by BHABA PRASAD CHALIHA.
Sankaradeva (1449-1568), the greatest spiritual leader and social reformer of Assam also happens to be the leader of a great literary and cultural renaissance. As a matter of fact, Assamese literature came into prominence with the rise of the neo-Vaiṣṇavite Bhakti movement initiated by the great saint. The spiritual and social upsurge under Sankaradeva and a host of his followers did not end in preaching and teaching alone. For the spread of the new message of religion and ethics, they made systematic attempt through the media of literature, music, art and drama and thereby ushered in a golden age in Assamese literature and culture. In fact, Sankaradeva's Bhakti movement brought about an unprecedented intellectual awakening and cultural upsurge in medieval Assam..
Sankaradeva was a versatile genius and a prolific writer. He, with his chief disciple Madhavadeva and a host of other scholar followers like Ananta Kandali, Rāma Saraswati, Bhaṭṭadeva, Sridhara Kandali, Gopāladeva, Ramacaraṇa Thakura, Daityāri Thakura, Gopālacaraṇa Dvija, etc., built up a very rich literary tradition by composing thousands of verses, original and translation, kavyas, doctrinal treatises, songs and dramas. Though well versed in Sanskrit and compiled his doctrinal work Bhakti-Ratnakara and composed some songs and slokas in that language, Sankaradeva chose for his work the language of the masses so that his message might reach the common man in the remote corners of the village. He wrote a large number of books in different literary forms and thereby raised the Assamese language and literature to a high level of excellence. It is important to note that Sankaradeva introduced several new literary forms and firmly established them in Assamese. He it was who had written the first plays in Assamese, he it was who had made the first prose in Assamese, and it was he again who had made the first prose in Assamese, and it was he again who had created the first stage in Assam. According to Professor Farley Richmond of Michigan State University, U.S.A., Sankaradeva was the inventor of open theatre in the whole of the world. His Kirtana-ghoşă is acclaimed as one of the three great and most popular religious books in India, the other two being the Guru Granth Saheb of the Punjab and the Rămacarita Manasa of North India. There will be hardly a home in Assam where there is not a copy of his Kirtana-ghoşă either in print or in manuscript. Sankaradeva was not only expert in handling the pen but also in singing, dancing and enacting what he composed. His dramas known as Ankiya Näts and Bhawanās (theatrical performances) achieved great popularity among the people and are performed till today. His Bargitas (holy songs), a kind of spiritual song based on rägas are very popular and are sung even today with great zeal and adoration. Noticing the abiding impact of the works of Sankaradeva on Assamese literature even today Birinchi Kumar Barua observed, "Despite a change of outlook, shifting of ideals and birth of new literary forms, Sankaradeva's literature has come to stay with us as a standard and measure of great poetry."²
Sankaradeva showed sings of his unusual scholarship and poetic genius even in his early days when he was studying in the school (tol) of Mahendra Kandali. Some of his biographers have recorded that during the first days of Sankaradeva's coming to school he composed a beautiful poem on Lord Kṛṣṇa with only the consonants without the use of any vowel except the first. The poem runs thus :
Karatala kamala kamala dala nayana, Bhabadava dahana gahana bana sayana.
Napara napara para satarata gamaya, Samaya nabhaya bhaya samahara satataya. Kharatara bara sara hata daśa badana, Khagacara nagadhara phanadhara sayana, Jagadagha mapahara bhavabhaya taraṇa,
Parapada layakara kamalaja nayana. "They palm is like the lotus. Thine eyes are like the lotus petals. Thou art the consumer of worldly afflictions. Thou art the sleeper in deep forest. Thou art omnipresent and inner soul of all. Thou constantly removest my fear and vouchsafest my safety. Thou art the wielder of large swift arrows. Thou art the destroyer of the ten headed demon. Thou art the rider of the bird Garuda and the uplifter of the mountain. Thou art the reposer on the hooded serpent (Ananta). Thou art the dispeller of worldly sins. Thou art the saviour from the worldly grief. Thou art the giver of final beatitude. Oh lotus eyed Lord! (I pray thee)"4
This is supposed to be the earliest composition of Sankaradeva when he was yet to master the alphabet. Sankaradeva's Hariscandra Upakhayana, a narrative poem, is also said to be a composition of his school days. During his schooling Sankaradeva laboured hard and within a short span of seven or eight years he mastered the various branches of learning, i.e., the Vedas, the Upanişads, the Purāṇas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahabharata, the Samhitas, the kávyas, the tantras, grammar and philosophy, which formed the usual course of studies then. Herein thus Sarkaradeva prepared his strong footing for his future literary creations. Later on, Sankaradeva's sojourn for long twelve years throughout Northern India and beyond also afforded him ample opportunities to go through all the important săstras then available in India. Sankaradeva's wide learning is revealed from the large number of references to innumerable sastras in his works. But the Bhagavata-Purana which is the sun among the Purāṇas (Purāṇa-sūrya) and which contains the quintessence of the Vedanta philosophy (Vedantaro ito parama tattva), along with Śrīdhara Swami's commentary, the Bhagavata-bhāvartha-dipika, forms the principal source book of most of his works.
