VIKRAMARJUNAVIAJAYA (PAMPA BHARATHA)

1. ವಿಕ್ರಮಾರ್ಜುನವಿಜಯ, ಪಂಪಭಾರತÀ
2. vikramArjunavijaya, pMpa BArata
3. The Victory of Arjuna the valiant
4. Author: Pampa PAMPA
5. Period: 902 A.D. (birth)

6. Place: His ancestors belonged to niDugonDe agrahara, gunDikara in the

Guntur region of Andhrapradesh. Later the clan migrated to Dharwar and

North canara regions. Pampa had brief soujorns in Banavasi in North Canara district of Karnataka. His Mother hailed from Annigeri town in Dharawar district.

7. Religion-Caste: Jaina. His ancestors were converted from Hinduism (Brahmanism.)

8. Patronage: Immadi Arikesari, (Vemulavada Chalukya dynasty) (935-55)

9. Titles: Adi Kavi, One among Ratnatraya, KavitA guNArNava

10. Genre : a. Poetry Champu Epic

11. Prosodic Form: kanda padyas, vruttas, many indigenous Kannada meters

12. Manuscripts : Palm leaf, Paper

13. Year of first Publication: 1902 A.D.

14. Editor: B.L.Rice

15. Bibliotheca Carnatica Series

16. Later Editions: 1. 1931, Bellave Venkatanaranappa, (with T.S.Venkannaiah and Kadabada Nanjunda Shastry) Kannada Sahitya Parishattu, Bangalore 2. Reprint, 1973, Mysore University , Mysore 3. 1964, N. Basavaradhya and others, Abridged version, Dept of Kannada and Culture, Bangalore 4. 1977, N. Anantharangachar, With a rendering in prose, Kannada Sahitya Parishattu, Bangalore 5. 1999, Sarala Pampabharatha, by L. Basavaraju, Geetha Book House, Mysore .

17. ‘Vikramarjunavijaya’ or ‘Pampa Bharata’ (942 A.D.) as it is popularly known is one of most celebrated epics in Kannada. It’s in the vanguard of Kannada tradition of selecting a work from an alien language and recreating it to suit the requirements of the regional culture of the donee language. Most of these epics are not transaltions in any sense of the term. At worst, they are transcreations. Mahabharata, Ramayana, Purvapurana and many works by Kalidasa are remoulded in this manner. ‘Adipurana’ and ‘Pampa Bharata’ are truly trendsetting works in this regard.

Pampa established a tradition of writing one epic on one of the Jaina teerthnakaras and another on a theme culled out from a vaidic epic. He avers that he illumines the ‘Jinagama’ (Jaina Religion) in the former and the material world (Laukika) in the latter. This was followed by many of his Jaina successors who composed Champu Kavyas.

Secondly Pampa creates an equation between Arjuna the protagonist of this work with Arikesari his benefactor king. This helps him in acheiving a meaningful equilibruim between history and mytholgy. He could encapsulate thetravails of the tenth century Karnataka in an ancient story. This historical dimension is given due credit in Kannada literary criticism.

The author makes a number of changes in the original Mahahbharata. Firstly, there is a strong focus on the character of unfortunate Karna even Arjuna is made the hero. Thisn practice of humansing a symbolic character was later followed by Ranna, Nagachandra and others.

Pampa being the first important Kannada poet had to formulate an attitude towards Sanskrit. The fact that he could bring about a very healthy synthesis between the indegenous language and the alien invador has played a crucial in creating the salient features of Kannada literature at large. Even his meterical choices are catholic and inclusive. Pampabharata is apprecited by even those who do not practice Jaina religion because of its literary merits.

18. Commentaries: 1. ‘Pampabharatha Deepike’, D.L.Narasimhachar, 1971, Mysore . 2. Pampana ‘Samasta Bharatha Kathamrutha’, L. Basavaraju, 2000, Mysore

19. References: 1. Please go to the bibliographies provided for the entries Pampa and Adipurana

2. Pampa Bharatha(Vikramarjunavijaya)- By Raghavendra Rao H.S in Masterpieces of Indian Literature, Ed. K.M.George, Pub. : National Book Trust Kannada Editor: G.S.Shivarudrappa

20. Links: 1. Vikramarjuna Vijaya

21. Translations:

1. Pampa Bharata, Hastinapura N.S.R. and C.K.S.

2. Pampa Bharata, Vasantagamana N.S.R. and C.K.S.

3. Pampa Bharata, Banavasi Raghunath N.S. and C.K.Sukumar.

4. Pampa Bharata Krushna Sandhana, Arora L. and C.K.S.

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