The
Charyapada (
BengaliBengali or Bangla is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages....
: চর্যাপদ,
AssameseAssamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Small pockets of Assamese speakers can be found in Bhutan...
: চৰ্যাপদ) is a collection of 8th-12th century
VajrayanaVajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle. The period of Vajrayana Buddhism has been classified as the fifth or final period of Indian Buddhism...
Buddhist caryagiti, or mystical poems from the
tantricTantra , or tantram is a religious philosophy according to which Shakti is usually the main deity worshipped, and the universe is regarded as the divine play of Shakti and Shiva...
tradition in eastern
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. Being caryagiti, or 'songs of realization' the Charyapada were intended to be sung. These songs of realization were spontaneously composed verses that expressed a practitioner's experience of the enlightened state. Miranda Shaw describes how caryagiti were an element of the ritual gathering of practitioners in a
tantric feastA ganachakra is also known as tsog, ganapuja, chakrapuja or ganachakrapuja...
:
The feast culminates in the performance of tantric dances and music that must never be disclosed to outsiders. The revelers may also improvise "songs of realization" (caryagiti) to express their heightened clarity and blissful raptures in spontaneous verse.
A manuscript was discovered in the early 20th century. It provides the early examples of the
AssameseAssamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Small pockets of Assamese speakers can be found in Bhutan...
,
OriyaOdia or Oriya is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian state of Orissa. The language is also one of the many official languages of India.- Overview :...
and
BengaliBengali or Bangla is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages....
languages. The writers of the Charyapada, the
MahasiddhaMahasiddha is a term for someone who embodies and cultivates siddhi of perfection...
s or
Siddhacharyas, belonged to the various regions of
AssamAssam ) is a northeastern state of India with its capital at Dispur located in the Guwahati city. Located south of the eastern Himalayas, Assam comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak river valleys and the Karbi Anglong and the North Cachar Hills with an area of 30,285 square miles...
,
BengalBengal , is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent...
,
OrissaOrissa , is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of ancient republican nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Indian Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC, that led to a turning point in the Emperor's life when deeply saddened by the bloodshed...
and
BiharBihar is a state in eastern India. Bihar is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at 38,202 sq mi , and 3rd largest by population. Close to 85 percent of the population lives in villages...
. A Tibetan translation of the Charyapada was also preserved in the
Tibetan Buddhist canonThe Tibetan Buddhist canon is a loosely defined list of sacred texts recognized by various sects of Tibetan Buddhism.In addition to sutrayana texts from Early Buddhist and Mahayana sources, the Tibetan canon includes tantric texts....
.
Manuscripts of the Charyapada
The original palm-leaf manuscript of the Charyapada, or
Charyacharyavinishchayah, consisting of an anthology of 47 Padas (verses) along with a Sanskrit commentary, was discovered by
Haraprasad ShastriHaraprasad Shastri , also known as Haraprasad Bhattacharya, was an Indian academic, Sanskrit scholar, archivist and historian of Bengali literature...
at the
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and the world's youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
Royal Court Library in 1907. This manuscript was edited by Shastri and published by the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad as a part of his
Hajar Bacharer Purano Bangala Bhasay Bauddhagan O Doha (The Buddhist Songs and Couplets in a thousand years old Bengali Language) in 1916 under the name of
Charyacharyavinishchayah. This manuscript is presently located at the National Archives of Nepal. Later Prabodhchandra Bagchi published a manuscript of a Tibetan translation containing 50 verses .
The Tibetan translation of the Charyapada provided additional information. It names the
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
commentary as the
Charyageetikoshavritti, the writer as
Munidatta and the translator as Chandrakirti, the 7th century abbot of the Buddhist monastery at
NalandaNālandā is the name of an ancient university in Bihar, India.The site of Nalanda is located in the Indian state of Bihar, about 55 miles south east of Patna, and was a Buddhist center of learning from 427 to 1197 CE...
.
Poets of the Charyapada
The manuscript of the Charyapada discovered by Haraprasad Shastri from Nepal consists of 47 Pada or verses. The title-page, the colophon-page,the pages 36, 37, 38, 39 and 66 containing the Padas (verses) 24, 25 and 48 and their commentaries were missing in this manuscript. The 47 verses of this manuscript were written by 22
MahasiddhaMahasiddha is a term for someone who embodies and cultivates siddhi of perfection...
