Mohanatarangini

Last updated April 25, 2019

Mohanatarangini (River of delight) is the first work of Kanakadasa (1509–1609), a prominent literary figure in Kannada literature whose works are mostly in the Sangatya (composition meant to be sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument),^[1]Shatpadi (Six line poems) and Shataka (hundred verse) metres. It has been estimated that he may have been around 35 years of age when he wrote this work.

Kannada is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Kannada people in India, mainly in the state of Karnataka, and by significant linguistic minorities in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala and abroad. The language has roughly 43.7 million native speakers, who are called Kannadigas. Kannada is also spoken as a second and third language by over 12.9 million non-Kannada speakers living in Karnataka, which adds up to 56.6 million speakers. It is one of the scheduled languages of India and the official and administrative language of the state of Karnataka.

This work, which is the biggest of Kanakadasa's compositions, contains 42 chapters with 2800 verses in the Sangatya metre.^[2] It contains various pauranika stories about suras, asuras and Krishna which the author narrates to his wife. The work has been inspired by mythological stories from the Bhagavata, the Mahabharata and various other puranas.

The word Puranas literally means "ancient, old", and it is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly myths, legends and other traditional lore. Composed primarily in Sanskrit, but also in regional languages, several of these texts are named after major Hindu deities such as Vishnu, Shiva and Devi. The Puranas genre of literature is found in both Hinduism and Jainism.

Shree Krishna or simply Krishna is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of the god Vishnu and also as the supreme God in his own right. He is the god of compassion, tenderness, and love in Hinduism, and is one of the most popular and widely revered among Indian divinities. Krishna's birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on Janmashtami according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar, which falls in late August or early September of the Gregorian calendar.

In Hinduism a Bhagavata, is a devotee, worshipper or follower of Bhagavanta namely God in his personal aspect. The form of worship is called bhakti which has the meaning of 'adoration'. In Sanskrit language 'Bhaga' stands for desire, 'antha' stands for the end. Hence Bhagavanta or Bhagavan means 'the one beyond desire or rebirth', whereas Bhagavata indicates a worshiper of this purified and persistent entity. It also refers to a tradition devoted to worship of Krishna, later assimilated into the concept of Narayana where Krishna is conceived as svayam bhagavan. According to some historical scholars, worship of Krishna emerged in the 1st century BC. However, Vaishnava traditionalists place it in the 4th century BC. Despite relative silence of the earlier Vedic sources, the features of Bhagavatism and principles of monotheism of Bhagavata school unfolding described in the Bhagavad Gita as viewed as an example of the belief that Vasudeva-Krishna is not an avatar of the Vedic Vishnu, but is the Supreme.

It is believed that Kanakadasa wrote this work when he lost his beloved wife. He seems to recount his personal experiences in fond remembrance of his wife. There is a close relationship between music and Sangatya poems in his work. This is a Sringara Rasa based book spanning over three generations. It is a story of Manmatha (the god of love), his parents Krishna and Rukmini, Pradumya (Rukmini's son), Rathi (Manmatha's wife), Aniruddha and Ushe. This story ends in defeat of demon Banasura and marriage of Ushe and Aniruddha using a presentation similar to sukumara style (a style of poetics elaborated by Kuntaka, a Sanskrit grammarian in his Vakroktijivita ).^[3]

Sringara is one of the nine rasas, usually translated as erotic love, romantic love, or as attraction or beauty. Rasa means "flavour", and the theory of rasa is the primary concept behind classical Indian arts including theatre, music, dance, poetry, and sculpture. Much of the content of traditional Indian arts revolves around the relationship between a man and a woman. The primary emotion thus generated is Sringara. The romantic relationship between lover and beloved is a metaphor for the relationship between the individual and the divine.

Rukmini Principal wife and queen of Krishna

Rukmini is the principal wife and queen of the God Krishna, the prince of Dwaraka. Krishna heroically kidnapped her and eloped with her to prevent an unwanted marriage at her request and saved her from evil Shishupala. Rukmini is the first and most prominent queen of Krishna. Rukmini is also considered an avatar of Lakshmi, the Goddess of fortune.

