Adikavi Pampa
Encyclopedia
Pampa called by the honorific Ādikavi ( "Original Poet") is one of the greatest Kannada
poets of all time.He is very famous even today for his philosophical beliefs. A court poet of Chalukya King Arikesari II, a Rashtrakuta
feudatory, he is most known for his epics, Vikramārjuna Vijaya
or Pampa Bharata and the Adipurana
, both written in the Champu
style, which he created and served as the model for all future works in Kannada.
The works of Jain writers Ādikavi Pampa, Sri Ponna and Ranna, collectively called the "three gems of Kannada literature
", heralded the 10th century era of Medieval Kannada literature
.
Pampa was born either in Annigeri
or Banavasi
in modern Karnataka
or in Vemulavada
, Karimnagar
District in modern Andhra Pradesh
.
near Gadag to a Jaina
family of Brahmin ancestry. His father was Abhiramaradevaraya (also Bheemappayya as per Pampa's younger brother Jinavallabha's Gangadharam inscription) and mother Abbanabbe.
They have been basically Kannada speaking and must have migrated to the Kannada speaking country of Banavasi
when Pampa was a young boy. In fact, Pampa's mother hailed from Annigeri which was a part of the Kannada country. The beautiful Banavasi
, located in the Western Ghats of Karnataka
, with thick forests, mountains, streams and waterfalls, must have made a great impact on this poet at a very young age. Through the lines 'aarankusamittodam nenevudenna manam banvaasi deshamam' and 'maridumbiyaagi men kogileyaagi puttuvudu nandanadol banavaasideshadol' he has expressed his deep attachment towards Banavasi.
It is very evident from his works that he had mastered Sanskrit
and Prakrit
and that he must have had a good all-round education including Vedic literature
and Jain philosophy
. He may have studied and mastered various subjects like music, philosophy, dance, economics, medicine, kamashastra (the science of sensual pleasure). He is said to have studied under a guru by name Devendra Muni of Shravanabelagola
.
Sensitive, modest and imaginative, Pampa has earned a veritable place in the world of Kannada literature
, which has remained unquestioned even today.
feudatory. Flattered by his knowledge and poetic abilities Arikesari (who possessed the title Gunarnava) conferred on him the title 'Kavita Gunarnava'. At the age of 39 he wrote his first masterpiece, Adipurana in 941 and a little later he completed Vikramarjuna Vijaya popularly known as Pampa Bharata. These two works have remained unparalleled works of classic Kannada composition.
Though there were several Kannada poets centuries prior to him, the quality of their works does not seem to have matched his. Such was the greatness of his literature that Pampa himself proudly proclaims that his works stamped and crushed all the other existing literature in Kannada. Rightly so, he is called the 'Adikavi' (first poet) of Kannada literature. He is also first of 'the three pearls' of Kannada poetry. A later poet Nagaraja says of him: "pasaripa kannadakkodayanorvane satkavi pampan' (the virtuous poet Pampa is the lone master of the famed Kannada).
, written in Champu
style, a mixed form of prose and verse, is a Kannada version of the Sanskrit work by Jinasena
and details in sixteen cantos the life of the first Tirthankara of Jainism
, Rishabha
. The work focusses in his own unique style the pilgrimage of a soul to perfection and attainment of mukti. In the work, Pampa describes the struggle for power and control over the entire world of two brothers Jadabharata
and Bahubali
, sons of Rishabha. While Bahubali wins, he renounces the worldly pursuits in favour of his brother. Many Jaina puranas of Middle Ages found a role model in this work.
of Vyasa
. Several poets prior to Pampa had composed poetry based on parts of the epic but had not translated it in its entirety. Pampa's work was written in praise of his patron king Arikesari. He compares the king with Arjuna
's character in the epic and centers his work around Arjuna. He says this himself in the 51st verse of the first chapter,
(Kathānāyakaṁ māḍi sandarjunanoḷ pōlvī kathābhittiyananunayadiṁ pēḷal.).
