DEVOTIONAL LYRICS

 

      

     

                   Devotional lyrics with religious and philosophical tendencies were also developing in                             classical Sanskrit literature. From the classical age many poets, philosophers and mainly                         saintly men up to the present date have composed innumerable songs of praise and prayer                      addressed to many deities. But only outstanding works of classical literature have become                      popular among the masses. The ‘saUya-Satkma\’ (Surya satakam) of ‘mayaUrkiva:’ (Mayurakavi), ‘saaOndya-               lahrI’ (Soundaryalahari) of ‘Sa=\kracaaya-:’ (Sankaracarya), ‘gaItgaaoivand’ (Geetagovinda) of ‘jayadova:’                (Jayadeva), ‘naarayaNaIyama\’ (Narayaneeyam)   of ‘naarayaNaBa+:’ (Narayanabhatta) are noteworthy.

                                                           Mayurakavi

Mayura is traditionally believed to be the author of ‘saUya-Satkma\’ (Suryasatakam). Tradition describes Mayura as a contemporary of ‘baaNa:’ (Bana) and ‘hYa-:’ (Harsha). It further says that the author got cured of his leprosy by composing this ‘Satkma\’ in about 100 verses. In the beginning the poet invokes the Lord Sun. In successive sections the poet describes the horses, the charioteer, his rays, the disc of the sun etc. The sun is extolled throughout the poem not as a minor deity but as on par with the Trinity of Gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The poet shows his love for alliteration or ‘yamak’ and his style belongs to the Gouda school.

                                                Shankaracharya

 According to Orthodox tradition Shankara was born at Kalady in Kerala as an incarnation of Lord Shiva. Having taken to Sanyasa in his boyhood state he established in his very short life of 32 years the doctrine of Advaitha and made a lot of contributions to Indian Philosophy. A large number of hymns are attributed to Shankara whose poetic fervour is as inspiring as his profound philosophy. The ‘Bauja=\gastao~ma\’ (Bhujangastotram), ‘saaOndya-lahrI’ (Soundaryalahari), ‘iSavaanandlahrI’ (Shivanandalahari) and ‘Bajagaaoivandma\’       (Bhajagovindam) are some of his popular devotional lyrics. Of these, ‘saaOndya-lahrI’ is a charming sweet lyric in 100 stanzas. It describes the infinite beauty of Goddess Parvathi and extols her as the embodiment of the power ‘Sai>:’ (Shakti) which creates and sustains the universe. ‘saaOndya-lahrI’ and ‘iSavaanandlahrI’ besides being devotional are descriptive poems of high order, which occupy a predominant place in ‘tn~’ (Tantra) literature.

                                                                             Jayadeva

Jayadeva was one of the famous poets, of the court of King ‘laxmaNasaona:’ (Lakshmanasena) of Bengal and therefore he must be assigned to the 12^th century AD. ‘gaItgaaoivndma\’ (Gitagovindam) also known as ‘AYTpid’ (Ashtapadi) forms a blend of lyrical and musical elements. Though there are 3 characters namely Krishna, Radha and a friend of Radha. There is no dialogue in the poem. We have only monologues in the poem addressed by one of the characters to a silent listener. Each canto begins and ends with some stanzas in the usual classical metre and the portions, which are in the form of songs set to prescribed tunes, are introduced between them. These songs are generally composed of 8 musical lines and each song is known as ‘AYTpid’. The book on the whole consists of 12 chapters or 24 ‘AYTpids. The work describes the love of Krishna and Radha and depicts its various stages like the yearning, expectancy, disappointment, estrangement and reconciliation ending in ultimate joy of their union. The book has always been popular on account of the blending of literary, devotional, musical and mystic elements in it. The book has been commented on by many scholars in our country and translated into English by Edwin Arnold. Like Kalidasa’s ‘maoGadUtma\’ (Meghadhootam) among the erotic lyrics, the ‘gaItgaaoivandma\’ has given rise to number of such compositions. Many poets of the later ages wrote on the same model.

                                                   Narayana Bhatta

Narayana Bhatta (‘naarayaNaBa+’) was born in Mepathur in Kerala and lived from 1560 to 1646 A.D. Among his numerous works, his devotional work called ‘naarayaNaIyama\’ (Narayaniyam) has easily outclassed the rest by its depth of religious emotions in 1036 verses divided into 12 Skandhas. The author has covered the whole story of ‘Baagavatma\’ (Bhagavatham) and has lifted the narration into a frame work of series of stao~s addressed to Lord Krishna, the presiding deity of the temple of ‘gauÉvaayaUr\’ (Guruvayur). Though the work as a whole is too long and the narrating element is too evident to justify its classification as a lyric the devotional aspect is very pronounced. The author is said to have been cured of rheumatism while worshiping the Lord of ‘gauÉvaayaUr\’ and is said to have composed this poem as an outburst of his devotion. The author has recorded that he has completed his poem in 1585 A.D. ‘naarayaNaIyama\’ is one of the finest devotional poems and even this day, numerous worshippers especially in Kerala recite portions of the book as their daily prayer.

                                                                            Vedanta Desika

Vedanta Desika was a polymath who lived in 13^th century AD. His real name was Venkatanatha and his native place was Tuppul, a small village near Kanchipuram

He was a stonch Vaishnavite. He had written 125 excellent poetic works. His ‘padukasahsa`ma\’ (Padukasahasram) in praise of Rama’s sandals worshipped by Bharata, deserves special mention for its form and content. It is said that ‘padukasahsa`ma\’ was composed in one night to meet the challenge of a rival poet.