Jaina Heritage in Gujarat

Author(s): Francoise Mallison
Publisher: Z_Nirgrantha_1_022701.pdf and Nirgrantha_2_022702.pdf and Nirgrantha_3_022703.pdf
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/269030/1

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THE << TRUE VAISNAVA >> : A JAINA HERITAGE IN GUJARAT Francoise Mallison One of the best-known pada-s (devotional lyrics) in Gujarati begins with the words "Vaisnavajana to tene kahiye, je..." "He alone can be called a true Vaisnava who..". The pada is attributed to Narasimha Maheta, the foremost Vaisnava bhakta poet of Gujarat (15th c.)'. It has become famous all over India thanks to Mahatma Gandhi whose favourite prayer it was. It is a simple description of what makes a Vaisnava and it reads thus : Vaisnavajana to tene kahiye, je pida parai jane re; paradukhe upakara kare, ne mana abhimana na ane re. 1 Sakala lokamam sahune vande, ninda na kare keni re, vaca-kacha-mana niscala rakhe, dhana dhana janani teni re. 2 Samadrsti ne trsnatyagi, parastri jene mata re; jihva thaki asatya na bole, paradhana na jhale hatha re. 3 Mohamaya lepe nahi tene, drdha vairagya tena manamam re; ramanama sum tali lagi, sakala tirtha tena tanaman re. 4 Vanalobhi ne kapatarahita che, kamakrodha jene marya re; bhane Narasainyo tenum darasana karatam, kula ekotera taryam re. 5 He alone can be called a true Vaisnava who does not ignore the sufferings of others, who helps them in their miseries and has no conceit. 1 He greets everyone everywhere, slanders none, he is steady in speech, deeds and mind : blessed indeed is his mother. 2

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Francoise Mallison Nirgrantha Equally he looks on all, he is without desire, another man's wife is a mother to him; untruth he does not utter nor grab the wealth of others. 3 Delusion does not touch him, nor deceit; detachment is firm in his mind; he is absorbed in the meditation of the name of Rama, he embodies all holy places. 4 Free from greed, and guileless, he has defeated passion and anger. Narasaimyo says : The sight of such a man saves one hundred and one generationss. 5 The Definition of the Vaisnava Etymologically speaking, the meaning of Vaisnava is clear "the one who belongs to Visnu, a follower of Visnuism". It appears, however, from the text that a Vaisnava is one who is able to practise a certain amount of virtues, such as compassion, humility, tolerance, control of passions, as well as to avoid a certain number of vices, such as lying, stealing, committing adultery, falsehood, lewdness, or anger. The devotion to Visnu doesn't figure among the essential components of his behaviour. At the most, the stanza 4 tells the reader that "the Vaisnava remains absorbed in the meditation of the name of Rama" (Ramanama sum tali lago, yet it is obviously not Rama or Ramacandra, the seventh avatara of Visnu who is meant but the Rama of the Santa tradition conceived as the name of the all-pervading God who should be apprehended within, and is equivalent to the Upanisadic Atmarama. No denominational affiliation, no sectarian adhesion seem to be implied by this definition of the Vaisnava, and besides, if devotees of siva do exist, it has never seemed necessary to define the qualities of the perfect Saivite bhakta ! What is proposed here is merely an ideal of conduct which, in accordance with the puritanic Santa nirguni tradition, is called Vaisnava'. This definition is confirmed by the fate of the pada "Vaisnavajana" in Gujarat as well as by the position of its presumed author towards Visnuism in Gujarat and within the framework of the religious substratum of the area. Who was the author of Vaisnavajana ? Due probably to the non-sectarian ideal expressed in "Vaisnavajana to...", the authorship of Narasimha Maheta was questioned several times. Dalapatarama (1820-1898) who inaugurated the modern period of Gujarati letters, a reformist writer and a member of the Svami-narayani sect was said to have written the pada under the name of Narasimha Maheta'. It has even been considered to have been written by a Christian missionary, again probably due to the ideal of conduct it advocated. These attributions, as well as the one to Dayararna (1777-1852, the last author of the