Vyasa's original work, however, does not portray any particular character as the hero of the epic.
Pampa made several modifications to the original story. While some of his modifications seem absurd and even erroneous, some others seem to blend perfectly and add shine to the original story. In Pampa's version, Arjuna is the only husband of Draupadi. As polyandry is not considered a virtue, this goes well with the story. On the other hand, to please his king, he refers to Arjuna with the titles of Arikesari at some places. The titles Chalukya Vamshodbhavam "of the Chalukya clan" and Samanta Choodamani "jewel among the feudatories" among others to the greatest archer of the world from the Kuru clan does not seem to go well. After the war of Kurukshetra, it is not Yudhishtira who is crowned king but Arjuna, and his wife Subhadra becomes the queen royal. It is said that Bhima
who played such a big role in Vyasa's epic and Draupadi who suffered much humiliation are not given much credit in Pampa's work.
Kannada literature
Kannada literature is the corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, a member of the Dravidian family spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script....
poets of all time.He is very famous even today for his philosophical beliefs. A court poet of Chalukya King Arikesari II, a Rashtrakuta
Rashtrakuta
The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian Subcontinent between the sixth and the 10th centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans. Rastrakutas in inscriptions represented as descendants of Satyaki, a Yadava well known...
feudatory, he is most known for his epics, Vikramārjuna Vijaya
Vikramarjuna Vijaya
Vikramarjuna Vijaya , also known as Pampa Bharatha is a classic work of the 10th century Jain poet Pampa . It is an Kannada version of the great epic, the Mahabharata of Vyasa. Pampa choose the Arjuna, the central figure of the Pandava Clan, as the hero of his epic...
or Pampa Bharata and the Adipurana
Adipurana
Adipurana is a 10th century Kannada text written in Champu style, a mix of prose and verse, dealing with the ten lives of the first tirthankara, Adinatha, also known as Rishabhanatha . This work is known to be the first work of Kannada poet Adikavi Pampa . It is based on the story narrated by...
, both written in the Champu
Champu
Champu or Champu-Kavya is a genre in Sanskrit literature. It consists of a mixture of prose and poetry passages , with verses interspersed among prose sections...
style, which he created and served as the model for all future works in Kannada.
The works of Jain writers Ādikavi Pampa, Sri Ponna and Ranna, collectively called the "three gems of Kannada literature
Kannada literature
Kannada literature is the corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, a member of the Dravidian family spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script....
", heralded the 10th century era of Medieval Kannada literature
Medieval Kannada literature
Medieval Kannada literature covered a wide range of subjects and genres which can broadly be classified under the Jain, Virashaiva, Vaishnava and secular traditions. These include writings from the 7th century rise of the Badami Chalukya empire to the 16th century, coinciding with the decline of...
.
Pampa was born either in Annigeri
Annigeri
Annigeri is a town in Navalgund taluk of Dharwad district in the state of Karnataka, India, located 20 km west of Gadag en route to Hubli and 35 km from Hubli-Dharwad.-Introduction:...
or Banavasi
Banavasi
Banavasi is an ancient temple town in Uttara Kannada District bordering Shivamogga district in the South Indian state of Karnataka .-History:Banavasi is one of the oldest towns in the Karnataka state...
in modern Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
or in Vemulavada
Vemulavada
Vemulawada is a town 35 km from Karimnagar, in the Andhra Pradesh state, India. It is chiefly notable for the Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy Temple complex, a site of pilgrimage for both Hindu and worshippers.The city has a population of more than 50 thousand...
, Karimnagar
Karimnagar
As of 2011 India census Estimation, Karimnagar city had a population of 2,99,660. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49% has an average literacy rate of 86.75%, higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 92.61%, and female literacy is 80.79%. In Karimnagar, 12% of...
District in modern Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
.
