Rashtrakuta literature

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Rashtrakuta Territories (India), 800 CE

Rashtrakuta literature (

secular subjects such as mathematics. Rashtrakuta inscriptions
were also written in expressive and poetic Kannada and Sanskrit, rather than plain documentary prose.

Kannada writings

Kannada poets and writers in the Rashtrakuta Empire
(753–973 CE)
Amoghavarsha 850
Srivijaya 850
Asaga 850
Shivakotiacharya 900
Ravinagabhatta 930
Adikavi Pampa 941
Jainachandra 950
Sri Ponna
 950
Rudrabhatta 9th-10th c.
Kavi Rajaraja 9th-10th c.
Gajanakusha 10th century
Earlier Kannada poets and writers praised in Kavirajamarga
Durvinita 6th century
Vimala Pre-850
Nagarjuna Pre-850
Jayabodhi Pre-850
Udaya Pre-850
Kavisvara Pre-850
Pandita Chandra Pre-850
Lokapala Pre-850
The famous Atakur inscription (949 C.E.), a classical Kannada composition from the Rashtrakuta-Western Ganga period, describes the death of a hound Kali fighting a boar, and the victory of King Krishna III over the Chola dynasty of Tanjore in the famous battle of Takkolam

Western Ganga Dynasty King Durvinita, an early writer of Kannada prose.[2][3][4]

Chalukya Arikesari (a Rashtrakuta feudatory) to Arjuna, while casting a lofty and noble image of Karna and the Kaurava prince Duryodhana.[8] Pampa demonstrates such a command of classical Kannada that scholars over the centuries have written many interpretations of his work.[4]

Another great writer in Kannada was

Western Chalukya King Tailapa II) are called the "three gems" of Kannada literature.[7]

The earliest extant prose work in Kannada is

Banahatti, Ravinagabhatta who was patronised by King Govinda IV, Kavi Rajaraja who wrote the Kalasa record, Gajanakusha (also known as Gajaga or Narayana) who wrote on erotics and was a minister in the court of King Krishna III.[1]

A contemporary of Amoghavarsha I was the bilingual (Sanskrit and Kannada)

Jain poet Asaga (or Asoka), who is known to have written in Kannada, the Karnatakumarasambhava Kavya and the Varadhamana Purana. These writings, which are not extant now, have been praised by later day poets such as Jayakirthi,[10][11] and grammarian Kesiraja, (author of Shabdamanidarpana in c.1260 C.E), who cite Asaga as an authoritative writer of his time and place him along with other masters of early Kannada poetry.[12]

Sri Vijaya, court poet of

Amoghavarsha I, wrote Chandraprabha-purana in the early 9th century. Though this work is now extinct, the author and the writing have been praised by Chalukya minister Durgasimha (c. 1025).[13] Jinachandra, who is referred to by Sri Ponna as the author of Pujyapada Charita, had earned the honorific "modern Samantha Bhadra".[14] This classic is considered extinct.[15]

The inscriptions of the Rashtrakutas show a remarkable change, moving away from the purely documentary Kannada prose of the previous centuries to a more expressive language suffused with literary characteristics. The Mavalli inscription by King Govinda III (c. 793 - 814); the Shiruru inscription by Amoghavarsha I (c. 814 - 878); the Gangadharam inscription written by poet Jinavallabha which gives us an account of the life of his elder brother and poet Adikavi Pampa; the Kalasa inscription (c. 930) of Govinda IV which contains various metrical forms;[16] the Athakuru inscription (or Atakuru, Athaguru, c. 949 - 950) from the reign of King Krishna III - a unique hero stone that eulogises the valor of a dog called Kali that died fighting a wild boar; the Shishuvinahalli and Kalasa inscriptions;[17][18][19] and the Jura (Jabalpur) inscription of King Krishna III (c. 964) which describes his military success serve as good examples of classical Kannada composition styles popular during that time.[20][21]

Sanskrit writings

Many enduring works on religion and secular subjects were written in Sanskrit. In mathematics, ground breaking theories on

Amoghavarsha I.[22] His greatest contribution was Ganitasarasangraha, a writing in 9 chapters that defined important axioms. These axioms state that a proper fraction is a sum of improper fractions, a negative number is not a square number and hence does not have a square root. He also defined formulae to calculate the sum of complex progressions and a measurement unit for the size of an atom.[23] His other works are Chattisa Ganitha, a voluminous work that contains 9,000 Granthas (manuscripts) pertaining to mathematical collection. The Shlokas (verses) are in Sanskrit and the commentary is in Kannada language.[24] His other writings are Shatrinshika and Jyotish Patal.[25]