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Vol. III, 1997-2002 The << True Vaisnava >>:.... medieval period)", had to be dropped after manuscripts anterior to 1780 were discovered, bearing the chapa (signature) of Narasimha Maheta"2. Of more interest are two partially similar versions found in manuscripts under the names of Vacho and Nakara. Vacho's text, discovered by M. B. Vyas 13, has 8 stanzas in a sequence differring from the one adopted in the pada going under the name of Narasimha Maheta; but this frequently happens in the case of orally transmitted lyrics in which the number of antara (stanzas) between two teka (refrains) and their sequence may fluctuate! Neither the manuscript nor the text of Vacho, although apparently old, bear a precise date, and the author remains difficult to identify. K. K. Shastriis proposes to equate Vacho with Vasto : the author of two akhyana-s : Sukadeva 16 and Subhadraharana; he is supposed to have lived before 156817. There are also one or two authors named Vaccharaja 18 belonging to the 16th century, one of whom wrote a Rasamanjarini vartta"and the other a Kabirapadao, but neither the first nor the other two authors figure among the known Vaisnava bhakta-s. As far as Nakara is concerned, a prolific writer of akhyana belonging to the 16th century2, H. G. Bhayani has found in a passage of his Gujarati version of the "Aranyakaparva" of the Mahabharata22 formulas and phrases recalling those of "Vaisnavajana..." used here to describe the qualities of a hero (sura) in the YaksaYudhisthira samvada23. Whatever the answer to the question of authorship, it appears from these texts that one need not be a sectarian Vaisnava in order to praise the Vaisnava ideal of conduct. And, conversely, a sectarian Vaisnava need not abide exclusively by the universal ideal of the "Vaisnavajana...". This becomes curiously evident if one considers the attitude of the Vallabhans, who form the major part of the Gujarati Vaisnava, towards Narasimha Maheta and his pada. How do the Vallabhan Vaisnavas see Narasimha Maheta ? Narasimha Maheta's name appears in none of the Braja varta (hagiographic biographies) of Vallabhan saints, although Mira Bal herself is mentioned in the last of the "Eighty-four Varta" (Caurasi vaisnavana ki varta), but only to be denigrated24. No pada of Narsi is used in the Vallabhan liturgy (with one astonishing exception in the Balakrsna mandira at Surat). However, among the dhola songs in use with the Vallabhan laymen, there are a few pada-s by Narasimha Maheta. Indeed he could not be entirely rejected and, although he is not admitted among the pusti-bhakta-s, he, at least, has the quality of maryada-bhakta, of one who follows the path of the 'dharmic duties but does not abandon himself to the grace of Krsna26. This is illustrated by the belief, among Vallabhans, that Narasimha Maheta could reach ultimate perfection only after having been reborn in Gopaladasa, the author of the Vallabhakhyana27 or Navakhyana, of the last quarter of the 16th century, the only Gujarati Vallabhan work

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60 Francoise Mallison Nirgrantha to become known outside Gujarat as it was instrumental in founding the cult of living Maharajas, descendants of Vallabha, as constant reincarnations of Krsna28. Whatever their doubts about Narasimha Maheta, the Vallabhans approve of the "Vaisnavajang..." as defined by him, and any commoner will recognize in Narasimha Maheta, the author of "Vaisnavajana...", the oldest and most important Gujarati Vaisnava totally free from sectarian links, whose life conformed to the generous ideal given in his poem, and who was perceived as being anterior to the arrival of Vallabhism in Gujarat. A possible source of "Vaisnavajana..." in old Gujarati Bhayani, in his article 'Vaisnavajana' padani samasyao29, discusses the different possible sources of the pada as proposed by anterior research. If he thinks it interesting to identify passages of the Visnupuranaso or of the Bhagavatapurana", he prefers to stress the importance of an isolated text published by A. Bhojaks, the Vaisnava bhakta prabandha copai or Visnubhagata