The passage of Indian Poesy II

By Dr. TLN Swamy

Read the first in this two-part article series here - https://issuu.com/tarangmagazine/docs/edition_8/s/17642412.

पुरा कवीनां गणनाप्रसङ्गे कनिष्ठिकाधिष्ठितकालिदासा। purā kavīnām gananāprasange kanisthikādhisthitakālidāsā।

अद्यापि तत्तुल्यकवेरभावादनामिका सार्थवती बभूव ॥ adyāpi tattulyakaverabhāvādanāmikā sārthavatī babhūva ॥

Translation: In ancient times, when all the poets were counted, Kālidāsa was assigned the little finger. But, no poet of genius comparable to his has existed till today; hence, the finger next to the little finger (i.e., the ring finger) is meaningfully named as ‘anāmikā’.

That is how the Indian tradition described the Mahakavi of Indian Poetry Kalidasa, a poet with no one to match him so far. Despite being immensely popular through his poetic works, very little is known about his private life. He seems to have lived around the 5th century CE. Though some scholars claim his origins to be from Kashmir, he seem to have travelled all over India and spent his prime poetic age in Ujjain as the court poet of king Chandragupta II.

MORON TO MAHAKAVI

Legend has it that he was quite a moron to start with and had been married to a princess via a plot by the courtiers to upset the proud princess, making him act like a wise scholar. After the truth was revealed, stung by the scornful words of his wife, he prayed intensely to find the favour of the Goddess of intellect Shyamala, who turned him into a poetic genius His very first poetic verses after the transformation were the popularly recited Shyamala Dandakam "Manikyaveenam upalalayanthim".

After his transformation, he created great poetic works as the amorous "Meghadutam", romantic "Ritusamharam", utopian "Raghuvamsham" and the classical "Kumarasambhavam" His body of work has set impossible standards in Indian poetry, adding a different dimension of romanticism to the thus far 'puranic' and philosophical literary works. He took the story telling to an entirely different narrative through his universally famous 'Dramas' "Malavikagnimitram", "Vikramorvashiyam" and the most admired "Abhignyana Shakunthalam" which many foreign writers translated into their languages like English and German, etc.

His death also has been attached to a legend of murder by a courtesan who got greedy for a reward announced by the Ceylon king Kumaradasa to complete the second line of a verse puzzle the king posted. Kalidasa, who completed the verse as soon as he came across it in the courtesan's house, was murdered by the courtesan to claim the credit and reward for herself. Later the fraud was discovered, but the king seemed to have consigned himself to the funeral pyre of his friend Kalidasa in immense grief. It is hard to prove the authenticity of these legends, but regardless of their genuineness, they reflect the tremendous popularity enjoyed by the legendary concerned person.

THE FIRST INDIAN DRAMATIST

Moving from Kalidasa, who belonged to the 5th century, let's look at one of India's foremost dramatists, poet Ashwaghosha. He earned his nickname for the legendary way he made even some starving horses listen to his teachings, who preferred it over the meal provided to them. Believed to be born in Ayodhya in the 1st century CE, he wandered all over India as an ascetic, teaching and writing, finally ending up serving in the court of Kanishka. His critical work was writing of the epic about the life of Buddha called Buddhacharita in Sanskrit, which became famous not only all over India but also across China and other South-East Asian countries through its adaptation into their local languages.

THE EARLIEST INDIAN POETS

Another first-century poet named Hala was, in fact, a Shatavahana king who ruled the current-day Deccan region. He is known for his famous poem called "Gathasaptashati."

Amarasimha, is another notable poet from the 4th century CE, a Sanskrit Grammarian and one of the nine gems in the court of king Vikramaditya of Ujjain Most of his works were lost except for the exceptional "Amarakosha," a metered compilation of 10,000 Sanskrit words, probably the world's first lexicon.

Bhartruhari is a 5th-century poet famous for his 'Shatakatraya" Subhashita deals with the practical applications of morals and philosophy in daily life. It is widely quoted all over India on how to lead one's life. He is also known for his other work on Sanskrit grammar called "Vaakyapadeeya," dealing with theories on words and sentence formation, including linguistic philosophy.

Bharavi is a 6th-century poet from Southern India and is known for his epic poem "Kiratarjuniya," which is considered one of the six mahakavyas in classical Sanskrit and regarded as the most powerful poem in the Sanskrit language.

Banabhatta is a 7th-century poet and prose writer from the court of the Emporer Harsha in north India, Kannauj. Bana is credited with one of the world's first novels, "Kadambari," apart from the "Harshacharita," a biography of King Harsha.

THE HERMIT POET PHILOSOPHER

One of India's most important first-millennium Sanskrit poets is Adishankaracharya, a philosopher-poet and a religious guru of enormous influence in reviving the declining Sanathana dharma around the 8th century CE. He is religiously followed for his teachings of "Advaitha Vedantha" which declares that "Aham Brahmasmi," i.e. the self "Atman," is the manifestation of the Almighty "Brahman" himself, and both are the same. He has also written excellent philosophical commentaries in the principal Upanishads called "Brahmasutrabhashya" and on the all-important Hindu scripture "Bhagavadgita," popularizing it further by explaining its cryptic message to the world.

In his short life span of just 32 years, Shankara travelled extensively all over India and established many monasteries called 'Matha's across the country, like the principal four at Shringeri, Puri, Badri and Dwaraka. These were set in all four directions of India and many other important places like Kanchi. During his extensive travels across the country, he met many contemporary scholars and participated in public philosophical debates with different orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy and succeeded in convincing people about the true essence of the Upanishads and 'Advaitha.'

BALA SANYASI TO JAGADGURU

Born in Kaladi of Kerala, Shankara lost his father soon and wanted to become a Sanyasi (Hermit) from early childhood itself, but his mother disapproved. Legend says that when he was about eight years old, he went with his mother to a river to bathe, where a crocodile caught him.

Shankara called out to his mother to permit him to become a Sanyasi, lest the crocodile would kill him. His mother had to agree, and the crocodile left him. Thus he took up Sanyasam, left home for education, and became a disciple of his Guru Govinda Bhagavatpada.

Through his extensive study of Vedas and Upanishads, propagating their true essence through his commentaries and discourses, he turned out to be a true genius reformer titled "Jagadguru." He got this title because of his efforts in resurrecting the ruining Indian religious tradition by reconciling the various sects (Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism) within his very short stint of just three decades. He attained moksha at Kedarnath. In 2019, the Indian PM unveiled a 12-foot statue in his memory.

THE LANGUAGE OF THE MILLENIUM

Many more Indian poets spanning the first millennium of CE, contributed immensely to the vast library of Indian literature, most of who were lost to time, leaving only traces of their existence in the form of references in some of the surviving texts or inscriptions. The few that could be recovered have demonstrated the stunning mettle of Indian literature, capturing the attention of scholars worldwide. Many of the ancient works of Indian poets have been translated into almost all regional languages of India and many other foreign languages, particularly English, during the British regime in India

The period until the end of the first millennium belongs to Sanskrit poetry primarily though there have been some noted works in other Dravidian languages like Tamil in the form of "Cilappatikaram" by Ilango Adigal during the 2nd century CE and other languages like Telugu, Kannada etc. The second millennium was taken over by the flourishing poets from many other Indian languages and also saw the influence of foreign languages like the Persian Urdu brought in by the Islamic invasion and English imposed during British rule. These impositions added a new angle of beauty to the versatility of Indian poetry through some of its wonderful exponents waiting to be unveiled in the upcoming edition…