Hoysala literature

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

The Hoysala age (1000-1343) saw the ascent of revered Kannada and Sanskrit poets. Sanskrit literature were mostly of the devotional kind. Many works by Madhvacharya and Ramanujacharya were rebuttals of Shankaracharya's Advaita philosophy. Discources between scholars of differing philosophy gained popularity with the advent of multiple alternate religious theories, Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita. This was a time of prolific Kannada literature. For the first time, metres distinctive of Kannada, sangatya metre for compositions, shatpadi and tripadi (seven and three line verses) tradition in literature and ragale metre in poetry were established.

Contents

[edit] Kannada

Kannada literature was prolific during this time.[1] Famous among them were Rudrabhatta the first Brahmin poet who authored Jagannatha Vijaya and was patronised by Chandramouli, a minister in the court of Veera Balla II. Janna, a student of the famous Kannada grammarian Nagavarma II, was the author of Yashodharacharite (1209) and Ananthanathapurana (1230).[2] He was patronised by Veera Ballala II. Nemichandra wrote the romance work Lilavati, Neminathapurana or Ardhanemi as it is incomplete. Nemichandra died before completing the book. Written with Banavasi as the background, Lilavathi tells the story of a prince and a princess who fall in love, meet after many delays, are eventually married and live happily ever after.[3] Aggala authored Chandraprabhapurana. They were both patronised by Veera Ballala II.

Naraharitirtha, (1281) a minister in the court of Kalinga who was inducted into the Madhvacharya order composed many early devotional hymns (devaranamas) in praise of Lord Vishnu. Harihara whose greatest contributions are Girijakalyana in champu style, Basavarajadevararagale in ragale style, Pampasataka a centum of verses in praise of lord Virupaksha of Hampi and Sivaganadaragalegalu was patronised by Narasimha I.[4] His nephew Raghavanka of Hampi who established the shatpadi style in Kannada authored Harishchandrakavya, Siddaramapurana describing the life of Siddharama of Sonnalige, Somanathacharite describing the life of Somayya of Puligere (present day Lakshmeswara in Gadag district), Hariharamahatva a eulogy of Harisvara of Hampi, Viresvaracharita and Sarabhacharitra.[5]

Nagachandra, was a builder and scholar. He built the Mallinatha Jinalaya for the 19th Tirthankara in Bijapur and wrote Ramachandra Charitapuranam and Mallinathapurana. He was patronised by Veera Ballala I. The Ramachandra Charitrapuranam is a Jain version of the legend of lord Rama in Champu style and contains sixteen sections.[6] Considered a complimentary work of Bharatha by Adikavi Pampa, the work earned Nagachandra the honorific, Abhinava Pampa. [7] Rajaditya of Puvinabage (1190) showed skill in reducing to easy verse his mathematical subjects in his (ganita) works. He was patronised by Vishnuvardhana and authored Vyavaharaganita, Kshetraganita and Lilavati.[8] Kereya Padmarasa who was patronised by Narasimha I wrote Dikshabodhe in the ragale metre and would later become the hero of another work Padmarajapurana.

Grammarian Keshiraja (1260) authored Shabdamanidarpana ("Mirror or word jewels"), a standard grammar book in Kannada. The book is written in a metre called kanda with prose commentary by the author and is off high value to a student of the language. Andayya wrote Madana Vijaya in 1235 ("Triumph of cupid"). The poem narrates how Shiva imprisoned the moon. In his anger, Cupid (God Manmta) assailed Shiva with his arrows only to be cursed by Shiva that he be seperated from his beloved. Cupid then contrived to rid himself of the curse. [9] Bhanduvarma wrote Harivamsabhyudaya and Jivasambhdana, a work on renunciation. Sisumayana introduced a new form of composition in 1232 called sangatya in Anjanacharita and Tripuradhahana, works intended to be sung to the accompaniment of a muscial instrument.

Mallikarjuna an ascetic compiled an anthology called Suktisudharnava in 1245. Kumudendu authored a Jaina version of Ramayana in 1275, influenced by Pampa Ramayana . Ratta Kavi work was Rattasutra (or Rattamala) in 1300, a work on treatment of natural phenomenon like rain, earthquakes and lightening planets and omens. Towards the end of the Hoysala rule, Nagaraja wrote Punyasrava in 1331, a work that describes the tales of 52 puranic heroes, said to be a translation from Sanskrit. Palkuriki Somanatha from Godavari district authored both Kannada and Telugu works. In Kannada his works are Silasampadane, Sahasragananama and Pancharatna, besides many poems in ragale metre and Vachanas. He is known to have humbled many Vaishnava poets in debates and finally died in Kailash. A romance work from Devakavi was Kusumavali in 1200, and Somaraja wrote Sringarasara and Udbhatakavya in 1222. A work on poetics called Sringararatnakara is attributed to Kavi Kama. Sumanobana was also famous. Parsva Pandita was the author of Paravanathapurana, Gunavarma II wrote Pushpadanta purana. Polalvadandanatha was a minister of and patronised by Veera Ballala II and Vira Narasimha II. He wrote Haricharitra. Chaundarasa was the author of Abhinava-dasakumara-charite, a metrical version of Dandi's Sanskrit work Nalacharite.