by a certain Mavo Vaisnava. This poem was written at Talaja, the birth-place of Narasimha Maheta in Saurashtra, in the year Samvat 1587 (1530 A. D.) for a certain Gora Rsi of Patan, the manuscript of which was kept in the collection of the Jaina Acarya Sri Vijaya Amkarasuriji Maharaja. In 51 stanzas written in the copai metre, the poem lists the qualities of the Vaisnava in a manner resembling the ideas and the vocabulary of "Vaisnavajana..." to such an extent that Bhayani is inclined to see in Narasimha Maheta's pada a mnemonic summary of the Visnu bhagata of Mavo Vaisnava". Mavo starts with 15 copai enumerating the characteristics of the avaisnava "the one who is not a Vaisnava" with the following teka (refrain) : Kahu sriramani te kima gamai ? "How will he please Sri Rama ?" In stanzas 16 to 48 he describes the qualities of the Vaisnava with the teka of stanza 16 using the very word "Vaisnavajana...5*"; Kahi sri rama vaisnava jana teha "Says Sri Rama : This is a true Vaisnava". In the last three stanzas he states his name, date and place of writing, and the benefits rewarding the reader. Mavo fits well into the tradition of non-sectarian saints of northern India, using the name of Sri Rama or the Nathapanthi terminology, as in stanza 45 and 46 for instances. But what is more striking is the fact that he includes purely Jaina rules among the rites to be observed by the Vaisnava, as for instance : stanza 16 : the Vaisnava must observe jivadayadharma, stanza 20 : he must drop the evening meal, stanza 22 : he must never drink unfiltered water, and finally stanza 46 : he must restrain the eight kinds of karma-s. Mavo knew the Jaina dharma and recommended its observance 36. These features, as well as the fact that he was preoccupied with a purely ethical ideal, show to which extent Jaina influence had penetrated into the pre-Vallabhan Visnuism of Gujarat37. It is well known that the present-day Vaisnava and Jaina faithful strive to outdo each

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Vol. II, 1997-2002 The << True Vaisnava >>:.... 61 other in strictly observing ahimsa and severe vegetarian rules. Their aims, however, are different : the Vallabhans try to keep themselves free from any kind of pollution, whereas the Jainas want to annihilate the effects of karma. Yet in Mavo's text on the Vaisnava dharma one finds a complete convergence of views on how to achieve moral perfection and how to determine the norms of human behaviour. Conclusion The ideal of "Vaisnavajana..." of course does not belong exclusively to Gujarati bhakti. From Kabira3 to Tulasidasas, there is a wealth of definitions in the devotional literature in new Indo-Aryan languages. But what may have been Jaina influence in Gujarat, may have been the work of Buddhist influence in the North. Whereas Buddhism disappeared, Jainism survived and became predominant in Gujarat, and this may explain why Gujarati bhakti kept on a permanent interest in the theme of moral perfection and why non-sectarian forms of Visnuism did not disappear. Dayarama, who wrote in the 19th century and was a Vallabhan, gave a final description of what a Vaisnava is not". His composition is sung in bhajana sessions at least frequently as "Vaisnavajana to tene kahiye.." : Vaisnava nathi thayo tur re, harijana nathi thayo tum re, sida gumanamam ghume. Harijanane joi hayuin na harakhe, drave na Hari guna gatan, kama dama cataki nathi phataki, krodhe locana ratar. 1 Vaisnava nathi tur re,... Tuja samge koi vaisnava thae, to tur vaisnava saco, tara samgano ranga na lage, taham tur kaco. 2 Vaisnava nathi tur re,... Paradukha dekhi hrdaya na dajhe, paraninda nathi darato, vhala nathi Vitthala sun sacur, hathe tum hum hum karato. 3 Vaisnava nathi tun re,... Paropkare prita na tujane, svartha chutyo che namhin, kaheni tevi raheni na male, kyam lakhyun ema kaheni. 4 Vaisnava nathi tur re,... Bhajana rudha nathi mana niscaya, nathi Harino visvasa, jagatatani asa che jyan lagi, jagata guru turn dasa. 5 Vaisnava nathi tur re,... Manatano guru mana karisa to, saci vastu jadase, Daya duhkha ke sukha mana, pana sacum kahevur padace. 6 Vaisnava nathi tur re,... You are not a Vaisnava Hari's devotee you are not. .

