Indological Studies

Author(s): H C Bhayani
Publisher: Parshva Prakashan

Page 51

41
The Carcari Song
the metre employed in the Rasa song of the Upamitibhavaprapan cākatha in that if we cut down the last four syllables of the later and treat the eleventh syllable (now final) as long we get Svāgatā. Looked upon as a Mátra metre its structure and rhythm are those of the very widely used Apabharamsa metre Vadanaka (scheme 6+4+4+2, the last four Mātrās having the form or—).
18. Thus our examination of the Sanskrit and Prakrit passages from various texts having some direct or indirect bearing on determining the formal character of Carcari songs has shown that in the earlier period Dvipadi was used for composing these songs, but other metres also like Chittaka and perhaps Rāsāvalaya and Vadanaka were employed for this purpose.
Later Developments in the Form of Carcari
19. Carcari became established in later Apabhramśa and Early Vernacular literatures as a literary type or genre. And here also we can see how the Prakrit studies are quite indispensable for a thorough understanding and assessment of Early New Indo-Aryan literatures. In many a matter of language and literature there has been a continuous tradition without break from Prakrit through Apabhramsa to Early New Indo-Aryan, and much of the last cannot be even properly understood without help from the other two.
Carcari in Apabhramsa and Old Gujarati
20. We know about two Carcari poems from the Apabhramśa literature. One is the Caccari composed in the twelfth century by Jinadattasuri to eulogize Jinavallabhasuri22. It consists of fortyseven stanzas in the Rasavalaya metre. It is the same metre in which the Apabhramśa poem Samdeśarāsaka is principally composed23.
The other Caccari is known to us only by its name. While giving his personal account Vira, the author of the Apabhramsa poem Jambusāmicariya (11 th cent.) informs us that one of the four poems composed by his father was Samtinahacaccari24 i.e. a Carcari about the Jain Tirthankara Śantinātha. Nothing more is known about it.