Although Sankaradeva's writings are a bi-product of his being a preacher, a teacher and a reformer, and although they possess a note of propaganda in the background, yet the poet in him was no less a conscious artist who knew exactly the effect of what he created. He had a great poetic genius, powerful diction and a pleasant and impressive style. The intricate plots in some of his long narratives and one-act plays woven with great care reflect his artistic maturity, creative imagination and acquaintance with the art of drama and theatre-techniques.
Sankaradeva wrote in three languages-Assamese, Sanskrit and Brajavalī, both in verse and prose. For his Bragītas and plays (Ankiyā Nāts) Śankaradeva used Brajavalī, a mixed type of literary language, primarily based on Maithili, but sufficiently modified by the use of Assamese vocabulary and modes of expression. According to J. C. Mathur and Dashrath Ojha, editors, of Pracin Bhāṣā Nāṭak (Delhi, 1975), Sankaradeva innovated this new type of literary language for his plays. In the English preface to the above book they have said, "Mahapurush Sankaradeva of Assam who was the outstanding innovator of this form, seems to have deliberately used this mixed language (called Deshi Bhasha by Vidyapati) for plays.. ...Sankaradeva who had extensively travelled over the entire eastern and northern region upto Badrinath used a mixed language for drama because he wanted to use drama as a medium for communicating his ethical and religious message to large numbers of people over a large and varied tract."
Sankaradeva's literary output is quite large and consists of a wide variety-translations and adaptations, longer narratives, songs, dramas and doctrinal treaties. Maheswar Neog enumerates twenty seven books ascribed to Sankaradeva. Kaliram Medhi, however, doubts whether we have doscovered all his writings when he observes, "It is not possible yet to give a complete list of his works. The Caritas do not give names of all his literary productions, much less the chronology of their composition."7 Maheswar Neog makes an attempt to prepare a list of Sankaradeva's works in a tentatively chronological order on the basis of certain external and internal evidence. Accordingly, Sankara's literary career may be divided into three periods corresponding to his stay in the Bāra Bhūyan territory (Upto c. 1516), in the Āhom kingdom (c. 1516-c. 1543) and the Koch kingdom (c. 1543-1568). We may now make a short survey of his compositions."
As stated earlier Sankaradeva's Hariscandra Upakhyāna (the episode of king Hariscandra) with its story taken from the Märkandeya Puraṇa, is considered to be the earliest work of the saint. It is also the first work in which Sankara indicated the teachings of his cult in broad outlines and fixed the four corner posts of Bhakti i.e., guru, deva, nama and bhakat which are the four cardinal principles of Assam Vaiṣṇavism. In Bhakti Pradipa¹⁰ (the lamp of devotion) Sankara develops the principal tenets of his cult urging its adherents to seek salvation mainly by repetition of God's names. Based on the Guruda-Purāṇa the subject of the poem is unfolded through a dialogue between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna.