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1214 62 Francoise Mallison why are you engrossed in your pride? (refrain) At the sight of a devotee of Hari, you don't rejoice at heart, to hear him sing the praise of Hari, your heart doesn't melt; You did not keep yourself away from the charms of lust and wealth, your eyes are red with wrath. 1 If someone in your company becomes a Vaisnava, only then you are a true Vaisnava, but as long as your company is not powerful enough to imbue him, a raw devotee you remain. 2 Seeing the miseries of others does not set your heart on fire, you are not afraid of speaking ill of others; your love for Vitthala is not true, with obstinacy you only think of "Me Me !" 3 Generosity you do not love, never you leave alone your own interest; your deeds do not match your words, where has this been written ? 4 Devotional singing isn't firmly established in your mind and on Hari you do not put your faith; so long as you place your expectations on the world, the world is your guru and you are its slave. 5 But if you take for guru your own mind, you will reach the true Reality; Nirgrantha says Dayarama: calamity or bliss, the Truth should be told. 6 Annotations : * A first draft to this paper was read at the "Third International Conference on Devotional Literature in New Indo-Aryan Languages", at Leyden (The Netherlands), in December 1985. 1. On Narasimha Maheta, see F. Mallison, Au point du jour, les prabhatiyam de Narasimha Maheta, poete et saint vishnouite du Gujarat (XVe siecle), Paris 1986 17-47 and bibliography 10-12; and J. Kothari, Narsimha Maheta, Delhi 1994. 2. The Gujarati text is taken from H. Bhayani " 'Vaisnavajana' padani samasyao," Bhasavimarsa, 5-4, Ahmedabad 1982, 163. This is an emended version of the edition by S. Jesalpura, Narasimha Mahetani kavyakrtio, Ahmedabad 1981, 382. Several translations into English and even into French were collected by D. Patel and J. N. Trivedi, Eds., Love Poems and Lyrics from Gujarati, Ahmedabad 1977, [42]-[45].

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Vol. III, 1997-2002 The << True Vaisnava >>.... 63 3. The formula Pida parai jare is also found in the Barvai n.79 of the poem 'Barvai' in Early Hindi of Rahim (1536-1627): Pira parai janai "who can perceive another's pain", cf. R. Sneil, " 'Barvai' Metre in Tulsidas and Rahim," Studies in South Asian Devotional Literature Eds. A. W. Entwiste and F. Mallison, New Delhi-Paris 1994, 394. kacha : M. A. Mehendale (Samskrti, 26-7, Ahmedabad 1972, 219-220) proposes to understand kacha as "act, deed" and not as "body" or "sex" as it is often translated, duplicating the meaning of the following stanza. He proposes the etymology: Skr. krtya > Pkt. kacca > Guj. kaca or karya > kaja > kaca. 5. Ekotera : according to H. Bhayani in "Sabdaprayogoni pagadandi," Forbes Gujarati Sabha Traimasika, 54-2, Bombay 1989, 93 : "badotera so, bilamtara so," ekotera is to be read as ekotard so (i.e. as a Sanskrit copy of ekottara sata) and to be translated into Gujarati as so upara eka 'one plus one hundred' or 'one hundred and one and not as ekotera, usually translated as 'seventy one'. 6. Ch. Vaudeville, L'Invocation, le Haripath de Dnandev, Paris 1969, 62-65. 7. Ch. Vaudeville, Kabir, Oxford 1974, 99. 