Thursday, 15 February 2024

SANSKRIT IN THE REIGN OF KAMADEVA


          The kings of Kaadambas were generally ruled the region called Vaijayanti or Banavasi in North Kanarese.  The early Kadambas supplanted the Chutu-Satakarnis of Vaijayanti.  According to the book  “An Advanced History of India”, the Kadamba capital was finally reduced by Pulikesin II, the son of KirtiVarman of Chalukyas. There was a king by name Kaamadeva of the Kaadamba dynasty of the South-West India in the 11th Century A.D. (1182-97)

A poet Kaviraja was patronized by him in his court.  Kaviraja was the son of KirtiNarayana, composed an interesting Dvisandhaana-Kavyam namely RaghavaPandaviyam in 13 cantos which narrates the stories of Sri Rama and the Pandavas simultaneously, with ‘Kamadeva’ as the mark.  The double purpose is achieved by the use of words having two meanings and splitting the compounds in two different ways.  It is said that artificiality in Sanskrit epic style reached its climax in this work.  The author’s justification for an attempt of this kind is clear from the following stanzas of the RafhavaPandaviyam:-

“SriRamayanManikyam BharataSvarnaMudritam

Na kasya kurute loke vismayollaasi maanasam  

SrimadRamayanam Ganga Bharatam Sagaro Mahaan

         That samyojana-kaaryajnau Kaviraja-Bhageerathau  

Moreover, the poet Kaviraja call himself a master of Vakrokti (one of the devise to test the literary merits like figures of speech) and places himself along with Bana and Subandhu who are masters of Vakrokti.

Kaviraja is the author of another poem ParijataHaranam in ten cantos describing Krishna’s bringing the celestial tree Parijatam down to earth.

No comments:

Post a Comment

A SHORT TREATISE ON SANSKRIT PROSODY - Part I

       PROSODY means the study of poetry.  In Sanskrit it is called Chandas or Vruttam.     The earliest and most important work in Sanskrit...