Ajay Kumar: Created a new article

2023-08-23T07:10:06Z

Created a new article

New page

{{Short description|Form of rhythmic writing in Kannada}}
{{Hindu scriptures}}
{{Lingayatism}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2020}}
'''Vachana sahitya''' is a form of rhythmic writing in [[Kannada]] (see also [[Kannada poetry]]) that evolved in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th century, as a part of the [[Sharana movement]]. [[Madara Chennaiah]], an 11th-century cobbler-saint who lived during the reign of the Western Chalukyas is regarded by some scholars as the "father of Vachana poetry." The word "vachanas" literally means "(that which is) said". These are readily intelligible prose texts.

'''Jedara Dasimayya''' who lived in the mid 10th century is considered the first proponent of lingayatism.{{Citation needed|date=August 2018}}

Later poets, such as [[Basavanna]] (1160), the founder of [[Lingayatism]], prime minister of [[Kalachuris of Kalyani|Southern Kalachuri]] [[Bijjala II|King Bijjala II]], considered Chennaiah to be his inspiration.

==Vachanas and Sharana movement==
[[File:Plam leaf of 11th and 12th Century with Vachanas.jpg|thumb|left|450px|Palm leaf with Vachanas (11th - 12th century).]]
Basavaadi Sharana's Vachanas are their experiences in the process of God realization. About 800 sharanas practiced the technique and wrote their experiences in terms of ''Guru'' (Unmanifest Chaitanya), ''Linga'' (Manifest Chaitanya), ''Jangama'' (Pure consciousness of Lingatattva in one's prana), ''Padodaka'' (intimacy with the knower/source of Lingatattva), and ''Prasada'' (becoming lingatattva).{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}

As per record, this form exchange of experience of the realization of the God in group discussion has happened only in [[Karnataka]] by the sharanas mainly under the guidance of Basavanna, Channa Basavanna [[Allama Prabhu]] and Siddarameshwar. This fact has been attributed to the popularity of the movement. More than 200 Vachana writers (''Vachanakaras'') have been recorded and more than thirty of whom were women.<ref name="vac">Sastri (1955), p. 361</ref><ref name="vac1">Other well known Vachana writers were Chennabasava, Prabhudeva, Siddharama, Kondaguli Kesiraja etc. (Narasimhacharya 1988, p. 20)</ref>

==Vachanas==
{{quotation|
{{indic |lang=kn|align = right|
|indic=''' ಉಳ್ಳವರು ಶಿವಾಲಯ ಮಾಡುವರು ನಾನೇನು ಮಾಡಲಿ ಬಡವನಯ್ಯಾ ಎನ್ನ ಕಾಲೇ ಕಂಬ, ದೇಹವೇ ದೇಗುಲ, ಶಿರವೇ ಹೊನ್ನ ಕಳಸವಯ್ಯಾ ಕೂಡಲಸಂಗಮದೇವಾ ಕೇಳಯ್ಯಾ, ಸ್ಥಾವರಕ್ಕಳಿವುಂಟು ಜಂಗಮಕ್ಕಳಿವಿಲ್ಲ '''|defaultaudio=Audio File.ogg|indicaudio=Audio File.ogg|trans= uḷḷavaru shivālaya māduvaru nānēnu mādali badavanayyā 
enna kāle kambha dehavē degula shiravē honna kaḷashavayyā 
kūdalasangamadevā keLayya sthavarakkaḷivunṭu jangamakaḷivilla 
The rich will make temples for Shiva. What shall I, a poor man, do? 
My legs are pillars, The body the shrine, The head a cupola of gold. 
Listen, Koodalasangama Deva, Things standing shall fall, But the moving ever shall stay.<ref>''Speaking of Siva'', by [[A. K. Ramanujan]]. Penguin. 1973. {{ISBN|9780140442700}}. p. 1.</ref>
|source=[[Basava]]}}
}}
Vachanas are brief paragraphs, and they end with one or the other local names under which [[Shiva]] is invoked or offered ''[[Puja (Hinduism)|Pooja]]''. In style, they are epigrammatical, parallelistic and allusive. They dwell on the vanity of riches, the valuelessness of mere rites or book learning, the uncertainty of life and the spiritual privileges of Shiva Bhakta (worshiper of lord Shiva).<ref name="Vachana literature">Edward Rice, ''A History of Kannada Literature'', 1921, Asian Educational Services, (Reprinted 1982), p. 56</ref> The Vachanas call men to give up the desire for worldly wealth and ease, to live lives of sobriety and detachment from the world and to turn to Siva for refuge.<ref name="Vachana literature" />

Authors of a particular Vachana can be identified by the style of invocation of God (Basveshvara invokes "Kudala Sangama Deva", while Allama Prabhu invokes "Guheshwara", Akkamadevi invokes "Channa Mallikarjuna", Siddhrama (Siddheshwar) of Solapur invokes "Kapilasidda Mallikarjuna") in the vachana. The existing readings of the vachanas are mostly set by the European understanding of the Indian traditions.

About 22,000 vachanas have been published. The government of Karnataka has published Samagra Vachana Samputa in 15 volumes. [[Karnataka University]] Dharwad has published collections of individual vachana poets.

Jedara Dasimaiah is called the 'Adya Vachanakara' (The First Vachanakara).

In spite of the large collection of Vachanas, there was no single place where all Vachanas could be obtained. The credit for restoring the Vachana literature goes to [[Phakirappa Gurubasappa Halakatti|Vachana Pitamaha D. P.G Halakatti]]. He moved from door to door and collected and restored many Vachana literatures.

==See also==
* [[Kalachuris of Kalyani]] Kingdom
* [[Kannada literature]]
* [[Palkuriki Somanatha]]

==Notes==
<references/>

==References==
*{{cite book|last= Narasimhacharya|first= R|title= History of Kannada Literature|orig-year= 1988|year= 1988|publisher= Penguin Books|location= New Delhi|isbn= 81-206-0303-6|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/historyofkannada0000nara}}
*{{cite book |last= Sastri|first= Nilakanta K.A.|title= A history of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar|orig-year=1955|year=2002|publisher= Indian Branch, Oxford University Press|location= New Delhi|isbn= 0-19-560686-8}}
*{{cite book | last= Rice|first=Edward P| title= A History of Kannada literature|orig-year=1921|year=1982|publisher=Asian Educational Services, Oxford university press|location=New Delhi}}

==Further reading==
* Lingayata Dharmada Modalaneya Pustaka [[Kannada]], 1982, PM Giriraju.
* Jatigala Huttu [[Kannada]], 1982, PM Giriraju.
*''Speaking of Siva'', by [[A. K. Ramanujan]]. Penguin. 1973. {{ISBN|9780140442700}}.
* Sadbhakta Charitra [[Kannada]]. PM Giriraju. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL11062327W/Girirājanu_sērisida_sadbhakta_cāritrya

==Sources ==

*[http://lingayatreligion.com/LingayatBasics/Vachana_Sahithya.htm Vachana Sahityha]
*[http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/~amit/books/ramanujan-1973-speaking-of-siva.html Vachanas by Sri Basavanna, Dasimayya, Akka Mahadheviyavaru and Allamaprabhu dhevaru] (trans. [[AK Ramanujan]])
*[http://www.vachanasahitya.gov.in Vachana Sahitya Web Site Published by Government of Karnataka]
*[http://vachana.sanchaya.net Vachana Sanchaya, Vachana Sahitya Digitization & Research Project]

{{Karnataka topics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vachana Sahitya}}
[[Category:Indian poetics]]
[[Category:Kannada literature]]
[[Category:Lingayatism]]

Vachana sahitya - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article