Sankara's Rukmini-haraṇa kavya (the abduction of Rukmini) is one of the most popular works in all Assamese literature. Based on Harivamsa and Bhagavata-Purāṇa this kavya is almost like an original work breathing the atmosphere of social life in Assam. Sankaradeva introduces certain variations in the story and adds scenes of common domestic experience which transforms the Puranic story into a narrative of popular experience. Sankaradeva's Kirtana-ghoṣã (the book of songs and refrains) is one of the most important books of Assam Vaiṣṇavism. There are twenty-nine sections in the bok including one section (Sahasranama-vṛttanta) by Ratnakar Kandali." Based mainly on the Bhagavata Purana each
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section of the Kirtana-ghosã contains several Kirtana songs each relating a story or expounding a subject. The message of Bhakti is here brought home to the commonest reader in extreme simplicity and felicity of diction. In the Haramohan section of the book through Siva's prayer to Lord Krsna the author has expressed the fundamental teachings of his Vedantic philosophy. The Bhagavata-Purana has been exerting tremendous influence on the religious literature of India through the centuries. Sańkaradeva's translation of the purana into Assamese marks a new era in the history of Assamese poetry. Although Sankaradeva himself translated the major portion of the Purana, he allotted certain sections of the book to some of his disciples also. The translation is not literal and contains explanatory passages wherever necessary. The Assamese version of the purana may, therefore, be called both a text and a commentary on the original.
Sankaradeva's Bhagavata I gives a running summary of the first books of the purana. His Bhagavata II is a scrappy analysis of the contents of the original. Sankara's Anadi Patana adapted from Book III of the Bhagavata is one of the important works of the saint giving his views on cosmology and cosmogony, philosophy and theology. In Bhagavata VI, or Ajamilpakhayāna the main business of the poet is to hold hell's furies before our eyes and to show that the simple repetition of God's name can save us from the effect of a thousand sins. Sankara re-tells two stories from the Bhagavata-purāṇa VIII in his two works-Amrta-Manthana (the churning of nectar) and Balicalana (the deceiving of the demon king Bali). The first describes the churning of the ocean of milk by the gods with the help of the demons. In Balicalana the story of Vişnu's dwarf incarnation is powerfully narrated.
Sankara's Adi-daśama or Bhagavata X (Puravärdha) is another great contribution of the saint to Assamese Bhakti literature. It renders the pleasant tale of Kṛṣṇa's early life in lovely and glowing verses. The language is sober and fully mature. Here Sankara weaves new matter of imagination and beauty into the texture of the work. Sankara's power of description and narration is perhaps at its best in this work. His Kurukşetra is based on a few chapters of the uttarardha of the tenth book of the Bhagavata purana. It describes the meeting of Krsna and Balarama with Nanda, Yasoda and the milk maids of Vraja in the war-fields of Kurukşetra. This is one of the works written in Sankara's extreme old age. His Nimi-nava-siddha-samvada (the king Nimi meets the nine accomplished sages) contains scholarly talks given by nine Siddhas in reply to nine questions put by king Nimi, all the queries bearing upon Bhakti and nivṛtti-márga (the path of detachment and of beautitude). Sankara's Bhagavata XI narrates the passing away of Kṛṣṇa, the unbounded sorrow of Uddhava, Arjuna, the Gopies and others at the disappearance of their beloved Lord, and the death of the Pandavas. This is one of the maturest works of Sankaradeva and can finely represent his mind and art, his poetical virtues and tenets of his creed. His Bhagavata XII is a free and easy adaptation of the twelfth Book of the Purana. Here the philosophical passages are rendered with much dexterity and clarity of vision. Sankaradeva's Guna-mala (a garland of the glory and achievements of Vişnu-Krsna) is a tiny work of 378 verses with four feet of six syllables in each verse. It gives a quick survey of Kṛṣṇa's earthly career.
The Bārgitas (the holy songs) of Sankaradeva are thirty four in number. He is however said to have composed twelve score songs of this type. But, then, the manuscript copy of the collection of 240 Bargitas was burnt to ashes in the house of one of his followers almost at the fag end of his career. Only 34 songs of the saint that happened to be memorised by the devotees remained.¹2 Bargītas are a type of classical musical composition. Sankara's Bargitas generally sing the futility of human efforts and urges upon man the need for devotion to the Supreme Lord for self-realisation and final beautitude. Sankaradeva also composed a good number of Bhatimas (panegyrics) in Assamese, Brajavali and Sanskrit. Bhatimãs are long poems of eulogistic and descriptive character. They describe divine qualities, glorify divine deeds and speak of God's grace. Sankaradeva's plays contain a number of Brajavali Bhatimas. They sing prayers to Lord Krsna or Rāma and are known as Deva-bhatimãs. There are two Bhatimãs of Sankaradeva which eulogies king Naranārāyaṇa. They are called Raja-bhatimas. In the court of Näranārāyaṇa also Sankaradeva composed a Bhatima in Sanskrit in the totaka meter with the use of a type of rolling alliteration, probably with an eye on the scholars assembling at the court. The whole poem is a string of attributes of Vişnu-Kṛṣṇa.
