Triveni Journal

1927 | 11,233,916 words

Triveni is a journal dedicated to ancient Indian culture, history, philosophy, art, spirituality, music and all sorts of literature. Triveni was founded at Madras in 1927 and since that time various authors have donated their creativity in the form of articles, covering many aspects of public life....

Sanskrit Lyrics

By U. Venkatakrishna Rao, M. A.

BY U. VENKATAKRISHNA RAO, M.A.

(Lecturer, The Madras Christian College)

I

"Lyrical poetry" generally refers to verse which is, or is supposed to be, susceptible of being played on the lyre. It is an inspired and passionate outburst of one's own heart-felt experiences. Its function is to interpret, in an artistic way, "the secrets of inner life, its hopes, its fantastic joys, its sorrows, its delirium." The highest literary art is required to pour forth these "strains of personal magic and music."

In India, the lyric originated with the religious fervour of the devotees. And this is quite in keeping with the religious outlook of the people. The ‘dawn-hymn’ or the Ushas-Sukta of the Rig Veda possesses the finest lyrical characteristics. Devotional hymns are interspersed throughout the Epics and the Puranas in the form of prayers to particular deities. Tantric literature too preserves some fine specimens. The sahasranamas, the so-called hridayas and kavachas like the Lakshmi-hridaya and the Narayana-kavacha in the Bhagavata Purana, the bhakti-stotras like the Bhaja-Govinda of Sri Sankara and of the Ramanuja and Madhwa schools, the Gangalahari of Jagannadha Pandita, or the Krishna Karnamrita of Lilasuka belong to this class.

The erotic branch of lyrical literature is secular in character. It is only about the beginning of the Christian era that we find whole and independent works preserved of this class. Giving free vent to his poetic imagination, the poet draws upon Nature and natural scenery, investing it with a charm all its own because of the intensely human touch he imparts to it. Nature–the plant, and animal world around–is invested with a wide sympathy of outlook, and all vibrate in symphony with human aspirations. The chataka bird subsists on nothing but the rain-drops; the chakora drinks the rays of the moon alone. The chakravaka is fated to be away from its mate at night: Kalidasa compares the pining Agnimitra to this bird, stating that Queen Dharini is like the night, coming between him and Malavika. In his Meghaduta the Yaksha is made to find similitudes for the various limbs of his beloved in Nature around: the priyangu creeper resembles her body, her timid and fickle glances are like those of the timid deer, the lustre of her face is like the splendour of the moon, her tresses of hair are like the rich peacock plume, and the small ripples of the rivulet are similar to the play of her eyebrows. This love-lorn madness is carried to its logical culmination in the fourth Act of the Vikramorvasiya where Pururavas roams in search of his beloved, asking the cuckoo, the bee, the elephant, the swan and the rest, (cf. Raghuvamsa, VIII, 59), to apprise him of Urvasi's whereabouts. He even imagines that she, often brooding too much over his trivial offences, might have transformed herself into a river, having waves for her playful eye-brows, the jingling row of birds for her waist-girdle, with her garment of foam unfastened in her rage. (Lyrical effusions are quite permissible in dramas or epics when the individual inspiration is so strong). The cloud also contributes its share to intensify the feelings of those already pining and thus–because it could best sympathise with their feelings, knowing them best,–it was chosen in the Meghaduta as Love's messenger. The conventional descriptions of the ashoka flowering as a result of being kicked by a beautiful royal damsel, and the kesara plant with its desire for the wine ejected from her mouth, are also dealt with and serve to remind one of the superstitious beliefs obtaining in Europe that the royal touch cures certain obstinate diseases. Valmiki'scharacterising the ashoka as dispeller of Shoka or sorrow has proved infectious among lyrical writers also, and seems to have suggested the ashokadohada motif for Kalidasa's Malavikagnjmitra. It is quite usual, again, for lyrical writers to conceive of the moonlight (kaumudi, female) as the spouse of the moon (shashi, male); lightning (tadit, female) as that of the cloud (megha, male) and so on.

