Kamrupi literature

Part of a series on the
History of Kamarupa
Rulers and Events

Scrolls from Charyapada

Kamrupi literature is the literature written in the Kamrupi. The Kamrupi is eastern most Indo-European language which literature flourished during first millennium A.D to 19th century. This article primarily deals with some of the literature from Kamarupa and adjoining areas written in Kamrupi.

Introduction

Yuan Chwang, in the seventh century A.D. found that the dialect of Kamarupa differed only a little from that of Magadha or mid India. The Kamrupi was originally a variety of eastern Maithili and it was no doubt the spoken Aryan language throughout the kingdom which then included the whole of the Assam valley and the while of northern Bengal with the addition of the Purnea district of Bihar. It is not therefore at all strange that the language of the Buddhist dohas, composed in Kamarupa during the tenth and the eleventh centuries, should be a mixed Maithili-Kamrupi language bearing close resemblance to modern Assamese, the direct offspring of the old Kamrupi. Perhaps these dohas were composed in a language which could be easily understood throughout Eastern India.

Early Literature

The earliest Kamrupi literature was unwritten and consisted of nursery songs, pastoral ballads sung by cowherds, songs of boatmen, songs describing the twelve months, songs for propitiation of the goddess of small-pox (Sitala) and wedding songs. Naturally the composition and language of these songs and ballads differed somewhat from district to district. Those collected and published by the University of Calcutta in the first volume of the work known as "Asamiya Sahityar Chaneki" were not necessarily the ones current throughout the kingdom of Kamarupa. Grierson published, in the journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, a version of the "Kanya Baromahi Geet" current in northern Bengal towards the end of the 19th century. This very song is still current in Assam in a somewhat varied form. It is quite possible that when northern Bengal was a part of Kamarupa the same version of the song was current throughout Kamrup, Goalpara and Rangpur. The mantras or incantations uttered to exorcise ghosts, to cure snake-bites or to perform feats of sorcery as well as the wise sayings or aphorisms ascribed to Daka Purusha belong to this category of unwritten literature. The late Pundit Hem Chandra Goswami thought that the aphorisms of Dak were first reduced to writing about 800 A.D. Some of these aphorisms refer to trading on the Arracan coast when the sea stretched from the southern slopes of the Garo Hills. It can therefore easily assign Daka to a very early period. He belonged to the village of Lehi-Dangara in the Barpeta.

Second wave

The earliest written puthis in the Kamrupi language date from about the second quarter of the fourteenth century. During this period flourished two poets, viz, Hema Saraswati and Haribar Bipra. Hema Saraswati composed the "Prahlad Charitra" based on the Vamana Purana while Haribar Bipra translated the Aswamedha Parva of the Mababharata. Kaviratna was the author of the "Jayadratha Vadha". His home was at Sila, a village within the Barpeta suvdivision. The writings of all these three poets are still extant. To a some what later period belonged Madhava Kandali and Rudra Kandali. The former versified portions of the Ramayana and the latter composed, in Kamrupi verse, portions of the Mahabharata. Sankar Deva who was born in 1449 A.D. refers to Madhava Kandali as one of the reputed poets belonging to an earlier age. It may therefore place both Madhava Kandali and Rudra Kandali towards the end of the fourteenth century. In his Ramayana, Madhava Kandali himself states that his other name was Kaviraj-Kandali and that though he could easily compose verses in Sanskrit he composed the Ramayana in Assamese verse for the benefit of the people at large. Madhava Kandali wrote also another poem entitled "Devajit." Sixteenth century, witnessed a great development of the vernacular literature of Kamarupa. The Yogini Tantra, a well-known Sanskrit work which gives the boundaries of the kingdom of Kamarupa as it existed during the rule of the Pala kings probably written in Kamarupa during the first pact of the sixteenth century. To this period it must also assign the compilation of the Behula Upakhyana by Durgabar Kayastha, a native of Kamakhya.

Legends

The story of Behula and Chand Sadagar appears to be common to both Bengal and Kamarupa. The ballads connected with this story must have been current in western Kamarupa and the rest of northern Bengal long before the verses were reduced to writing by Sukavi Naravan probably in the thirteenth century and by Durgabar in the early part of the sixteenth century. The ballads of Sukavi Naravan's composition are still sung in Kamrup and they are known as Suk Nanis or Suk-Narayanis to this day. Sukavi Narayan was very likely a poet of Kamarupa who described the sea-voyages of a Kamrupi trader named Chand Sadagar whose home was in Chaygaon in modern Kamrup, on the south bank of the Brahmaputra but, strangely enough, both Sukavi Narayan and Chand Sadagar have been claimed as natives of Bengal.^[1] The songs of Durgabar are still known as Durgabari.

