Vasudevavijaya of Vasudeva (Study)
by Sajitha. A | 2018 | 50,171 words
This page relates ‘Completion of the story by a renowned poet’ of the study on the Vasudevavijaya of Vasudeva from the 11th century A.D. The Vasudevavijayam is an educational poem belonging to the Shastra-Kavya category of technical Sanskrit literature. The Vasudevavijayam depicts in 657 verses the story of Lord Krishna while also elucidates the grammatical rules of the Ashtadhyayi of Panini (teaching the science of grammar). The subject-content of the poem was taken from the tenth Skandha of the Bhagavatapurana.
Completion of the story by a renowned poet
[Full title: Importance of Vāsudevavijaya among Keralite Vyākaraṇaśāstrakāvyas (4): Completion of the story by a renowned poet]
Vāsudevavijaya is a poem with seven cantos and the story dealt with in these cantos is the life of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In order to illustrate the Paniniyan rules, Vāsudeva simply narrates the story of Kṛṣṇa. Though the poem is complete in the illustration of rules, the story of Kṛṣṇa is found to be incomplete. The whole Aṣṭādhyāyī is illustrated completely by the author. The author depicts the story till the Keśivadha. But in order to complete the story of Vāsudevavijaya, Melputtūr Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa composes his Dhātukāvya by illustrating the Dhātupāṭha. Melputtūr includes the story of Kaṃsavadha in his poem and complete the theme.
It is mentioned by Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa in his work as:
udāhṛtaṃ pāṇinisūtramaṇḍalaṃ prāgvāsudevenatadūrdhvato'paraḥ |
udāharatyadya vṛkodaroditān dhātūn krameṇaiva hi mādhavāśrayāt ||[1]
Melputtūr Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa is a great grammarian as well as a well-known poet of Kerala. The contribution of Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa to the realm of Sanskrit is very substantial. Such a renowned scholar like Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa is got inspired by the style of Vāsudevavijaya and it prompted him to compose the work Dhātukāvya. This is enough to prove the prominence of Vāsudevavijaya and its author among Keralite Śāstrakāvyas.
Thus from the above mentioned peculiarities and facts, it can be concluded that Vāsudevavijaya has great prominence and popularity in Kerala. The theme of the poem, the mode and comprehensiveness of illustration raises the status of the poem to a higher degree. The completion of the story by Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa shed light to the popularity and prominence of the poem. Another noticing fact is the popularity of Vāsudevavijaya The poem has a wide popularity all over India also. There are several editions of Vāsudevavijaya from different parts of India. The Edition of Vāsudevavijaya by Prof.Vijayapal Sastri is published from Himachal Pradesh.[2] At the same time there is a Punjab edition by Pandit Srirama Prapanna Sastri with the Kaiśavī commentary. A Lahore edition is also available. But the Punjab and Lahore editions are only published up to the third canto and they are not available now. These editions outside Kerala prove that Vāsudevavijaya is too familiar in the northern parts of India.
However, the sastraic nature of the poem does not diminish the charm of the poem. It can be found many verses with utmost poetic beauty. Apart from the other purposes of poetry, Vāsudevavijaya has an ultimate aim too. Learning of grammar through the medium of poetry is the prime and prominent intention of Vāsudevavijaya A strenuous effort made by the author while composing the poem is evident at some places. But there are beautiful depictions also. Thus the beauty of the poem is not at all that much interrupted. Besides, it cannot be included in the category of Mahākāvyas even if the author has intended to.
To sum up, Vāsudevavijaya is a poem which satisfies both the poetical and sastraic features. It has gained much popularity and importance in the field of Śāstrakāvyas not only in Kerala but in other parts of India.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
idem.