Sankaradeva translated the Uttarã-kända of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa into Assamese in order to supplement the Ramayana of Madhava Kandali. As Kandali's Rāmāyaṇa lacked the Adi and Uttara Kändas of the epic Madhavadeva and Sankaradeva respectively took to render these kändas and completed the version of Kandali. 13 Sankara himself calls this work 'Uttară Kandara-Kathä-Sära' (the essence of the matter of the final book of the Rāmāyaṇa). It is an abridged version of the original with an insertion of devotional fervour at the end of each section.
Śankaradeva was the father of Assamese drama and stage. For the propagation of his creed, besides using other media, Śankaradeva took recourse to drama and theatre. He wrote six plays, viz, Patnī Prasāda, Kāli damana, Keli-gopāla, Rukmini-haraṇa, Pārijāta-haraṇa and Rama-vijaya.
These were all composed after his return from the twelve year long
pilgrimage, ¹4 Sankaradeva is said to have organised a dramatic performance known as cihna-yātrā (literally, a pageant in painted scenes containing painted scenes of seven Vaikunthas on sheets of tuläpät. As described in the biographies of Sańkaradeva it was a pantomimic show with a scenic background to emphasise the effects. The use of painted scenery so early as in the fifteenth century A.D. is a fact of great significance. This pageant show was later developed into full-fledged plays.
The plots of Sankaradeva's plays are all taken from the Bhagavata Purāņa except in the case of Rama-vijaya, where the story is taken from the Rāmāyaṇa with some features borrowed from the Mahânāṭaka or the Hanuman-nāṭaka. The plays of Sankaradeva are popularly known as Ankīyā näts which means dramatic compositions in single acts. Sarkaradeva himself calls them năta, nāṭaka, yatrā or nrtya in different places of his plays. In the carita-puthis or biographies of the saints the term arka is used to mean these dramas. It was thought probable that the Assamese drama as an one-act composition came to be called anka, in imitation of the anka or utsṛṣṭikānka variety of Sanskrit rūpakas, although the dramas of Sankaradeva have nothing common with their Sanskrit counterpart. It was also thought possible that the Assamese drama was called arka just because it contained a single act.¹5 The purpose of Sankaradeva's plays was not so much to create 15 dramatic effect but to evoke a devotional attitude in the audience. Plot, characterisation and speech are, therefore, all subordinated to the dramatist's main purpose of creating the sentiment of Bhakti. Songs and verses cover the major part of the drama.
Sankaradeva's Bhakti-Ratnakara is a doctrinal treatise in Sanskrit. It is a compilation with commentary. It is a collection of 564 slokas (594 in the Kamalābāri copy) from more than 20 sources of which the main source is Bhagavata purāṇa. This compilation is an ample proof of Sankaradeva's wide learning and analytical scholarship. It consists of 38 chapters on different topics which can be grouped into four reals or truths, the worshipful deity (Deva), the celebration of the worshipful's names and attributes (Nama), the spiritual preacher (Guru) and the devotees (Bhakat) of The next outstanding figure in Assamese literature is Madhavadeva (1489-1596) who was, in many respects, complementary to his guru. With great zeal they together took to propagate the new faith and within a short period of time they were able to usher in an era of religious and cultural regeneration in Assam. Like his guru Madhavadeva too was a prolific writer. He wrote a number of books in different literary forms and completed the religious exegesis of the Bhakti cult. His works exhibit the author's versatile scholarship and sincerity and depth of thought. There is also a graceful flow in Madhavadeva's style which is as expressive and captivating as that of his master. Sankaradeva himself highly extolled the poetic genius of Madhavadeva when he says-"You have a remarkable hold over your pen, you can both elaborate and summarise with equal ease. I on my part can only make abridgements". His first work Janma-rahasya (Mystery of Birth) is a work of about 300 verses which relates the story of creation and destruction of the world and thus establishes the omnipotence of God. His Bhakti-ratnávali is a lucid Assamese rendering of Visnupuri's anthology of devotional verses. As the work deals with all the aspects of Vaiṣṇavism as preached by Sankaradeva, it is considered as one of the most sacred books of Assam Vaiṣṇavism. The book lays special emphasis on ekasarana or single-minded devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Madhavadeva also successfully translated the first book of the Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki. The beauty of his Adikāṇḍa lies in its elegant verses and homely similes. The appropriate use of Assamese proverbs with a slight touch of humour gives the work the flavour of an original work. Madhavadeva's Rajasuya-kavya was composed on the basis of the Sisupala-vadha episode of the Sabhāparva of the Mahabharata. This book, written in a very elegant style, may be regarded as one of the finest poems of the Vaiṣṇava age. His Nama-mālikā is the metrical rendering of a Sanskrit anthology of the same name which extols the merits of the Holi Nāma.