Further development

Pandit Siddhanta-Vagisha compiled in Sanskrit, the eighteen volumes of a work on smriti known as the Kaumudi. Another Pandit wrote a more authoritative work in smriti known as Smriti-Sagara in four volumes. The famous Bengali smarta Pundit Raghunandan mentioned this work as the "Kamaruvi nibandha". This valuable work has now disappeared. Sridhara compiled a treatise on astronomy while Purusottama Vidyavagish compiled a Sanskrit grammar known as Ratnamala which is still regarded as a standard work. This period marks the Vaishnava period of Assamese literature. Among the reputed writers of this period Were Sankar Deva, Madhava Deva, Rama Saraswati, Ananta Kandali, Chandra Bharati, Sridhara Kandali, Pittambar Dvija, Gopala Mishra, Chandrachura Aditya, Vishnu Bharati, Ramcharan Thakur, Krishnananda Dvija, Damodara Dasa, Ratnakara Misra, Ramananda Dvija, Bhusana Dvija, Norottama Thakur, Gopinath Pathak, Ramrai Dasa, and Sriram Jadumani. Nearly' all mentioned writers composed verses but Bhatta Deva wrote in prose. His "Katha Bhagavata" and the "Katha Geeta" constitute perhaps the earliest vernacular prose composition in Kamarupa. Sankar Deva was a prolific writer in Assamese verse and a poet of high order. His most popular works were the Kirtan" and the Dasam meant to popularize his own tenet. Sankar Deva also wrote a Sanskrit work eititled Bhakti Ratnakara. The two most important works of Madhava Deva were the Nama Ghosa and the Bhakti-Ratnavali.

There is much controversy as to the authorship and date of a work known as Dipiki Chanda. Internal evidence points to the compilation of the work after the death of Sankar Deva. The author is said to have been a king called Purusottama Gajapati. Several Assamese writers hive attempted to locate him somewhere in Assam but all have failed to notice the fact that Purusottama Gajapati was a well-known powerful king of Orissa who ruled from 1476 to 1497 A.D. and whose kingdom, or rather empire, extended from the Hugli district in modern Bengal as far as the Guntur district of the Madras Presidency. He was the son of Kapilendra Gajapati and the father of Pratapa Rudra, the last powerful Gajapati who ruled from 1497 to 1541 A. D. and who was a contemporary of Sri Chaitanya. Purusottama Gajapati was a devout Vaisnava and he may have written the work known as Dipika Chanda in order to ridicule the later Buddhist sect and the Tantrik system.* There was close connection between Kamarupa and Orissa in the sixteenth century on account of the existence, in the latter country, of the famous temple of Jagannatha at Puri. It is possible that an Assamese Vaisnava came across the book and translated it into Assamese verse. The title Gajapati could not have been assumed by an ordinary king. It was assumed by Kapilendra, the father of Purusottama, who possessed, according to the Muslim account Burhan-i-maasir, two hundred thousand war elephants.^[2]

The late M. M. Pandit Hariprasad Sastri was presented by the staff of the Nepal Durbar Library with copies of two works one of which was the Dakarnava. Pandit Sastri says that this work, though almost entirely written in Sanskrit, contains some verses in a curious form of Prakrit. He writes:

It is rathar strange that a well-informed scholar like Pandit H. P. Sastri could not had out that Daka was a native of Kamarupa and that the "old form of language" met by him was nothing else than old Assamese. As a matter of fact however, the Dakarnava, was not related with Daka Purush the famous author of proverb. It is probably a Tantrik work dealing with the propitiation of Daks and Dakinis (male and female evil spirit).