, or Siddhacharyas, whose names are mentioned at the beginning of each Pada (except the first Pada). In the
Tibetan Buddhist canonThe Tibetan Buddhist canon is a loosely defined list of sacred texts recognized by various sects of Tibetan Buddhism.In addition to sutrayana texts from Early Buddhist and Mahayana sources, the Tibetan canon includes tantric texts....
version of the text and its commentary there are another 3 Padas, the complete form of Pada 23 and the Siddhacharya poet Tantripāda is also mentioned. The names of the Siddhacharyas are given in
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
(or its
Tibetan languageThe Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering South Asia, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh, Nepal,...
equivalent) prior to each Pada as follows:
| Poet | Pada |
|---|
| Luipāda Luipa or Luipada was one of the Siddhas or Siddhacharyas from eastern India. He was a poet and writer of a number of Buddhist texts-Nomenclature and etymology:...
|
1, 29 |
| Kukkuripāda Kukkuripa was a mahasiddha who lived in India. He became interested in tantric Buddhist practice, and chose the path of renunciation. During his travels, he found a starving dog in a bush. Moved by compassion, he fed the dog and took care of her. The two stayed together and eventually found a...
|
2, 20, 48 |
| Virubāpāda |
3 |
| Gundaripāda |
4 |
| Chatillapāda |
5 |
| Bhusukupāda |
6, 21, 23, 27, 30, 41, 43, 49 |
| Kānhapāda |
7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 24, 36, 40, 42, 45 |
| Kambalāmbarapāda |
8 |
| Dombipāda |
14 |
| Shantipāda |
15, 26 |
| Mahidharapāda |
16 |
| Vināpāda |
17 |
| Sarahapāda Saraha or Sarahapa or Sarahapāda , originally known as Rāhula or Rāhulbhadra, was one of the Mahasiddhas, and is considered to be one of the founders of Buddhist Vajrayana, and particularly of the Mahamudra tradition. He is also considered to be the first poet of Hindi by Mahapandit Rahul...
|
22, 32, 38, 39 |
| Shabarapāda |
28, 50 |
| Āryadevapāda Aryadeva , was a disciple of Nagarjuna and author of several important Mahayana Madhyamaka Buddhist texts. He is also known as Kanadeva the 15th patriarch in the Zen tradition and Bodhisattva Deva in Sri Lanka where he was born as the son of a king. Some Chinese sources however, suggest he was born...
|
31 |
| Dhendhanapāda |
33 |
| Darikapāda |
34 |
| Bhādepāda |
35 |
| Tādakapāda |
37 |
| Kankanapāda |
44 |
| Jayanandipāda |
46 |
| Dhāmapāda |
47 |
| Tantripāda |
25 |
The name of another Siddhacharya poet, Ladidombipāda, is mentioned by Munidatta in his commentary on Pada 10, but no Pada written by him has been discovered so far.
Probably, the Sanskrit names of the Siddhacharya poets were assigned to each Pada by the commentator Munidatta. Modern scholars doubt whether these assignments are proper on the basis of the internal evidences and other literary sources. Controversies also exist amongst the scholars as to the original names of these Siddhacharya.
Language of the Charyapada
Haraprasad Shastri in his introduction to the
Charyacharyavinishchaya referred to the enigmatic language of its verses as
'Twilight Language'A twilight language is a polysemic language and communication system associated with tantric traditions in Buddhism and Hinduism. It includes visual communication, verbal communication and nonverbal communication. Tantric texts are often written in a form of the 'twilight language' that is...
(Sanskrit:
Sandhya-bhasha), or
Alo-andhari (half expressed and half concealed) based on the Sanskrit commentary of Munidatta. But later Vidhushekhara Shastri on the basis of evidences from a number of Buddhist texts referred to this language as 'Intentional Language' (Sanskrit:
Sandha-bhasha)..
The Charyapadas were written by poets from different regions, and it is natural that they would display linguistic affinities from these regions. Different scholars claimed the affinities of the language of
Charyapada with
AssameseAssamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Small pockets of Assamese speakers can be found in Bhutan...
,
BengaliBengali or Bangla is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages....
,
MaithiliMaithili is a language spoken in the eastern part of India, mainly in the Indian state of Bihar and in the eastern Terai region of Nepal. It is an offshoot of the Indo-Aryan languages which are part of the Indo-Iranian, a branch of the Indo-European languages...
and
OriyaOdia or Oriya is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian state of Orissa. The language is also one of the many official languages of India.- Overview :...
.
Affinities with Assamese
LuipaLuipa or Luipada was one of the Siddhas or Siddhacharyas from eastern India. He was a poet and writer of a number of Buddhist texts-Nomenclature and etymology:...
, also known as
MatsyendranathMachindranath was one of the eighty-four Mahasiddhas. He was guru of Gorakshanath, with whom he founded the school of Hatha yoga, one of the branches of Yogic practices. He is revered by both Hindus and Buddhists.. Machindranath also called as Vishwayogi Swami Machindranath. Vishwayogi Swami...
, was from
KamarupaKamarupa, also called Pragjyotisha, was the first historical kingdom in Assam that existed between the 4th to the 12th century CE. Ruled by three dynasties from their capitals in present-day Guwahati and Tezpur, it covered the entire Brahmaputra river valley and, at times, North Bengal and parts...
and wrote two
charyas. Sarahapa, another poet, is said to have been from Rani, a place close to present-day
GuwahatiGuwahati is a major city in eastern India, often considered as the gateway to the North-East Region of the country and is the largest city within the region. Dispur, the capital of the Indian state of Assam is situated within the city. Guwahati is one of the most rapidly growing cities in India...
