Indian Epic Poetry - Kannada Epic Poetry

Kannada Epic Poetry

Kannada epic poetry mainly consists of Jain religious literature and Virashaiva literature. Asaga wrote Vardhaman Charitra (Life of Vardhman Mahavir), an epic which runs in 18 cantos, in 853 CE, the first Sanskrit language biography of 24th and last Thirthankara of Jainism, Mahavira, though his Kannada language version of Kalidasa's epic poem, Kumārasambhava, Karnataka Kumarasambhava Kavya is lost. The most famous poet from this period is Adikavi Pampa (902-975 CE), one of the most famous writers in the Kannada language. His Vikramarjuna Vijaya (also called pampa bharatha) is hailed as a classic even to this day. With this and his other important work Adipurana he set a trend of poetic excellence for the Kannada poets of the future. The former work is an adaptation of the celebrated Mahabharata, and is the first such adaptation in Kannada. Noted for the strong human bent and the dignified style in his writing, Pampa has been one of the most influential writers in Kannada. He is identified as Adi kavi. (First poet). It is only in Kannada that we have a Ramayana and a Mahabharata based on the Jain tradition in addition to those based on Brahmanical tradition.

Shivakotiacharya was the first writer in prose style. His work Vaddaradhane is dated to 900 CE. Sri Ponna (939-966 CE) is also an important writer from the same period, with Shanti Purana as his magnum opus. Another major writer of the period is Ranna (949-? CE). His most famous works are the Jain religious work Ajita Tirthankara Purana and the Gada Yuddha (The Mace fight), a birds' eye view of the Mahabharata, set in the last day of the Battle of Kurukshetra and relating the story of the Mahabharata through a series of flashbacks. Structurally, the poetry in this period is in the Champu style, essentially poetry interspersed with lyrical prose.

The Siribhoovalaya is a unique work of multi-lingual Kannada literature written by Kumudendu Muni, a Jain monk. The work is unique in that it employs not alphabets, but is composed entirely in Kannada numerals. The Saangathya metre of Kannada poetry is employed in the work. It uses numerals 1 through 64 and employs various patterns or bandhas in a frame of 729 (27×27) squares to represent alphabets in nearly 18 scripts and over 700 languages. Some of the patterns used include the Chakrabandha, Hamsabandha, Varapadmabandha, Sagarabandha, Sarasabandha, Kruanchabandha, Mayurabandha, Ramapadabandha, Nakhabandha, etc. As each of these patterns are identified and decoded, the contents can be read. The work is said to have around 600,000 verses, nearly 6 times as big as the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata.

The prabhulingaleele, Basava purana, channabasavapurana, basavarajavijaya are few of the epics under virashaiva tradition