Kuntaka Sanskrit: कुन्तक was a Kashmiri Sanskrit poetician and literary theorist who is remembered for his work Vakroktijīvitam in which he postulates the Vakrokti Siddhānta or theory of Oblique Expression, which he considers as the hallmark of all creative literature. He lived roughly 950–1050, between Anandavardhana in the ninth century and Abhinavagupta in the tenth century and was a rough contemporary of Dhananjaya and Rajasekhara.

Plot

In the prosperous city of Dwarakapura, during Krishna’s rule, Krishna’s wife Rukmini pines for a child. Krishna blesses her saying that she will give birth to a child who is destined to be burnt to ashes by Shiva. Following this, Rukmini gives birth to Manmatha (God of love).

Dwarka is an ancient city and a municipality of Devbhoomi Dwarka district in the state of Gujarat in northwestern India. It is located on the western shore of the Okhamandal Peninsula on the right bank of the Gomti River. In 2011 it had a population of 38,873. Dwarka is one of the foremost Chardhams, four sacred Hindu pilgrimage sites, and is one of the Sapta Puri, the seven most ancient religious cities in the country. Dwarka is often identified with the Dwarka Kingdom, the ancient kingdom of Krishna, and is believed to have been the first capital of Gujarat.

Shiva also known as Mahadeva is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is one of the supreme beings within Shaivism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.

One day, Manmatha, while fleeing from the demon Tarakasura, comes to Shiva who is deep in meditation. Manmatha breaks Shiva's meditation, and this infuriates Shiva who turns him into ashes. A forlorn Rathi (Manmatha's lover) wanders for many years and eventually comes to Shambasura's kingdom and joins the kitchen as a maid.

Meanwhile, Manmatha reincarnates as Rukmini's son Pradyumna. Shambasura, fearing that Pradyumna is destined to kill him, kidnaps the ten-day-old Pradyumna and casts him away into the sea, where he is swallowed by a fish. The fish is later caught by a fisherman who presents it to Shambasura. The fish is taken to the kitchen where Rathi cuts it open to find Pradyumna. Shambasura gives Rathi permission to take care of the boy without realising that the boy is actually Pradyumna. The child grows into a handsome young man and becomes an expert in all arts.

Later, in a fight with Shambasura, Pradyumna emerges victorious and returns to Dwaraka along with Rathi. Rathi then recounts to Pradyumna that he was actually Manmatha in his previous birth. Pradyumna then weds Rathi and a child is born to them, and they name him Aniruddha.

Shombithapura is ruled by Banasura (a demon), a great Shiva devotee and daughter is Ushe. Aniruddha falls in love with Ushe and wishes to marry her, but this results in a war between Krishna and Banasura. In the ensuing battle, Krishna cuts the thousand shoulders of Banasura at which point Shiva intervenes and proclaims to Banasura that He (Hara) and Krishna (Hari) are one and the same. Banasura gives up the fight and Aniruddha marries his daughter Ushe.

Highlights

The work uses a simple Kannada style and describes the romances of the three pairs that appear in the story. The romances of Krishna and his consort Rukmini is treated in first four Sandhis^{[ clarification needed ]}, the Kama and Rathi romance in next twelve sandhis and that of Anirudha and Ushe in final 26 Sandhis. Though a kavya written in the classical style, with the conventional eighteen descriptions,^[4] the work delves into aspects of eroticism in its treatment of the romances.

The book also contains some historical accounts which has helped scholars in reconstructing chronologies of Kannada literature and history. For instance, in an attempt to enumerate ancient India, Kanakadasa names the Hoysana (Hoysala) and Cauta countries; with Cauta probably referring to the territory of the Jaina dynasty of that name on the western coast. The author also heaps praise on contemporary kavIshvaras (poets) who were engaged in translating many of the Vaishnava puraNas into Kannada.

India, also known as the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh largest country by area and with more than 1.3 billion people, it is the second most populous country as well as the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.