II

The Meghaduta is a towering example of this class. It consists of about 115 stanzas composed in the mandakranta metre. Kalidasa's genius exhibits itself even in the choice of metres which adimirably suit the context. To add to the pathos, in the VIII Canto of the Raghuvamsa and the IV Canto of the Kumarasambhava,–which are lyrical also in their character and content–the viyogini metre has been very aptly chosen, to suggest some viyoga or bereavement and consequent pralapa or lament. To suit the lyrical nature and erotic content of the piece, a metre that is both musical and perhaps easily intelligible to the inanimate cloud, was pitched upon in the mandakranta or ‘advancing slowly,’ but surely, like the cloud itself.

Kalidasa seems to have been indebted to Valmiki for his inspiration to write this work. He seems to suggest it definitely in two places. He makes his Yaksha choose for his ashrama the Ramagiri where even the waters in the lakes are hallowed by Sita's jalakridas with Rama, and forcibly recall to his mind similar sports of his own consort far away in the Himalayas. Again his comparison of his message sent through the cloud with Rama's message sent through Hanuman (in the Uttara Megha), is significant enough. Rama's delaying for four months in the Aranya Kanda due to the rainy season seems to have its parallel in the Yaksha consoling his wife through the cloud, somehow to bear up with her grief for four months till Vishnu should rise up from His serpent couch. Lastly Sita's particular mention of Kakasura's attempts to ravish her in the Dandaka forest even when Rama was asleep on her lap, seems to have suggested to Kalidasa the Yaksha's reference to a dream of his beloved (when sleeping along with him) in which she saw him making love to another damsel. These testify to the personal touch and intimate study and knowledge of the human heart. A profound insight, both into Nature around us and into the intricate workings of the human heart, is quite essential for lyrical writers, and a happy and harmonious blend of them is preserved for us in the Meghaduta, the first part being dedicated to Nature but yet full of human feeling, and the second part overflowing with human feeling, yet quite alive to natural grandeur. Such a harmonious blend is possible only when the lovers visualised in the theme are able to merge themselves completely in one another, when there is not an iota of suspicion in the one regarding the faithfulness of the other, and when as Kalidasa himself says, (but in a different context), these two are able to think and affirm that they are one soul in two bodies. Such a love was visualised as existing between Rama and Sita by Valmiki himself: "Sita was dear to Rama because of her beautiful form and more beautiful virtues. Rama was also dearer to Sita than her own life,–it is the heart alone that fully knows of the silken bond of love." And we find a faithful echo of such love in the Meghaduta. It goes without saying that Kalidasa records a subjective confession, and beautifully suggests a small chapter in his own autobiography.

To heighten the effect of the pathos, as it were by contrast, a Yaksha is made the hero, or rather the sufferer in the poem. The Yakshas are people who are born to enjoy perfect bliss, they know no tears except of joy, no heart-burning anguish other than that which is sure to be quenched. They have, again, no prospects of estrangement from their beloveds other than those arising from playful quarrels, and they ever remain in youthful and blissful enjoyment of their inexhaustible wealth. Such a Yaksha, due to some dereliction of duty, has been banished for one year by the capricious and unimaginative Kubera. (His name itself seems to be disgusting to Kalidasa). At Ramagiri he lives, emaciated and lonely. The sight of a cloud moving northwards, just when his heart was filled with yearning for his sorrowing wife at Alaka, infuses some hope into his love-deranged mind. He determines to send a message through this cloud which will certainly oblige him because of its benevolent nature. To add to it, other incentives, namely, the acquisition of merit by visiting holy places of pilgrimage and waiting upon the holy Gods Siva and Subrahmanya, and quenching forest-fires with its rains, are held up to the cloud to undertake the journey. The superb beauty of the places to be visited is also another consideration. The path from Ramagiri to the Himalayas by way of the Amrakuta hill, the Narmada river, the Vindhyas, the Dasharna country, the Vetravati river, Ujjain in Avanti, the holy Kurukshetra, the Ganges and the Yamuna, and lastly the mountain Himalaya where, near Kailasa, Alaka is situated, comes in for picturesque description and testifies to such intimate knowledge on the part of the poet as could have been acquired only by keen observation. Such wide travel, with no facilities, or rather with positive risks to life in those unsettled times, is enough to make us admire his patience and appreciation of Nature.