. Some of the affinities with Assamese are:
Negatives -- the negative particle in Assamese comes ahead of the verb:
na jãi (No. 2, 15, 20, 29);
na jivami (No. 4);
na chadaa,
na jani,
na disaa (No. 6).
Charya 15 has 9 such forms.
Present participles -- the suffix
-ante is used as in Assamese of the Vaishnava period:
jvante (while living, No. 22);
sunante (while listening, No. 30) etc.
Incomplete verb forms -- suffixes
-i and
-iya used in modern and old Assamese respectively:
kari (3, 38);
cumbi (4);
maria (11);
laia (28) etc.
Present indefinite verb forms --
-ai:
bhanai (1);
tarai (5);
pivai (6).
Future -- the
-iva suffix:
haiba (5);
kariba (7).
Nominative case ending -- case ending in
e:
kumbhire khaa,
core nila (2).
Instrumental case ending -- case ending
-e and
-era:
uju bate gela (15);
kuthare chijaa (45).
The vocabulary of the Charyapadas includes non-
tatsama words which are typically Assamese, such as
dala (1),
thira kari (3, 38),
tai (4),
uju (15),
caka (14) etc.
Affinities with Oriya
The beginnings of Oriya poetry coincide with the development of Charya Sahitya, the literature thus started by Mahayana Buddhist poets..This literature was written in a specific metaphor named “Sandhya Bhasha” and the poets like Luipa, Kanhupa are from the territory of Orissa. The language of Charya was considered as Prakrita.
In one of his poem, an author, Kanhupa wrote:
"
Your hut stands outside the city
Oh, untouchable maid
The bald Brahmin passes sneaking close by
Oh, my maid, I would make you my companion
Kanha is a kapali, a yogi
He is naked and has no disgust
There is a lotus with sixty-four petals
Upon that the maid will climb with this poor self and dance."
The language of Kanhupa's poetry bears a very strong resemblance to modern
OriyaOdia or Oriya is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian state of Orissa. The language is also one of the many official languages of India.- Overview :...
. For example :
"
Ekaso padumo chowshathi pakhudi
Tahin chadhi nachao dombi bapudi"
Padumo (Padma:Lotus),
Chowshathi (64),
Pakhudi (petals)
Tahin (there),
Chadhi (rise),
nachao (to dance),
Dombi (a female of Orissa from untouchable caste),
Bapudi ( a very colloqual Oriya language to apply as 'poor fellow' )
or
"
Hali Dombi,Tote puchhami sadbhabe.
Isisi jasi dombi kahari nabe."
These passages do not require any translation into modern Oriya.
Affinities with Bengali
A number of Siddhacharyas who wrote the verses of Charyapada were from Bengal. Shabarpa, Kukkuripa and Bhusukupa were born in different parts of Bengal. Some of the affinities with Bengali can be found from
the genitive in
-era,
-ara;
the dative in
–re;
the locative in
–ta;
post-positional words like
maajha,
antara,
saanga;
past and future bases in
–il-,
-ib-;
present participle in
–anta;
conjunctive indeclinable in
–iaa;
conjunctive conditional in
–ite;
passive in
–ia- and
substantive roots aach and
thaak.
Melodies of the Charyapada
From the mention of the name of the
RāgaRāga refers to melodic modes used in Indian classical music. It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made. In the Indian musical tradition, rāgas are associated with different times of the day, or with seasons. Indian classical music is always set in a rāga...
(melody) for the each Pada at the beginning of it in the manuscript, it seems that these Padas were actually sung. All 50 Padas were set to the tunes of different Rāgas. The most common Rāga for Charyapada songs was
Patamanjari.
RagaRāga refers to melodic modes used in Indian classical music. It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made. In the Indian musical tradition, rāgas are associated with different times of the day, or with seasons. Indian classical music is always set in a rāga...
| Pada |
|---|
| Patamanjari |
1, 6, 7, 9, 11, 17, 20, 29, 31, 33, 36 |
| Gabadā or Gaudā |
2, 3, 18 |
| Aru |
4 |
| Gurjari, Gunjari or Kanha-Gunjari |
5, 22, 41, 47 |
| Devakri |
8 |
| Deshākha |
10, 32 |
| Kāmod |
13, 27, 37, 42 |
| Dhanasi or Dhanashri |
14 |
| Rāmakri |
15, 50 |
| Balāddi or Barādi |
21, 23, 28, 34 |
| Shabari |
26, 46 |
| Mallāri |
30, 35, 44, 45, 49 |
| Mālasi |
39 |
| Mālasi-Gaburā |
40 |
| Bangāl |
43 |
| Bhairavi |
12, 16, 19, 38 |
While, some of these Rāgas are extinct, the names of some of these Rāgas may be actually the variants of the names of the popular Rāgas as we know them today.
Glimpses of social life
Many poems provide a realistic picture of early medieval society in eastern India by describing different occupations of people such as hunters, boatmen, and potters. It also describes the some popular musical instruments such as kada-nakada, drums, and tom-toms. The custom of dowry was prevalent. Cows were common domestic animals and elephants were common as well. Girls used to wear peacock feathers, flower garlands, and earrings.
External links