasi. A notable anthology called the Sunyasampadane ("The achievement of nothingness", 1400) was compiled on the life of Allama and gives details about his interaction with contemporary saints. A poem by Allama Prabhu:
Akka Mahadevi
Akka Mahadevi
Akka Mahadevi was a prominent figure of the Veerashaiva Bhakti movement of the 12th century Karnataka. Her Vachanas in Kannada, a form of didactic poetry are considered her greatest contribution to Kannada Bhakti literature. In all she wrote about 430 Vachanas which is relatively fewer than that...
. Born to a merchant family in the town Udatadi (or Udugani) in the Uttara Kannada district, and possibly married against her wishes to a feudal chief called Kausika, she renounced worldly pleasures, opting for a life of devotion and asceticism. She is often compared to other such notable female saint-poets of Hinduism as Andal
Andal
Andal is the the only female Alvar of the 12 Alvar saints of South India, who are known for their affiliation to Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. She is credited with the great Tamil works of Thirupavai and Nachiar Tirumozhi that are still recited by devotees during the Winter festival season of...
, Lalleswari and Meera Bai, and is considered one of the prominent female poets of the Kannada language.
The 430 short poems written by her, in a language that depicts her love for her divine lover "Channa Mallikarjuna" (lit, "Beautiful Mallikarjuna", a name for the god Shiva), and the 15th-century anthology, the Sunyasampadane, are the main sources of information about her life. Her poetry is characterised by scorn for physical possessions and detachment from worldly affairs. A popular poem written by her describes the life of a silk worm which spins a cocoon, becomes entangled in the threads, and eventually dies because it cannot extricate itself – the silk worm is compared to a person and the silk threads, to worldly desires. In a poem of puns, the poet prays that her god, whom she describes as the "Lord of fragrant Jasmines", may cut through the cocoon of desires so she may become free like a butterfly.
In addition to poetry, she is credited with two short writings, Mantrogopya and Yogangatrividhi, the latter written in the native tripadi metre, describing the various stages of spiritual enlightenment. Tradition has it that Akka Mahadevi preferred to wear no clothes, a form of renunciation which in her own words was the "most exalted spiritual state". She died while still in her twenties in a plantain grove in the holy city of Srisailam
Srisailam
Srisailam is a holy town and mandal, situated in Nallamala Hills of Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, India. It is located on the banks of River Krishna, about 232 km south of Hyderabad....
. A poem by Akka Mahadevi:
Other poets
Basavanna's nephew, Chennabasava, is more popular as a strategist and a theologian. Apart from authoring some notable and lengthy Vachana poems, he wrote on yogic
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
experiences in a book called Mantragopya. He is known to have been the manager of the gatherings and the Mahamane ("great house") of Basavanna. Credited to Siddharama, another influential devotee and a native of Sonnalige (modern Sholapur, Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
), are writings in tripadi metre and 1,379 extant poems (though he has claimed authorship of 68,000 poems). His poems were influenced by Basavanna's ideology and convey rejection of blind beliefs, the caste system, and sexual discrimination.
Artisan poets included Molige Maraiah, a wood cutter; Madivala Machayya, a washerman; Ambigere Chowdiah, a ferryman; Madara Dhooliah, a cobbler; Hendada Mariah, a toddy tapper; Turugahi Ramanna, a cowherd; Kannadi Remmitande, a mirror maker; and Revanna Siddha, a shepherd, as but a few in a long list of poets. Poets Dakkeya Bommaiah, Bahuroopi Chowdaiah, Kalaketaiah and Nageya Maritande were ritual street performers and their poems reflect images from their trade.
Several women poets made important contributions including: Basavanna's sister Nagalambike and his two wives, Gangambike and Neelambike, though Neelambike seems to have been the more prolific. Some female poets were wives of male poets in the Veerashaiva congregation. Notable among them are Satyakka, whose poems compare in quality to those of Akka Mahadevi, Kelavve (a dalit
Dalit
Dalit is a designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as Untouchable. Dalits are a mixed population, consisting of numerous castes from all over South Asia; they speak a variety of languages and practice a multitude of religions...
poet), whose poems scorn at the upper caste people, Mahadevi and Lingamma, who wrote poems in a mystic language, Amuge Rayamma and Akkamma, who penned poems on the hypocrisy of religious pretences, Kadire Remavva (a spinner), who employed a cryptic language called bedagu in her poems, and Muktayakka, who is known for her debates with the patron saint Allama himself. Other names worthy of mention are Lakkamma, Ketaladevi, Guddavve and a princess called Bontadevi.
