VACHANA SAHITYA
Vachanas (vacanagaLu)
(ವಚನಗಳು)
represent one of the highest peaks reached by
Kannada literature in its history of more than one thousand and five hundred years.
It was the creation of a talented group of poets who were committed to social activism
and never the less had philosophical aspirations. This was in direct contrast to
the poets who were aligned with royalty and for whom literary creation was the raison
de etre of existence. Basavanna was the founder of a religion which was not shackled
by the caste system or Varnashrama dharma. Veerashaiva religion had its doors open
to the lowliest among the low. Vachanas were the by products of their life rather
than the other way round. The socio-political ethos of the twelfth century was manifestly
disturbed by the events that took place in Kalyana and it has never been the same
in spite of the efforts of an orthodox society to minimise the impact of the movement.
Vachanas constitute a heterogeneous body of poems bound
together by some common concerns and philosophical tenets. They attempt to delineate
universal truths through verbal structures based on subjective experiences. They
cannot be crowded in to the categories of philosophy, religion or ethics. They contain
all that and are couched in a language suffused with literary merits.
The word ‘vachana’ was earlier used to denote the prose
passages in Champu epics. But the Shivasharanas of the twelfth century redefined
the term and now it refers to short pithy poems that do have a definite rhythm pattern
even though they are not constrained by the rules imposed by prosody. There is no
restriction on the number of lines either and they range from a couple of lines
to those that contain more than fifteen lines. They do contain poetic merit because
of their imagery, poetic images, figures of speech and a rhythm pattern which is
poetic, although irregular. More than anything else they are based on human experiences
and they are loaded with emotions. The commotions of human life in a social context
and a possible alleviation of the same through ‘Bhakti’ constitute the major concern
of these compositions. Hence they have risen to literary status without a tangible
story line or a continuous narrative. Attempts to contextualise the vachanas have
taken place later.(Shunyasampadane)
But they are not mandatory to enjoy their poetic beauty. Many vachanas could be
rendered to music and singing vachanas both as classical compositions and as light
music has become quite common. Svara Vachanas of later centuries by mystics such
as Kadakola Madivalappa and Kudaluru Basavalingsharana have added another dimension
to this genre.
Devara Dasimayya (Jedara Dasimayya) who lived during
the second half of the eleventh century is the first ‘vachanakara’ and many of his
compositions are very powerful. The open invitation tendered by Basavanna to every
one to participate in the revolution that was taking place and the apparent equality
accorded to all of them opened the flood gates of creative imagination and gave
an opportunity to the under privileged to express themselves in a language which
was divorced from that of the folklore. Of course
Basavanna, Allamaprabhu
and Akkamahadevi were the major
poets that emerged from the movement. These three shared the burden of formulating
the movement in different ways. Each one of them composed vachanas with unique characteristics.
The philosophical and mystical core was provided by Allama and the social philosophy
of the movement was forged by Basavanna. The lyrical intensity of the vachanas of
Akkamahadevi gave a new dimension to the very meaning of poetry. Others such as
Siddarama, Chennabasavanna, Hadapada Appanna and Madivala Machayya added their own
mite to the corpus. The relationship between their vachanas and their profession
was amazing. The tradition of Vachanas passed on to the succeeding centuries also
and the vachanas of Akhandeshvara, Tontada Siddalingayati and others manifest this
stage,
The path traversed by these compositions in the last
eight centuries is very interesting. Veerashaiva religion survived the onslaught
of other religions even after the dissolution of the sharana movement. There were
attempts in the later centuries to build a theology with some vachanas as their
core. For a number of centuries they lead a double existence, one among the lay
men kept alive by the mendicant sharanas and other confined to the coteries of the
caste system. The dynamics of Veerashaiva dharma and the status accorded to the
vachanas are interconnected. The modernity that was ushered in during the early
twentieth century could recognise the literary importance of the vachanas and the
attempts to place them in a more secular context have met with remarkable success.
Presently vachanas are accorded respect and love by one and all irrespective of
caste creed and gender. New modes of perception and analysis have given rise to
new interpretations. They are lauded for their social relevance as well as
philosophical and literary brilliance. The fact that they were successful
in creating a new poetic idiom for Kannada is undisputed.
Appendix: Important Vachanakaras with some useful details.
Sl. No.
Name
Ankita
1.
Devara
Dasimayya rAmanAthA
2.
Basavanna
kUDala
sangamadEvA
3.
Allamaprabhu
guhEshvarA
4.
Akkamahadevi
cAnna
mallikArjunA
5.
Siddarama kapila siddha mallikarjuna
6.
Chennabasavanna kUDala cannasangamadEva
7.
Ambigara
Choudayya
aMbigra
cVDayya
8.
Madivala
Machayya
kalidEvaradEvA
9.
Hadapada
Appanna
basavapriya
kuudala chennasangamadeva
10.
Moligeya Marayya
nihkaLanka mallikArjunA
11.
Neelambike(Neelalochane)
sangayya
12.
Bahurupi Choudayya
dEkaNNapriya
nAginathA
13.
Sakalesha Madarasa
sakaLEshvarA
14.
Urilingapeddi urilingapeddipriya
References:
1.
‘Speaking
of Shiva’, A.K.Ramanujan, 1973, Penguin Classics,
2.
‘The
Revolution of the Mystics’, (on the social aspects of Virasaivism) Kampen
JP SCHOUTEN - 1991 - Kok Pharos Publishing House
Links: 1.
Bhakti Tradition and Modernization: The Case of Lingayatism (K.Eswaran)
2. [PDF] ►Talking to God in the Mother Tongue
3. Download Vachana Software -
Win95/98
Translations: 1. Vachanas of Akka Mahadevi,
A MENEZES, AM ANGADI - Dharwar, 1973
2. ‘Speaking
of Shiva’, A.K.Ramanujan, 1973, Penguin Classics,