Early life
Very little is known about Pampa's early life. Whatever is known has been obtained from inscriptions, references by other poets, Pampa's own accounts in some of his poems and a few other such meager sources. It is believed that he was born in AnnigeriAnnigeri
Annigeri is a town in Navalgund taluk of Dharwad district in the state of Karnataka, India, located 20 km west of Gadag en route to Hubli and 35 km from Hubli-Dharwad.-Introduction:...
near Gadag to a Jaina
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
family of Brahmin ancestry. His father was Abhiramaradevaraya (also Bheemappayya as per Pampa's younger brother Jinavallabha's Gangadharam inscription) and mother Abbanabbe.
They have been basically Kannada speaking and must have migrated to the Kannada speaking country of Banavasi
Banavasi
Banavasi is an ancient temple town in Uttara Kannada District bordering Shivamogga district in the South Indian state of Karnataka .-History:Banavasi is one of the oldest towns in the Karnataka state...
when Pampa was a young boy. In fact, Pampa's mother hailed from Annigeri which was a part of the Kannada country. The beautiful Banavasi
Banavasi
Banavasi is an ancient temple town in Uttara Kannada District bordering Shivamogga district in the South Indian state of Karnataka .-History:Banavasi is one of the oldest towns in the Karnataka state...
, located in the Western Ghats of Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
, with thick forests, mountains, streams and waterfalls, must have made a great impact on this poet at a very young age. Through the lines 'aarankusamittodam nenevudenna manam banvaasi deshamam' and 'maridumbiyaagi men kogileyaagi puttuvudu nandanadol banavaasideshadol' he has expressed his deep attachment towards Banavasi.
It is very evident from his works that he had mastered Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
and Prakrit
Prakrit
Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...
and that he must have had a good all-round education including Vedic literature
Vedas
The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
and Jain philosophy
Jain philosophy
Jain philosophy deals extensively with the problems of metaphysics, reality, cosmology, ontology, epistemology and divinity. Jainism is essentially a transtheistic religion of ancient India. It is a continuation of the ancient tradition which co-existed with the Vedic tradition since ancient...
. He may have studied and mastered various subjects like music, philosophy, dance, economics, medicine, kamashastra (the science of sensual pleasure). He is said to have studied under a guru by name Devendra Muni of Shravanabelagola
Shravanabelagola
Shravana Belgola is a city located in the Hassan district in the Indian state of Karnataka and is 158 km from Bangalore. The statue of Gommateshvara Bahubali at Śravaṇa Beḷgoḷa is one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Jainism, one that reached a peak in architectural and sculptural...
.
Sensitive, modest and imaginative, Pampa has earned a veritable place in the world of Kannada literature
Kannada literature
Kannada literature is the corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, a member of the Dravidian family spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script....
, which has remained unquestioned even today.
Poetic life
A well-traveled man, he settled down as the court poet of King Arikesari II, a Chalukya king and a RashtrakutaRashtrakuta
The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian Subcontinent between the sixth and the 10th centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans. Rastrakutas in inscriptions represented as descendants of Satyaki, a Yadava well known...
feudatory. Flattered by his knowledge and poetic abilities Arikesari (who possessed the title Gunarnava) conferred on him the title 'Kavita Gunarnava'. At the age of 39 he wrote his first masterpiece, Adipurana in 941 and a little later he completed Vikramarjuna Vijaya popularly known as Pampa Bharata. These two works have remained unparalleled works of classic Kannada composition.
Though there were several Kannada poets centuries prior to him, the quality of their works does not seem to have matched his. Such was the greatness of his literature that Pampa himself proudly proclaims that his works stamped and crushed all the other existing literature in Kannada. Rightly so, he is called the 'Adikavi' (first poet) of Kannada literature. He is also first of 'the three pearls' of Kannada poetry. A later poet Nagaraja says of him: "pasaripa kannadakkodayanorvane satkavi pampan' (the virtuous poet Pampa is the lone master of the famed Kannada).
