Indian Antiquary Vol 04

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 30

20
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
verses.
Some say (for instance the Munshi Tirumale Syâmanna of the Wesleyan Missionaries in Maisûr) that it is not more than about 150 years old.
2. Mahabharata, ten of the Parvas in Saṭpadi. The translator, who calls himself Kumara Vyasa, dictated his verses in the town of Gadagu (not far from Dhårvåd). In his time, he states, there already existed a number of translations of the Ramayana. This translation, as well as that to be mentioned next, cannot be called classical.
3. Ramayana, translated in Satpadi by a Brahman under the assumed name of Kumara Vâlmiki, as it seems, an inhabitant of the place Torave (in the district of Solâpur). This work is later than Kumara Vyasa's, as he refers to him. (Can they be identical?) He honourably mentions the Vedantist Sankaracharya.
4. The Bhagavata Purána; 11,208 verses in Satpadi. Towards the end the author says: "The good poet Châțu Viththala Natha has made the Kanarese translation."
5. Jagannatha Vijaya; 18 chapters, by Rudra. He says he has taken his stories from the Vishnu Purána, and his object is to glorify Krishna. The work contains well-known Krishna legends, in this case in various Sanskrit metres, thus bearing the appearance of some antiquity. Also the predecessors he mentions-Bâna, Harsha, Magha, Sankhavarma, Sântivarma, Gunavarma, Manasija, Karnama, Pampa, Chandrabhatta, Ponnamayya, Gaja. kusa-are of a peculiar character.
6. Krishna Lilábhyudaya, taken from the Bhdgavata Purána. The author invokes Madhava Muni or Anandatirtha (of Udupa or Udupi, on the western coast, who died A. D. 1273). Regarding his family, &c., he says, "In the grâma of Kadagatur, in the country Penugonda (P), is a Brahman of the Jâmadagnya gotra, a servant of Madhava Muni, a Kanarese of the northern district. His son is Veukarya Timma Arasârya. Of him I, Věîkayârya, am the first-born son; my mother is Seshambe, my brother is Narayanarya. I bear the appellation Haridasa. The lord of my work is Venkata Sauri" (i. e. Krishna of Tirupati). The work consists of 51 chapters, with 2543 verses in Satpadi. It bears also the name of Kanaka Krishna Lilibhyudaya.+
7. Hari Bhakti Rasayana by Chidananda, 301 Satpadi verses in 5 chapters. In the prologue he confesses he does not know the mysteries of
Conf. Weber's Indische Streifen, p. 392.
+ Verse 2 of the work is: "When a sapphire (indra nila) is set in gold (kanaka), people think it natural; when gold is set in a sapphire, they wonder (? here occurs a flaw in the manuscript). May the godly Venkata Sauri, who always wears the spotless gold-jacket (Pkdaigñank)
[JANUARY, 1875.
the Vedanta, or the Kâpila, Pâtañjala, and Sandilya methods, or the way of the Agamas and Puranas, and will only write by the grace of his guru. Afterwards, however, Le professes to give a short abstract of the Agamas and Puranas.
8. The Dâsa Padas; songs by Krishna's servants, in honour of their master. They are in various Ragale metres, composed to be sung, and each accompanied by a refrain. They frequently refer to Râmânuja and Madhava of Uḍupu as the great gurus. There exist many hundreds of these popular songs by Kanaka Dasa, Purandara Dasa, and others. Krishna is always introduced as being represented by an idol, this being either at Udupu, or Tirupati, or Pandaripura, or Velâpura or Srirañiga, or Kâginele (in the Kôda taluk of Dhârvâd). The Krishna Dâsas in South India may stand in connexion with Chaitanya (A. D. 1486-1534) § and his followers.
I give a Purandara Dâsa hymn that has the honour of being the first piece in a school-book in a prose translation:
"Refrain. In the whole world those are fools Who leave the one god (Krishna) and adore bad gods."
Hymn.
"He who leaves his wife alone (not thinking that she might yield to temptation) is a fool; He who lends money to relations is a fool;
He who entrusts a person with his money-bag is a fool;
He who is an impudent fellow is a great fool, O master!
He who sells his own daughter to sustain himself is a fool;
He who lives in the house where his wife has been born is a fool;
He who uses bad language when poverty comes on is a fool;
He who has no fixed mind is a great fool, O master!
He who in his old age takes a wife is a fool; He who plays with a serpent is a fool;
He who does not support the twenty-one families (kula) is a fool;
He who does not say O father Vithala !' (i.e. Krishna) is a fool;
He who milks the mother the calf of which has
died is a fool, O master !
He who lends money without a pledge is a fool;
on his breast that is like a sapphire (hari nila) give me success!"
Of these 174 have been printed at Mangalore, and reprinted at Bangalore.
§ See "Chaitanya and the Vaishnava Poets of Bengal;" Ind. Ant. vol. II. (1873) pp. 1 seqq.