Jainism ancient religion that originated in India

Jainism, traditionally known as Jain Dharma, is an ancient, non-theistic, Indian religion. Followers of Jainism are called "Jains", a word derived from the Sanskrit word jina (victor) and connoting the path of victory in crossing over life's stream of rebirths through an ethical and spiritual life. Jains consider their religion to be eternal (sanatan), and trace their history through a succession of 24 victorious saviours and teachers known as tirthankaras, with the first in current time cycle being Rishabhanatha, who according to Jain tradition lived millions of years ago, twenty-third being Parshvanatha in 8th century BC and twenty-fourth being the Mahāvīra around 500 BCE. Jains believe that Jainism is an eternal dharma with the tirthankaras guiding every cycle of the Jain cosmology.

The descriptions of Dwaravati(Dwaraka) that the work provides are in ways very similar to those of Vijayanagara under Krishnadevaraya as seen in the accounts of Portuguese travelers. The descriptions of market places with colourful stalls and demarcated lanes teeming with craftsmen, clients, merchants; royal garden parties and glorious descriptions of the palace are all reminiscent of Vijayanagara under Krishnadevaraya. A drinking bout of men and women of the working classes is particularly vivid. In some places, it appears as though Kanakadasa has described scenes almost as they happened.^[5]

Further, Kanakadasa, in spite of being Hari devotee has not used his work to condemn Shiva. He shows equal respect to both Shiva and Vishnu in this secular work.

Notes

↑ Sastri (1955), p359
↑ Kanakadāsa, and Ke. Bi Taḷagēri. 1989. Dāsaśrēṣṭha Kanakadāsara Rāmadhānya caritre: padya, gadyānuvāda, Kanakadāsara baduku baraha, Rāmadhānya caritreya cintana. Gadaga: Vidyānidhi Prakāśana (Kanakadasa's Ramadhanya Charitre - a translation and analysis) OCLC: 21598584
↑ Classical treatise on poetics, The Hindu
↑ "Oral and Semiliterary Epics" . Retrieved 2007-05-13. . In old Indian poetics some 1200 years ago the concept of "eighteen descriptions" was developed to denote "compulsory or optional" tools in the crafting of epics, descriptions of milieux and events like City, Sea, Mountain, Seasons, Moonrise, Sunrise, Wandering in a forest, Swimming, Drinking party, Sexual pleasure, Departing, Birth of a son, Strategic consultation, Mission of a messenger, Successful travel and Success of a hero.
↑ "History of Kannada literature - II". www.kamat.com. Retrieved 2007-05-13.

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References

Kanakadāsa, and Ke. Bi Taḷagēri. 1989. Dāsaśrēṣṭha Kanakadāsara Rāmadhānya caritre: padya, gadyānuvāda, Kanakadāsara baduku baraha, Rāmadhānya caritreya cintana. Gadaga: Vidyānidhi Prakāśana (Kanakadasa's Ramadhanya Charitre - a translation and analysis) OCLC: 21598584
Nāga Varmā, and F. Kittel. 1875. Nagavarma's Canarese prosody. Mangalore: Basel mission book & tract depository; [etc., etc.].OCLC: 5355694
Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1955). A History of South India, From Prehistoric times to fall of Vijayanagar, OUP, New Delhi (Reprinted 2002), ISBN 0-19-560686-8.

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[sang-1] Sastri (1955), p359

[2] Kanakadāsa, and Ke. Bi Taḷagēri. 1989. Dāsaśrēṣṭha Kanakadāsara Rāmadhānya caritre: padya, gadyānuvāda, Kanakadāsara baduku baraha, Rāmadhānya caritreya cintana. Gadaga: Vidyānidhi Prakāśana (Kanakadasa's Ramadhanya Charitre - a translation and analysis) OCLC: 21598584

[3] Classical treatise on poetics, The Hindu

[4] "Oral and Semiliterary Epics" . Retrieved 2007-05-13. . In old Indian poetics some 1200 years ago the concept of "eighteen descriptions" was developed to denote "compulsory or optional" tools in the crafting of epics, descriptions of milieux and events like City, Sea, Mountain, Seasons, Moonrise, Sunrise, Wandering in a forest, Swimming, Drinking party, Sexual pleasure, Departing, Birth of a son, Strategic consultation, Mission of a messenger, Successful travel and Success of a hero.

[5] "History of Kannada literature - II". www.kamat.com. Retrieved 2007-05-13.