Adipurana
AdipuranaAdipurana
Adipurana is a 10th century Kannada text written in Champu style, a mix of prose and verse, dealing with the ten lives of the first tirthankara, Adinatha, also known as Rishabhanatha . This work is known to be the first work of Kannada poet Adikavi Pampa . It is based on the story narrated by...
, written in Champu
Champu
Champu or Champu-Kavya is a genre in Sanskrit literature. It consists of a mixture of prose and poetry passages , with verses interspersed among prose sections...
style, a mixed form of prose and verse, is a Kannada version of the Sanskrit work by Jinasena
Jinasena
Jinasena is the name of several famous Jain Acharyas of the Digambar tradition.* The author of Harivamsha Purana in the 8th century. He belonged to the Punnata branch of Jain monks....
and details in sixteen cantos the life of the first Tirthankara of Jainism
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
, Rishabha
Rishabha (Jain tirthankar)
In Jainism, R̥ṣabha or Ādinātha , also known as the "Lord of Kesariya") was the first of the 24 Tīrthaṅkaras. According to Jain beliefs, R̥ṣabha founded the Ikshvaku dynasty and was the first Tīrthaṅkara of the present age...
. The work focusses in his own unique style the pilgrimage of a soul to perfection and attainment of mukti. In the work, Pampa describes the struggle for power and control over the entire world of two brothers Jadabharata
Jadabharata
The story of Jadabharata is a story about Bharata, son of Rishabha, it appears in the second section of the Vishnu Purana and the fifth canto of the Bhagavata Purana, and also in Jain texts, like Adipurana, a 10th century Kannada text by Jain poet Adikavi Pampa The story of Jadabharata is a story...
and Bahubali
Bahubali
According to Jainism, Bahubali, called Gomateshwara , was the second of the hundred sons of the first Tirthankara, Rishabha, and king of Podanpur. The Adipurana, a 10th century Kannada text by Jain poet Adikavi Pampa According to Jainism, Bahubali, called Gomateshwara , was the second of the...
, sons of Rishabha. While Bahubali wins, he renounces the worldly pursuits in favour of his brother. Many Jaina puranas of Middle Ages found a role model in this work.
Vikramarjuna Vijaya
Vikramarjuna Vijaya, also known as Pampa Bharata, is a Kannada version of the MahabharataMahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
of Vyasa
Vyasa
Vyasa is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa , or Krishna Dvaipayana...
. Several poets prior to Pampa had composed poetry based on parts of the epic but had not translated it in its entirety. Pampa's work was written in praise of his patron king Arikesari. He compares the king with Arjuna
Arjuna
Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...
's character in the epic and centers his work around Arjuna. He says this himself in the 51st verse of the first chapter,
(Kathānāyakaṁ māḍi sandarjunanoḷ pōlvī kathābhittiyananunayadiṁ pēḷal.).
Vyasa's original work, however, does not portray any particular character as the hero of the epic.
Pampa made several modifications to the original story. While some of his modifications seem absurd and even erroneous, some others seem to blend perfectly and add shine to the original story. In Pampa's version, Arjuna is the only husband of Draupadi. As polyandry is not considered a virtue, this goes well with the story. On the other hand, to please his king, he refers to Arjuna with the titles of Arikesari at some places. The titles Chalukya Vamshodbhavam "of the Chalukya clan" and Samanta Choodamani "jewel among the feudatories" among others to the greatest archer of the world from the Kuru clan does not seem to go well. After the war of Kurukshetra, it is not Yudhishtira who is crowned king but Arjuna, and his wife Subhadra becomes the queen royal. It is said that Bhima
Bhima
In the Mahābhārata, Bhima is one of the central characters of Mahabharata and the second of the Pandava brothers...
who played such a big role in Vyasa's epic and Draupadi who suffered much humiliation are not given much credit in Pampa's work.