The Uttara Megha gives us at first a description of the superb city of Alaka, and of his own house which is certainly cheerless now. A description of the chaste and pining Yaksha-stri follows, and the cloud is bidden to announce itself gently to her at night when she will be rolling on the bed pining for him, or weeping over the vina while singing songs of himself in wrong melodies, or counting with flowers the days of separation that yet remain. The message itself is to be prefaced by a straight declaration that the Yaksha is safe, and is every minute pining for her as, he is quite sure, she also is. She is prayed to not to resort to excesses due to her grief, the major part of the period of separation being over. The reunion would certainly be rendered all the more enjoyable for such a long separation. The message is really a literary feast to the ear and the poet's genius has invested the poem with an ineffable charm.

The artist's insight is not so mature in the Ritusamhara, a work in six cantos, answering to the six Indian seasons and trying to interpret their meaning to the lovers. Kalidasa has been aptly praised for his vyangya-vaibhava or richness of suggestion; he just indicates to our mind's eye the richness of his poetic creation, Repetition of the same ideas is never indulged in by him. But here the same idea is paraphrased and expressed in so many ways as sometimes to tire one's patience. "The lover's passion is aroused" this is the chorus in many verses describing Summer. "The cloud instils anxiety in the hearts of the already pining lovers is the chorus in more than six or seven verses in the ‘Rains.’ Kalidasa who simply said in the Raghuvamsa, "When Dilipa entered the forest, the mightier animals did not exhibit their strength on the weaker ones," wastes as many as seven verses to describe the friendship between even naturally antipathetic animals like the peacock and the serpent, the elephant and the lion, etc. Descriptions of Vasanta in the III canto of the Kumara or the IV Act of the Malavikagnimitra have no point of similarity at all with that in this work. The conception of cupid as a warrior with mango blossoms for his arrows, with the bowstring of the rows of bees, shooting at the hearts of the love-lorn virahins is more artistically suggested in the Kumara III. 27, "When the arrow of fresh mango blossoms with its feathery tip in the form of the tender shoots was completely designed, Vasanta inserted the (black) bees symbolic of Manmatha's name." The fourteenth verse on Spring ambitiously aims at combining the effects produced by two verses of the Kumara III, 32 and 36. The poet who skilfully suggested love and joy in the raktashoka in the Meghaduta, declares that the ashokas fill the mind with grief in the royal season of Spring. But it is unique in its being highly sensuous to a fault, and does throw open the door to the higher aspects of Nature-Romanticism which is the keynote of his later works.

III

Bhartrihari is famous for his three satakas of Shringara, Niti, and Vairagya. He seems to have been a grammarian, a philosopher and a poet. The Vakyapadiya is written in a flowing style and the verses are as sweet as those of the moralist. It is a work on grammar, concerning itself with the philosophy of speech. His death, according to Chinese accounts, took place in 651 A. D. and so he must have flourished in the first half of the 7th century A.D. His style is simple and sublime.

The secret workings of love, its hopes, its fantastic joys, its pit-falls, the love-quarrels and happy reconciliations, in a word, all the intricacies of the Kamashastra are delineated in simple verses or muktakas, in a charming manner by Amaru or Amaruka. Tradition palms this work on to Sri Sankara. Anandavardhana of the ninth century quotes him and pays a very high compliment and so he might have lived at least two centuries earlier. Every poem is a gem in itself, and sometimes successfully rivals the sentiments of the Meghaduta.

