Kavirajamarga, the lit Kannada classic

Sri Vijaya, a poet in the court of Amoghavarsha Nrupathunga, a Rashtrakuta king, has mentioned what might still resonate with the Kannadigas of today: that Kannadigas’ broadmindedness welcomes diverse thoughts and religions.

And home to this observation is the literary work Kavirajamarga, which translates to ‘The Royal Path for Poets’. Sri Vijaya has paid generous tributes to the king for encouraging him in bringing out this work.

Kavirajamarga has a total of 541 poems. It is divided into three chapters. The first one focuses on the description of errors in poetry-writing, the second chapter includes shabdalankara, and the third part covers the description of arthalankara.

The classic is also the first work of ancient Kannada, written during 814-877 AD.

There are two palm-leaf manuscripts and two paper manuscripts of the book at the Manuscripts Library of the Kannada Kuvempu Adhyayana Samsthe, University of Mysore.

Kavirajamarga was edited by K B Pathak and first published under the supervision of Benjamin Lewis Rice, a noted British historian and Kannada writer, by the Government Central Press in Bengaluru under the Bibliotheca Carnatica series in 1898.

Later, several editions of Kavirajamarga were brought out by scholars A Venkat Rao, Muliya Thimmappayya, M V Seetharamaiah, K Krishnamurthy, Sitharam Jahagirdar and R V S Sundaram.

Though Kavirajamarga is influenced by the Sanskrit book Kavyadarsha (The Ideals of Poetry) by Dandin, a seventh-century Sanskrit scholar, the former has gone beyond and has an identity of its own.

The book also has sections on Kannada land, language and its people.

It delves into the relationship between Kannada and Sanskrit, and deals with the history of Kannada literature, politics, culture, etc, in a sensitive and sensible manner. “It has also suggested many means to revive the confidence and dignity of Kannada while helping it come out of the shadows of Sanskrit and its literature,” believes Rahamath Tarikere, a professor and Kannada critic.

The biggest plus of this work is that it’s multifaceted and this makes it rare.

“The greatness of Kavirajamarga was that it created a world which was useful and necessary for the Kannadigas to live in,” the late K V Subbanna — dramatist and writer — has mentioned.

Sri Vijaya throws light on the methodologies in the use of Kannada language by making it region-specific. He has introduced the word Kannadangalol while referring to the features of Kannada land.

Differences

Kavirajamarga has also described the ways required for the composition of Kannada poetics. While the Sanskrit poetics gives prominence to topics like wealth, fame and happiness, Kavirajamarga discusses truth and untruth, morality, and religion and its absence.

The poetry consciousness (kavyaprajne in Kannada) and life consciousness (jeevanaprajne) of Sri Vijaya are unique.

Noted Kannada poet Durgasimha has praised that Sri Vijaya’s Kavirajamarga was a mirror and guiding light to the poets. But it inspires Kannadigas even today.

Sri Vijaya has also explained the two forms of poetry (kavya prakaras) — Bedande and Chittana — in detail.

The much-discussed work lists poets of yore like Vimalodaya, Nagarjuna, Jayabandhu, Durvineetha, Chandra and Lokapala, et al.

The massive work also refers to a number of places in Karnataka.

Sri Vijaya takes on the geographical boundaries of Kannada land by describing its extent from River Cauvery to River Godavari.

J F Fleet’s work on Kaveeshwara’s Kavirajamarga, M M Kalburgi’s Kavirajamarga Parisarada Kannada Sahitya, K V Subbanna’s Kavirajamarga Matthu Kannada Jagattu, and studies by scholars Sheldon Pollack, Sha Settar and D R Nagaraj have enhanced the visions of this great work.

(The writer is a professor, Central University of Karnataka, Kalaburagi)

Translated by Jyotsna P Dharwad