Trivikrama Bhatta was a noted scholar in the court of King

Amoghavarsha I. A theologian, his contributions are Dhavala and Jayadhavala (written with another theologian Virasena). These writings are named after their patron king who was also called Athishayadhavala. Other contributions from Jinasena were Adipurana (later completed by his disciple Gunabhadracharya who also wrote Atmanushasana), Harivamsha and Parshvabhyudaya.[22] Halayudha patronised by King Krishna III wrote Kavirahasya, a list of verbs with their meanings written in verse and a work on prosody called Mritasanjivini.[27]

Amoghavarsha I himself a noted poet wrote Prashnottara Ratnamalika, a book of high value on religion, later translated into Tibetian language.[31] Other well-known scholars were logicians such as Manikyanandin, Mallavadin and Prabhachandra. Sakatayana patronised by Amoghavarsha I wrote Sabdanusasana and Amoghavritti and Chavundaraya wrote Charitrasara.[22] Akalanka Bhatta wrote Rajavarthika, Nyayavinishchaya, Ashtashati and the Laghiyastraya, Lakshmidhara compiled Vyavahara Kalpataru, Khandana Khanda Khadya and others.[31]

The Sanskrit writing on medicine Kalyanakaraka by a court poet, Ugraditya, relates that the king requested the poet give the court a discourse on the evils of a non-vegetarian diet and the need to avoid such a diet to treat illnesses.[32]

Prakrit

Pushpadanta's contributions in Prakrit were Jasaurachariu and Nayakumarachariu.[22]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Kamath (2001), p90
  2. ^ Sastri (1955), p355
  3. ^ Other early writers mentioned in Kavirajamarga are Vimala, Udaya, Nagarjuna, Jayabhandu for Kannada prose and Kavisvara, Pandita, Chandra and Lokapala in Kannada poetry (Narasimhacharya, 1988, p2)
  4. ^ a b Kamat, Jyotsna. "Kannada Literature under the Rashtrakutas". The Rashtrakutas. Kamat's Potpourri. Retrieved 3 February 2007.
  5. ^ Sahitya Akademi (1988), p. 1180
  6. ^ Rice E.P. (1926), p. 31
  7. ^ a b c Sastri (1955), p356
  8. ^ Sahitya Akademi (1987), p. 37
  9. ^ Narasimhacharya 1988, p18
  10. ^ Warder (1988), pp240-241
  11. ^ Pollock (2006), p. 340
  12. Karnataka University
    . p. 17.
  13. ^ Narasimhacharya (1988), p1)
  14. ^ Lewis Rice (1985), p xv
  15. ^ Altekar (1934), p412
  16. ^ Sircar (1996), p49
  17. ^ "Classical Kannada - Land, History and People, Inscriptions of Karnataka". Centre for classical Kannada. Central Institute for Indian Languages. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  18. ^ "Classical Kannada - Inscriptions". Centre for classical Kannada. Central Institute for Indian Languages. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  19. ^ Sharma (1992), pp. 20-21, pp. 131-133
  20. ^ Kamath (2001), p. 83
  21. ^ Houben (1996), p. 215
  22. ^ a b c d Kamath (2001), p89
  23. ^ "Mahaviracharya of 9th century still relevant". Southern News, Karnataka. NewIndiapress.com. Retrieved 4 February 2007.
  24. ^ "Classical Kannada, Knowledge bases, Rare Kannada Manuscripts". Centre for classical Kannada. Central Institute for Indian Languages. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  25. ^ Mishra (2008), p4
  26. ^ a b Sastri (1955), p314
  27. ^ Kamath (2001), p88
  28. ^ Annapurna : A Bunch Of Flowers Of Indian Culture by P. Arundhati p.46
  29. ^ Social Life in Medieval Karnāṭaka by Jyotsna K. Kamat p.10
  30. ^ Reu (1933), p37
  31. ^ a b Reu (1933), p38
  32. ^ Narasimhacharya (1988), p2

References

Book

Web

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rashtrakuta_literature&oldid=1173392482"