8. The Svami-narayani sect is a Krishnaite movement which was founded at the beginning of the 19th century and which subsequently developed Guru worship in a separate branch. It always showed a strong reformist and puritanical tendency. 9. K. K. Shastri, Narasimha Maheto, eka adhyayana, Ahmedabad 1971, 263. 10. Vaisnavajana was even compared with the Bible's Ten Commandments by M. H. Bhatt in "Vaisnavajana to tene kahiye," Narasimha Maheta asvada ane svadhyaya, Ed. R. Chaudhari, Bombay 1988, 296. 11. See below Conclusion. 12. Shastri, Narasimha Maheto, 264 and S. Jesalpura, "Vaisnavajananun pada Narasimhanun che, e vise samka nathi," Forbes Gujarati Sabha Traimasika, 49-1, Bombay 1984, 78f. 13. M. B. Vyas, Vimalaprabandha, Surat 1913, Introduction, 44. 14. See M. Lath, "Bhajan as Song : Towards an Oral Stemma of Namdev's padas", Bhakti in Current Research, 1979-1982, Ed. M. Thiel-Horstmann, Berlin 1983, 231-233. 15. Shastri, Narasimha Maheto, 263. 16. Ed. I. S. Desai, Brhat Kavyadohana, IV, Bombay 1890, 247-288. 17. K. K. Shastri, Kavicaritra (bhaga 1-2), Ahmedabad 1952, 318-323; R. Sh. Desai, Pracina kavio ane temani krtio, Baroda repr. 1977, 414. 18. A third one is actually mentioned by K. M. Munshi, Narasimhayugana kavio, Bombay 1962, 111. 19. Ed. Desai, Brhat Kavyadohana, IV, 199-246. 20. Shastri, Kavicaritra, 356-361; Desai, Pracina kavio.,300. It was not possible to consult the manuscript published by M. B. Vyas, but it would be interesting to check whether Vacho was not misread (or eventually miscopied) instead of Narachaio, one of the possible

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64 Francoise Mallison Nirgrantha bhanita of Narasimha. K. K. Shastri quotes the example of an old version of Vaisnavajana bearing this signature (Shastri, Narasimha Maheto, 264). 21. Shastri, Kavicaritra, 203-216, and Desai, Pracina Kavio., 254-260. 22. Ed. K. K. Shastri, Sri Mahabharata (Gujarati prabandha), II, Bombay 1933, 274. 23. Bhayani, "Vaisnavajana," Bhasavimarsa, 165. 24. This varta records the life-story of Krsnadasa, the fourth of the eight astachapa, himself hailing from Gujarat. The account of Mira-bai is in the first episode (prasamga) : in order to prove his exclusive faith in the community of Vallabhacarya, Krsnadasa refuses Mira's offer of hospitality and her gifts (see Ed. G. D. Parekh, Caurasi vaisnavana ki varta, Mathura 1970, 530f., and R. Barz, The Bhakti Sect of Vallabhacarya, Faridabad 1976, 41 and 213f.) 25. Pada : 'Padharya Hari Kumkumane pagale", Ed. Jesalpura, Narasimha Mahetani., 241. "The Vallabhan gaddi at Surat which serves the svarupa of Balakrsna was not always acknowledged by the other gaddi of the sampradaya. It owes its installation at Surat in the year 1670 more to internal problems of inheritance than to Muslim persecution. 26. in fact, I was even told once at Malia, a small town near Junagadh in Saurashtra where Narasimha Maheta is supposed to have spent his life, that Narsi was not a 'pusti-pusti bhakta' but a 'maryada-pusti bhakta'! 27. Ed. I. S. Desai, Brhat Kavyadohana, VIII, Bombay 1913, 458-470. 28. See the introduction of M. T. Teliwala to his edition of the Vidvanmandanam of Sri Vitthalesvara, the son of Vallabhacarya, Kaman 1926, 3f. 29. Bhayani, "Vaisnavajana", Bhasavimarsa, 163-167. 30. K. N. Joshi, "Narasimha Mahetae Vaisnavajanani vyakhyarupe sarjela padani mimamsa," Svadhyaya, 11-4, Baroda 1973, 326-328. 