Madhavadeva was a master musician who sang his own compositions with great felicity. Following his guru Sankaradeva, he composed one hundred and fifty seven Bargits or devotional lyrics all fitted to one or other of the classical ragas. Most of the songs furnish lovely portraits of the childhood and adolescence of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The eternal nature of the child is revealed in the boy Krşnna. The Bargits of Sankaradeva and Madhavadeva constitute the principal corpus of devotional songs in Assamese literature. Like Sankaradeva, Mädhavadeva also took to the propagation of Vaisnava tenets and doctrines not only through kavyas and songs, but also through visual representation. He wrote six plays depicting the childish pranks and naughty behaviour of the boy Krspa. His plays which do not contain full-fledged stories or plots may be compared to the one-act plays of today. These plays, though generally adopted the technique of the ankiya nãts of Sankaradeva, deviated in many respects from those of this predecessor. They are marked by light humour and farcical touch, although the under-current of the devotional fervour pervades them all.
Madhavadeva's magnum opus, however, is the Nama-ghoṣā which may be called the supreme achievement of Assamese Vaisnavite hymnic rapture. The Năma-ghoşă (chanting of the Name-Divine) also called Häjäri-ghosa as it contains one thousand hymns or couplets, occupies a unique place in the philosophical literature of Assam. This the last work of Mädhavadeva and is the revelation of a great soul. The book contains the cream of the philosophical and ethical teachings of Assam Vaiṣṇavism and is, therefore, held in the highest esteem by the Vaiṣṇava devotees of Assam. Its profundity of thought, unity of outlook, music of expression and strong infusion of the poet's personality make it the most precious religious text in our literature. Herein Mädhavadeva marshalled all his powers to establish Sankaradeva's religious creed on a firm and secure foundation. Madhava's deep devotion to God, his profound appreciation of the tenets of his guru, his utter contempt for money and position, his disregard for untouchability and caste superstitions, his love for all beings, etc., find natural expression in a number of verses. On account of the sincerity of expression, profundity of thought, depth of scholarship and universality of appeal, the Nama-ghoṣã achieves a unique position in the whole of the world literature.
The composition of the Nama-ghoşă took more than thirty years and was completed shortly before Mädhavadeva's death. Out of the one thousand hymns or verses in the book, about one third are translations from a large number of Sanskrit sources, including the Gita and the Bhagavata-purana. But the translated verses are reproduced in such style and with such personal touch that they can be called recreations rather than translation. On account of the use of various metrical measures, various figures of speech, richness in thought and insight as well as in expression and style, the Nama-ghoṣā claims an exalted position in the field of literature. The philosophical basis of the Nama-ghosșă is Vedanta tempered by the devotional interpretation of the Bhagavata-purana by Sridhara Swami. In the words of Tirthanath Sarma "Nama-ghosa is the record of religious experiences of a genuinely devoted soul and it may also be regarded as an expression of spiritual craving of a whole generation of men stirred to a religious quest by diverse cross-currents and practices of the day. It embodies the teachings of his guru, his own findings after a careful study of the Sastras and above all the truth he realised in his own heart."16 When his followers on the eve of his death approached Madhavadeva to name some body to whom they could look up for guidance after his departure from the mundane world, the saint asked them to read and re-read his Nama-ghoşă in the following words "Look I have composed the Ghoşă (Nama-ghoṣã) where I have recorded everything that I have got to say. Whoever reads and understands the Ghoṣã will verily find me there. I have reposited all my energy and knowledge in the Ghosha and those who know how to seek me will certainly find me there". (Daityāri Thakur) This shows the greatness and authority of the Năma-ghoṣā.