Preservation of literary material

The Assam Government collection of Sanskrit and Assamese manuscripts now deposited in the library of the Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti, includes quite a good number of works. These are mostly works on astronomy, astrology, mathematics, proverbs, riddles, mantras, medicine, history or traditions and also tantras. Among the Sanskrit works the most note-worthy are Abhuta Sara book dealing with the propitiatory rites for ascertaining mischief likely to be caused by the occurrence of strange events, the Apaduddhdra Mantra, a tantrik work, the Astabargi Dasa, an astrological work, the Graha Vija Jnana an astronomical work, Graha Aryda, a treatise on eclipses, the Graha Puja Vidhi, the Graha Stava and the Graha Snana Mantra, all works on planetary worship and the Hastamuhtavali. a treatise on the art of dancing. The author of the last named book was one Subhankara Kavi. A copy of this work was recovered by Pandit H. P. Sastri from Nepal and another was found in Mithila. This also indicates close cultural intercourse between the adjacent kingdoms of Kamarupa, Mithila and Nepal in the old days.

Nature of literary work

The Yuddha Jayanava Dasa, Jyotisha Chakra, Jataka Chandrika, Kerali, Jyotisha Darpan, Jyotisha Ratnamala and the Jyotisha Muktavali are all astrological works pertaining to preparation of horoscopes. The Mantra Prakasa and the Mandaladhyaya are Tantrik works. The Samudrika is a treatise on palmistry. The Shatachakra by Purnananda Paramahamsa is also a Tantrik work dealing with astral physiology. Besides the above there are numerous works on Hindu religion and religious rites based upon the Smrita Sastras. Of the works in the vernacular language of Kamarupa the most important are Bhamvati, an astrological work by Kavirajt Chakravarti, the Ghora Nidana, a treatise on horse and treatment of equine diseases, Gukarati, a collection of mantras to ward off charms practised by Tantrik Buddhists who defy the authority of the Vedas, the Hara-Gauri Sambada, an important book which, like the Yogini Tantra, gives, in the guise of prophesies, the history of ancient Kamarupa, the Jyotish Churamani by Churamani Kayastha, a work on Arithemetic and land-Surveying, the Kamratna Tantra," an Assamese translation of a Tantrik work of that name ascribed to Gorakshanath, a celebrated Buddhist Siddha who flourished in the fourteenth century and the Kitabata Manjari by Bakul Kayastha written in Saka 1356 equivalent to 1434 A.D. This last named work is a poetical treatise on arithmetic, Surveying and book-keeping. The book teaches how accounts are to be kept under different heads and how stores belonging to the royal treasury are to be classified and entered into a stock-book. The bhandaragaradhikara of the Kamarupa kings mentioned in the Nidhanpur inscription were generally Kayasthas who were trained in book-keeping and accounts. Bakul Kayastha was the greatest mathematician of his time in Kamarupa. Suryahari Doibogna, the author of the Darrang Raj Vimsavali, wrongly placed him a century later Making him translator of the famous arithmetical Book of Lilavati, the well-known lady mathematician. Another remarkable work on erotics is a collection of mantras used to secure the love of young damsels. There are several books containing mantras for the cure of fever, snake-bite, small-pox etc.

It will appear from the above that the manuscripts collected represent literary activities covering a very wide range of subjects. Works dealing with astronomy and astrology are numerous. The conclusion that can be drawn is that Pragjyotisha, as its name implies, was, from the ancient times, a noted seat of learning in these two subjects and that the temple of the nine planets on the Navagraha hill near Guwahati was meant not merely for planetary worship but also, perhaps, as an observatory. The Tantrik works collected support the fact that Kamarupa was a stronghold of Tantrik Buddhism between the eighth and the fifteenth centuries. In Bengal and Bihar the Muslim conquerors, shocked by the debased practices of the Sahajia panthis, killed a good number of Kapalikas and burnt their books found in Odantapuri. Many of them escaped to Nepal and Tibet. In Kamarupa they continued to practise their rites undisturbed till the rise of Sankar Deva in the fifteenth century who roused public opinion in Assam against Tantrikism to such an extent that the followers of the cult were compelled to abandon most of their revolting rites preciously practised openly. The small number of Tantrik works collected is due to the fact that the Tantriks scrupulously observed the injunction of their preceptors to conceal their books, "Kula Pustakani Gopayet". It was with a great deal of persuasion that the owner of the manuscript entitled Kamaratna Tantra, mentioned above, was induced to hand it over to the Government collection. Further, after the spread of the Vaisnava cult of Sri Sankara Deva far and wide, Tantrikism fell into disrepute and Tantrik works were therefore probably destroyed in large numbers. A Tantrik work called Deva Damara was found by Pandit H. P. Shastri in Mymensing now in Bangladesh.^[3] The mantras of this work, meant to propitiate the 24 classes of demigods are in Assamese. This is not strange as Mymensing was always within Kamarupa.

References

Further reading