[edit] Sanskrit

The Hoysala period was an age of great Sanskrit works[10] Madhwacharya, propounder of the Dvaita philosophy wrote Rigbhshya on Brahmasutras, Anuvyakhya, a commentary on Upanishads and Bhagavadgita, an epitome on Mahabharatha called Bharatatatparyanirnaya, a commentary on hymns of Rig Veda called Rigvedavyakhya and a number of polemical works rebutting the doctrines of other schools of Vedas. Ramanujacharya expounded his Vishishtadvaita from his Matha in Melkote[11] Vidyatirtha wrote Rudraprshnabhashya. These works were later absorbed and assimilated by Sayanacharya, brother of Vidyaranya.[12] Bharatasvamin who was patronised by king Ramanatha (of the Hoysala branch in Tamil country) wrote a commentary on Samaveda, Shadgurusishya wrote commentary on Aitareya Brahmana and Aranyaka, Katyayana wrote Sarvanukramani. A family of hereditary poets called the Vidyacharkravarti (whose names have not been preserved) wrote Gadyakarnamrita describing a war between Vira Narasimha II and the Pandyas, Rukminikalyana (poems), Alankarasarvasva and Kavyaprakasa. Kalyani Devi, Trivikarma and Naryana Pandita were other famous Sanskrit scholars of this time.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Dr. S.U. Kamath, A Concise history of Karnataka, pp 132-134, Arthikaje, Mangalore. History of Karnataka-Religion, Literature, Art and Architecture in Hoysala Empire. © 1998-00 OurKarnataka.Com,Inc. Retrieved on 2006-11-17., Prof K.A.N. Sastri, History of South India pp 355-365
  2. ^ Yashodharacharite, a Jain work is considered a classic in Kannada language, Dr. S.U. Kamath, Concise history of Karnataka, pp 133
  3. ^ Prof. K.A.N. Sastri, A History of South India, pp 358
  4. ^ Ragales are poems in blank verse. Harihara has more than 100 poems to his credit, A Concise History of Karnataka, Dr. S.U.Kamath, pp 133
  5. ^ Harishchandrakavya is considered one of the great classics in Kannada language, A Concise History of Karnataka, Dr. S.U.Kamath, pp 134
  6. ^ Champu metre is a composition in a mixed prose-verse form, R. Narasimhacharya, History of Kannada Literature, pp 12
  7. ^ In this work which differes from Valmiki Ramayana in many ways, lord Rama gets Jainadiksha (conversion to Jainism), becomes an ascetic and attains enlightenment (Nirvana),Prof. K.A.N. Sastri, A History of South India, pp 357-8
  8. ^ These are early Kannada works on mathematics, History of Kannada Literature, pp 62-64, R. Narasimhacharya
  9. ^ The work which is also known as Sobagina Suggi, Kavane Gella and Kabbigara-kava is unique in that it was written in pure Kannada without any usage of assimilated Sanskrit words (tatsamas), limiting the words to indigenous words (desya) and naturalised Sanskrit words (tadbhava). Later works however have not maintained this effort, Prof. K.A.N. Sastri, A History of South India, pp 357
  10. ^ Dr. S.U. Kamath, Concise history of Karnataka, pp 132-134, Arthikaje, Mangalore. History of Karnataka-Religion, Literature, Art and Architecture in Hoysala Empire. © 1998-00 OurKarnataka.Com,Inc. Retrieved on 2006-11-17., Prof K.A.N. Sastri, History of South India pp 309-330
  11. ^ Fearing persecution by the Cholas who were staunch Shaiva, Ramanujacharya came to Karnataka in 1098 and lived there till 1122. He first lived in Tondanur and then moved to Melkote where the Cheluvanarayana temple and a well organised Matha were built, A Concise History of Karnataka, pp 151, Dr. S.U. Kamath, A History of South India, pp 388, Prof. K.A.N. Sastri
  12. ^ It has been opined by historian Prof. K.T. Pandurangi, A Concise History of Karnataka, pp 132-33, Dr. S.U. Kamath

[edit] References

  • Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1955). A History of South India, From Prehistoric times to fall of Vijayanagar, OUP, New Delhi (Reprinted 2002), ISBN 019560686-8.
  • Dr. Suryanath U. Kamath (2001). A Concise History of Karnataka from pre-historic times to the present, Jupiter books, MCC, Bangalore (Reprinted 2002), OCLC: 7796041.
  • R. Narasimhacharya, History of Kannada Literature, 1988, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, Madras,1988
  • History of Karnataka, Arthikaje, Mangalore. © 1998-00 OurKarnataka.Com,Inc. Retrieved on 2006-11-17.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../h/o/y/Hoysala_literature.html"