Nāgavarma I | |
|---|---|
| Born | 950 CE[1] |
| Died | 1015 CE[1] |
| Occupations | Kannada poet, writer, and grammarian |
| Notable work | Chandōmbudhi,Karnātaka Kādambari |
Nāgavarma I (c. 990) was a notedJain writer and poet in theKannada language in the late 10th century. His two important works, both of which are extant, areKarnātaka Kādambari, achampu (mixed prose-versemetre) based romance novel and an adaptation ofBana's SanskritKādambari, andChandōmbudhi (also speltChhandombudhi,lit, "Ocean of prosody" or "Ocean of metres"), the earliest available work onKannadaprosody which Nāgavarma I claims would command the respect even of poetKalidasa.[2][3][4] According to the scholars K.A. Nilakanta Shastri and R. Narasimhacharya, Nāgavarma I belonged to a migrantBrahmin family originally fromVengi (in modernAndhra Pradesh).[5] According to the modern Kannada poet and scholarGovinda Pai, Nāgavarma I lived from 950 CE to 1015 CE.[1] So popular was Nāgavarma I's poetic skills that KingBhoja ofMalwa (central India) presented him with horses, in appreciation of his poetic skills.[6]
Nāgavarma I was patronised by King Rakkasa Ganga (also called Rachamalla V, 986–999 CE) of theWestern Ganga Dynasty. According to the scholar Sheldon Pollock, he is the first among as many as five Nāgavarmas' who wrote noted classics in the Kannada language over the succeeding few centuries.[7] Nāgavarma I became popular during the classical age ofKannada literature. During this period (9th through 12th century), classics in Kannada language were usually inspired by the greatSanskrit language epics of India, or were didactic in nature and were derived from Jain lore and legend. Writing on themes that wereLoukika (secular and historical) andAgamika (religious) was popular.[8]
HisKarnataka Kadambari is not considered a direct translation of the Sanskrit original. Written in a smooth flowing language, it has an originality of its own.[9]Chandombudhi, the earliest work on the science ofprosody (Chandonusasana) is important from the point of establishing a relationship between native (desi) folk metrical forms of Kannada and the dominant Sanskritic literary culture that had descended onmedievalKarnataka. It was written at a time when the Sanskrit textual production had won mainstream (margam) appeal and its scholars were held in high esteem. The text also conveys that popularity of a Kannada writing was based on the types of native compositions used. The text overall tries to reconcile local literary traditions with the mainstream Sanskrit cosmopolitan.[4]
Nāgavarma I devoted an entire section of theChandombudhi to native Kannada metres and called itKannadavisayajati.[10] He mentions the nativeshatpadi (six-line verse) metre, two centuries before it was hugely popularised by theHoysala poetRaghavanka in the 1225 CE.[11] He also dwells at length on metres that were common to Sanskrit and Kannada and calls the sectionsamavrtta, metres (vrtta) inherited from Sanskrit and very much in vogue among the classical poets of Kannada language.[10] According to Nāgavarma I, some native metrical forms such as theragale anddandaka that were later to become popular in Kannada have similarities withPrakrit language metres.[10]