Sri Sankara is believed to have lived between 788 to 820 A. D. Though more famous as a philosopher and a religious preacher, he has bequeathed to us a rich legacy of religious lyrics. Sivanandalahari, Soundaryalahari, Sivabhujangastotra, Bhajagovinda to mention only a few. These stand as a monument to his transcendental bhakti. The Soundaryalahari dedicates a century of verses to Parvati invoked as an incarnation of the divine sakti creating, sustaining and destroying the world. The Sivabhujanga stotra contains 37 stanzas in the highly musical Bhujanga prayata metre. The Bhajagovinda stotra is very popular in Southern India and is chanted in every Hindu household.

Tradition refers to Muka as a contemporary of Sri Sankara. He lived at Kanchi or Conjeevaram. His genius is believed to be the Goddess Kamakshi's gift. His felicity of diction and choice expressions have made his works very popular. His Panchashati consists of five satakas, Arya, Padaravinda, Stuti, Kataksha, and Mandasmita. The third and the fourth are highly imaginative and poetical.

Bilhana of Kashmir, who has also written a historical kavya named the Vikramankadeva charita in which he panegyrises his patron, Chalukya Vikramaditya VI of Kalyana, is the author of a purely erotic poem named the Chaura Panchashika. Fifty stanzas make up this highly passionate lyric. The handsome poet was requisitioned to teach music to a princess, to whom he stealthily made overtures, of course to be reciprocated. Caught red-handed by the king, he was ordered to be executed, but quite unmindful of his impending fate, he poured forth these unpremeditated ‘strains of personal magic’ concerning his dalliance with the princess. So moved was the king that he pardoned him and blessed their marriage.

The Gita Govinda by Jayadeva who flourished in Bengal under Lakshmanasena (1180-1200 A.D.) ranks next only to the Meghaduta among lyrical compositions. It seems to have been based upon the popular Krishna festivals celebrated even today in the Jatras of Bengal. The perfection of form and graceful diction coupled with skilful handling of difficult metres have deservedly brought the poet unstinted praise. It is divided into twelve cantos with two sections in each, composed in various metres to be sung in sets of eight–ashtapadi–to suit different tunes. Krishna, as cowherd, is living on the banks of the Yamuna river, enjoying the love of the cowherdesses, pre-eminently of Radha. Her estrangement from Krishna and her final reconciliation form the subject-matter of the poem. Radha's intense love is interpreted as being symbolic of the individual soul pining, in its Bhakti, for return to the Lord Krishna from whence it sprang. Krishna, Radha and her Sakhi are the three characters. Jayadeva is a successful rival to Amaruka in his delineation of the various phases of love. His influence on the Bhakti cult in Bengal introduced by Chaitanya seems to have been immense. His praise of himself as an elegant writer is eminently deserved.

The Krishna Karnamrita of Lilasuka–his real name is unknown–is another familiar lyric. It is essentially devotional, and is in three parts, of about 100 verses in each. Its music and harmony added to its graceful style have contributed to make the work very popular. Gesture-dancing or Krishna's Rasakrida with the gopis is described in fine verses echoing the tune of the dance. His transcendental Bhakti is everywhere apparent. Alamkarikas (rhetoricians) quote many of them, and some ideas of his are adopted in Canarese works on Poetics also.

Jagannatha Panditaraya is the last great lyrical poet. His Rasagangadhara is a standard work on Poetics. The lyrics are the Bhamini Vilasa and the five laharis, Ganga, Purusha, Budha, Amrita and Karuna. He seems to have been a contemporary of Shah Jehan. He was engaged as private tutor by Dara, the Emperor's son. So his date may be between 1620 and 1660 A.D. The lyrics are lucid and musical. The Amrita and the Karuna are dedicated to the Yamuna and Vishnu. The Bhamini Vilasa is greatly appreciated and describes the amorous passions of women.

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