Nagavarma I (c. 990) was a noted Jain writer and poet in the Kannada language in the late 10th century. His two important works, both of which are available are, Karnataka Kadambari, a champu (mixed prose-verse metre) based romance novel and an adaptation ofBana's Sanskrit Kadambari, and Chandombudhi (also spelt Chhandombudhi, lit, "Ocean of prosody" or "Ocean of metres"), the earliest available work on prosody (study of poetic metres) in the language which Nagavarma I claims would command the respect even of poetKalidasa. According to the scholars K.A. Nilakanta Shastri and R. Narasimhacharya, Nagavarma I belonged to a migrant Brahminfamily originally from Vengi (in modern Andhra Pradesh). According to the modern Kannada poet and scholar Govinda Pai, Nagavarma I lived from 950 AD to 1015 AD.[ So popular was Nagavarma I's poetic skills that King Bhoja of Malwa (central India) presented him with horses, in appreciation of his poetic skills.
Writings
Nagavarma I was patronised by King Rakkasa
Ganga (also called Rachamalla V, 986–999 CE) of the Western Ganga Dynasty.
According to the scholar Sheldon Pollock, he is the first among as many as five
Nagavarmas' who wrote noted classics in the Kannada language over the succeeding
few centuries Nagavarma I became popular
during the classical age of Kannada literature. During this period (9th through
12th century), classics in Kannada language were usually inspired by the great
Sanskrit language epics of India, or were didactic in nature and were derived
from Jain lore and legend. Writing on themes that were Loukika (secular and
historical) andAgamika (religious and legendary) was popular.
His Karnataka Kadambari is not considered a
direct translation of the Sanskrit original. Written in a smooth flowing
language, it has an originality of its own. Chandombudhi, the earliest work on
the science of prosody (Chandonusasana) is important from the point of
establishing a relationship between native (desi) folk metrical forms of Kannada
and the dominant Sanskritic literary culture that had descended on medieval
Karnataka. It was written at a time when the Sanskrit textual production had
won mainstream (margam) appeal and its scholars were held in high esteem. The
text also conveys that popularity of a Kannada writing was based on the types
of native compositions used. The text overall tries to reconcile local literary
traditions with the mainstream Sanskrit cosmopolitan.
Nagavarma I devoted an entire section of the Chandombudhi
to native Kannada metres and called it Kannadavisayajati.[10] He mentions the
native shatpadi (six-line verse) metre, more than two centuries before it was
hugely popularised by the Hoysala poet Raghavanka in the 1225 CE.[11] He also
dwells at length on metres that were common to Sanskrit and Kannada and calls
the section samavrtta, metres (vrtta) inherited from Sanskrit and very much in
vogue among the classical poets of Kannada language.[10] According to Nagavarma
I, some native metrical forms such as the ragale and dandaka that were later to
become popular in Kannada have similarities with Prakrit language metresReferences
·
Sastri, Nilakanta K. A.
(2002) [1955]. A history of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of
Vijayanagar. New Delhi: Indian Branch,
Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-560686-8.
·
Mugali, R.S. (2006)
[2006]. The Heritage of Karnataka.
Lightning Source Inc. ISBN 1-4067-0232-3.
·
Pollock,
Sheldon (2006). The
Language of Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture and Power in Pre-modern
India. Berkeley and London: University
of California Press. Pp. 703. ISBN 0-520-24500-8.
·
Bhat, M. Thirumaleshwara
(1993). Govinda Pai. Sahitya
Akademi. ISBN 81-7201-540-2.
·
Narasimhacharya, R (1988)
[1934]. History of Kannada Literature. Mysore: Government Press. Reprinted by Asian Educational
Services, New Delhi. ISBN 81-206-0303-6.
·
Nagaraj, D.R. (2003)
[2003]. "Critical
Tensions in the History of Kannada Literary Culture". In Sheldon I. Pollock. Literary
Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia. Berkeley and London: University of California Press. Pp. 1066.
pp. 323–383. ISBN 0-520-22821-9.
·
Various (1987). Encyclopaedia
of Indian literature - vol 1. Sahitya
Akademi. ISBN 81-260-1803-8.
·
Various (1988). Encyclopaedia
of Indian literature - vol 2. Sahitya
Akademi. ISBN 81-260-1194-7.
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