Decline
Challenging the very core of the caste-based society, the Veerashaivas conducted a marriage between an upper caste Brahmin bride and a lower caste Shudra groom. The resulting confrontation between rebellious Veerashaivas and the conservative upper classes lead to the assassination of King Bijjala II and the eviction of most devotees, including Basavanna, from Kalyani. The successors of King Bijjala II were weak, prompting Chalukya Somesvara IV, ruling from Annigeri, to attempt rebuilding his empire by invading Kalyani in 1183. Though his invasion was successful, his overall efforts failed and the dynasty was ended by the Seuna rulers who drove Somesvara IV into exile in Banavasi in 1189. Though these turbulent events caused a setback to the Veerashaiva gatherings and creation of poems, the movement had set roots in the Kannada soil and regained popularity in the 15th century under the patronage of the rulers of the Vijayanagara EmpireVijayanagara Empire
The Vijayanagara Empire , referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was an empire based in South Indian in the Deccan Plateau region. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of the Yadava lineage. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts...
.
Literature after the Chalukyas
The post-Chalukya period is characterised by the popularity of Shaiva and Vaishnava devotional writings, though secular and courtly topics written in native metres continued to flourish. Native metres in vogue were the shatpadi (six-line verse), the tripadi, the ragle (rhymed couplets) and the sangatya (compositions meant to be sung to the accompaniment a musical instrument). Overall, Kannada writings began to change from marga ("formal", due to Sanskritic influence) to desi ("vernacular") and become more accessible to the common man.This change is apparent in the writings of the Hoysala court poets, some of who are noted for pioneering works in native metres. The Veerashiava poet Harihara
Harihara (poet)
Harihara was a noted Kannada poet and writer in the 12th century. A native of Halebidu in modern Hassan district, he came from a family of accountants and initially served in that capacity in the court of Hoysala King Narasimha I . Later, he moved to Hampi and authored many classics...
, one of the most prominent poets of the medieval era, established the ragale tradition with his biography of Basavanna (Basavaraja Devara ragale, 1160), the earliest available biography of the social reformer and of the Kannada language as well. His nephew Raghavanka
Raghavanka
Raghavanka was a noted Kannada writer and a poet in the Hoysala court which flourished in the late 12th to early 13th century. Raghavanka is credited for popularising the use of the native shatpadi metre in Kannada literature...
established the shatpadi metre in his unique and original narration of the story of King Harishchandra
Harishchandra
Harishchandra, in Hindu religious texts is the 36th king of the Solar Dynasty, Surya Maharishi Gothram . His legend is very popular and often told as a benchmark for an ideal life. He was renowned for his piety and justice. His name is Sanskrit for "having golden splendour".Harishchandra had two...
called Harishchandra Kavya (1200). Sisumayana is credited with introducing a new composition called sangatya (1232) in his allegorical poems Tripuradahana ("Burning of the triple fortress") and Anjanacharita. Some Jain authors continued the champu tradition, such as Janna
Janna
Janna was one of the well-known Kannada poets of the early 13th century who also served in the capacity of a minister and a builder of temples. He graced the court of Hoysala empire king Veera Ballala II and earned the title Kavichakravarthi...
, immortalised by his writing Yashodhara Charite (1207), a unique set of stories in 310 verses dealing with sadomasochism and transmigration of the soul. The earliest well-known Brahmin writers also emerged during the late 12th century and wrote on themes ranging from Vaishnava faith (Rudrabhatta
Rudrabhatta
Rudrabhatta was an influential Kannada writer in the court of the Hoysala Empire whose patron was a minister of King Veera Ballala II in the late 12th century. His seminal work is Rasakalika which played an important role in the development of Indian aesthetics. It was the source for Vidyanatha in...
's Jagannatha Vijaya, 1185) to secular treatises on poetics (Kavi Kama's Sringara Ratnakara, on poetic sentiment and flavor).