31. Shastri, Narasimha Maheto.,264f. 32. Ed. A. N. Bhojak, "Kavi Mava-Mavaji racita Vaisnavabhaktaprabandhacopai," Sambodhi, 6 3,4 Ahmedabad 1977-78, 1-5. 33. Bhayani, "Vaisnavajan," Bhasavimarsa, 166. 34. According to K. N. Joshi, "Narasimha Mahetae.," Svadhyaya, 324f., the word Vaisnavajana might have been coined by Narasimha and is less frequent than harijana. 35. Bhayani in "Narasimha-svadhyaya-3 : Vaisnava Narasimha," Bhasavimarsa, 7-3, Ahmedabad 1984, 4, lists the different aspects of the Vaisnavism of Narasimha Maheta which includes Jainism, Nathism and the sambhoga-srmgara type of bhakti. 36. In fact the unique manuscript of this poem was produced for a Jaina collection, according to the colophon. 37. It is remarkable that the influence is mutual. Instances of Jaina monks composing Gujarati verses on the Krsna legend and miracles can be quoted; see, for instance, H. Bhayani, "Jalakamala prabhatiyani pracinata ane tenui kartstva," Anusandhana, Ahmedabad 1972, 55-78 (reprinted from Svadhyaya, 7, Baroda 1969 398-412); or the Somakrta Sudamasara,

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Vol. III, 1997-2002 The << True Vaisnava >>..... 65 most probably a version of the Sudama caritra in Old Gujarati by a Jaina author, edited by M. R. Majmudar, Sudama saritra, Baroda 1922, 105-109. 38. Kabira, sakhi 4, 24, Ed. Vaudeville, Kabir, 183. 39. See the pada quoted by K. N. Joshi, "Narasimha Maheta." Svadhyaya, 330f. 40. It is interesting to note that the Section XXVI of the Dhammapada which bears the title of The (true) Brahmana lists in 41 verses (v.383-423) the qualities of the perfect follower of the Buddha. The description of the (true) Brahman recalls our definition of the true Vaisnava : dispassionate, merciful, pure, free from anger, bereft of ill intention towards anybody, without attachment..., and in the same way as "Vaisnava" does not mean a mere devotee of Visnu but one who observes a high ideal of conduct, likewise "Brahman" does not mean one who is born into the brahmanic caste, but only one who embodies all the virtues of a perfect renouncer. Moreover, the same definition does exist in the Jaina Scriptures : Uttaradhyayana, XXV, 19ff. (ed. Sacred Books of the East, XLV, 138ff.) which describes the [true} Brahman as no more the specialist of rites and sacrifices but as one pure in mind, words, and deeds, without any attachment, a nirgrantha. I thank Mr J. P. Ozier for having brought to my notice these points (J. P. Ozier, "Le jainisme", Un monde de eligions, I. Les traditions de l'Inde, Ed. M. Boisvert, Quebec 1997, 95f., and the author's French translation of the Dhammapada to appear in Paris in 1997, 75-81). 41. See D. Dholakiya, "Vaisnavajana : be bhinna drstibinduo", Parab, 31-4, Ahmedabad 1990, 36 38. 42. The text given here is taken from an oral version collected during a bhajana at Surat (August 18, 1984, Balakrsna Mandira). It varies slightly from the old edition of Kavi Narmadasamkara (Dayarama krta Kavyasamgraha, Bombay 1887, 299) and from the current edition by Sh. Ch. Raval (Dayarama-rasasudha, sec. ed., Bombay 1953, 153). See F. Mallison, "Les chants dhola au Gujarat et leur usage pour la devotion vallabhite", Bulletin de l'Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, LXXV, Paris 1986, 91-93.