After the fall of the Kalachuri empire, the Vachana poetic tradition halted temporarily. However, by the 14th century, the Veerashaivas who held influential positions in the Vijayanagara Empire
Vijayanagara Empire
The Vijayanagara Empire , referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was an empire based in South Indian in the Deccan Plateau region. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of the Yadava lineage. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts...
were exerting their influence, especially during the reign of King Deva Raya II
Deva Raya II
Deva Raya II was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire from the Sangama Dynasty. Perhaps the greatest of the Sangama dynasty rulers, he patronised some of the famous Kannada and Telugu poets of the time...
(or Prouda Deva Raya). Although this period is not as famous for the proliferation of the Vachana poems as the 12th century was, contemporary writers adopted the preachings of the saints and devotees of the bygone era and made them the protagonists of their writings. Having found a rallying point to spread their faith, they began an era of commentaries, anthologies and biographies. Famous among biographies were Bhimakavi's Basavapurana (1369), Singiraja's Mala-Basavapurana (or Singirajapurana, 1500) on the life of Basavanna, Chamarasa
Chamarasa
Chamarasa was an eminent Virashaiva poet unsurpassed in the Kannada literature, during the Vijayanagar Empire, a powerful empire in Southern India of the 13th and 14th centuries...
's Prabhulingalile (1425) on the life of Allama Prabhu and Virupaksha Pandita's Chenna Basavapurana (1584), an account of Chennabasava. Among a long list of anthologies, four versions of the Shunyasampadane are the most well-known. The first version, completed in 1400 by Shivaganaprasadi Mahadevaiah, was written in the form of a dialogue between the protagonist, saint Allama Prabhu, and other well-known Veerashaiva devotees. Later versions were compiled by Halage Arya (1500), Gummalapura Siddhalingayati (1560) and Gulur Siddhaveeranodaya (1570). Writing Vachana poems was popularised again from the mid-16th century, though Kannada language had to wait till the 17th century to discover its greatest modern poet in this genre. Sarvajna
Sarvajna
Sarvajña was a poet in the Kannada language. He is famous for his pithy three-lined poems which are called tripadis, "with three padas, three-liners", a form of Vachanas. He is also referred as Sarvagna in modern translation.The period of Sarvajña's life has not been determined accurately, and...
(lit. "The all knowing", 16th or 17th century), a mendicant
Mendicant
The term mendicant refers to begging or relying on charitable donations, and is most widely used for religious followers or ascetics who rely exclusively on charity to survive....
poet-moralist and social reformer, left an indelible imprint on Kannada literature with his didactic poems, numbering about 2,100 in all. Written using the simple native tripadi metre to instruct the country folk, these poems cover a vast range of topics, from caste and religion to economics and administration, from arts and crafts to family life and health. Sarvajna's poems constitute some of Kannada's most popular works.
Four noted Brahmin writers of the Vijayanagara empire, Kumara Vyasa
Kumara Vyasa
Kumara Vyasa is the pen name of Gadhugina Veera Naranappa , a classical poet of Kannada. His pen name is a tribute to his magnum opus, a rendering of the Mahabharatha in Kannada. Kumara Vyasa literally means Little Vyasa or Son of Vyasa....
, Timmanna Kavi, Kumara Valmiki and Chatu Vitthalanata proliferated the shatpadi metre in their versions of the Hindu epics. Inspired by the Vachana writers who used the song-prose medium to write their poems, the Haridasa
Haridasa
The Haridasa devotional movement is considered as one of the turning points in the cultural history of India. Over a span of nearly six centuries, several saints and mystics helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by exerting considerable spiritual...
poets used genres such as the kirthane (musical compositions with two refrains – composition based on raga
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
, or tune and tala
Tala (music)
Tāla, Taal or Tal is the term used in Indian classical music for the rhythmic pattern of any composition and for the entire subject of rhythm, roughly corresponding to metre in Western music, though closer conceptual equivalents are to be found in other Asian classical systems such as the notion...
, or rhythm), the Suladi (rhythm-based) and the Ugabhoga (melody-based) to convey their devotion to God. Their contributions to the south Indian classical music (Carnatic music
Carnatic music
Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
) is well acclaimed, Purandaradasa and Kanakadasa being the most popular poets of this cadre. Purandaradasa was the most prolific Haridasa poet who wrote in the ragale metre and also earned the honorific Karnataka Sangeeta Pitamaha ("Father of Carnatic music"). Kanakadasa was versatile in many native metres. His Mohana tarangini is in the sangatya metre, Nalacharita and a book of morals for children called Haribhakti-sara are in the shatpadi metre.