CHAPTER-II

SARALA DASA AND HIS MAHABHARATA

The unequal distribution of land and power led to the

growth of social stratification resulting in the prol i fera-··

tion of not only the classes of rich and poor, but also the

social groups educated and unle~tered. The common people

were exploited and degraded to be lowly and illiterates

since the puranas, and dharmasastras were written in San-

skrit and they were deprived of Sanskrit knowledge. The

puranapandas ( a section of Brahmins) used to read out and

explain the Sanskrit texts to the unlettered common men and

collected money in return. Thus, socio-educational depriva-

tion of the common men continued for a long time and their

spoken language was considered to be bibhasha (not fit to be

used for religious texts) at least till the fifteenth cen-

tury.

In course of time, the common people endeavoured to

the scripts of their own spoken language and composed

the devotional songs in praise of Gods and Goddesses.

fifteenth century was an era of the political and cultural

awakening in the history of Orissa. Gajapati Kapilendra-

71

dev, during this time achieved political glory for Orissa by

extending his empire from the Gangese to Kaveri and his

contemporary saint-poet Sudramuni Sarala Dasa rephrased the

epics of all -!~dian character in the language of the common

men of Orissa. He was the pioneer of the movement and in

fact,. his. literature was the literature of protest against

the domination of a section of people who monopolised to be the

only authorities on puranas, dharmasastras and other reli-

gious texts. In this Chapter, there is an attempt to dis-

cuss various factors responsible to the growth of CJriya

literature and also socio-political and economic thoughts of

Poet Sarala Dasa, who shaped the Oriya language and litera­

ture and also commented on the contemporary social customs.

Before we discuss the main themes of the chapter, it is

necessary to understand the process of development of the

Oriya script and language in the light of the

Indian language and literature.

history of

In the history of Indian language and 1 i teratur-e the

sixth-seventh centuries were remarkably important. Although

Sanskrit continued to be used by the ruling class at their

higher administrative levels, the apabhramsa began t.o dif-

ferentiate into several branches from this period. Although

it is difficult to fix the beginning of regional languages,

on the basis of the Vajrayana Buddhist religious writings

from eastern India, proto-Bengali, proto-Assamese, proto-

72

Oriya, proto-Maithili and proto-Hindi can be traced back to

the seventh century. 1 Similarly, on the basis of Jain

religious Prakrit works proto-Gujarati and proto-Rajasthani

are traced back to the same period. The parent stock of

languages in eastern India was certainly different from that

of languages in western India, but the pace- of linguistic

variation quickened in the country from the sixth-seventh

centuries mainly on account of lack of inter-regional commu-

nication and mobility. Contacts were mainly confined to the

march of soldiers and migration of monks and Brahmans from

northern India into the peripheral areas for enjoying land

grants. The first proved to be ephemeral, but the second

produced important consequences. In the tribal areas the

Brahmans imposed various forms of Sanskrit on the substratum

of the existing Aryan and pre-Aryan dialects. The conse-

quential interaction gave rise to regional languages. They

helped to develop and systematise local dialects into Ian-

guages through the introduction of writing and eventually

the composition of grammar based on Sanskrit. 2

The local element in language was strengthened by the

insulation of these areas. On the break up of

1. R.S. Sharma, Medieval in Review, Vol.I,

2. Idem.

"Problem of Transition, From Indian History", The Indian No.I, March 1974, p.7.

73

the Gupta

Ancient to Historical

empire arose several principalities which, in the context of

the vast sub-continent, were confined to narrow territorial

limits. This naturally hindered countrywide communications.

Between sixth and tenth centuries, lack of comunications

between different regions is also indicated by the decline

of both internal and foreign trade, which i~ shown .by the

st~iking paucity of coins in this period. It is, therefore,

evident that too many principalities, little trade, and less

inter-zonal communication created congenial conditions for

the origin and formation of regional language from the

sixth-seventh centuries. The emergence of regional language

was paralleled by that of regional scripts. Obviously the

regional script was produced by regional insulation and the

availability of the locally educated scribes to meet the

needs of local education and administration. The country

did not have any wide political authority such as that of

the Mauryas, Satavahanas, Kushanas or Guptas to enforce the

same script throughout. 3 So the regional variations became

pronounced.

THE ORIYA SCRIPT AND LANGUAGE:

Oriya as a language has its very first base in _the

Sabari or the Austric language. It has been nourished to subse­

quent shapes and forms by its contact with the Dravidian

3. Ibid., p.B.

74

speech, enriched with the elements of Magadhi and Suraseni.

Then it has been influenced by Sanskrit with the expansion

Sanskritic culture in Orissa. 4

The history of the Oriya scripts and language can be

traced back to the seventh c~ntury A.D. The ea~liest use of

Oriya words in Sanskrit inscriptions, discovered from a

copper plate grant of Madhav Verma of Khurdha (7th century

5 A.D.) and the Manjusha copper plate of Anantadeva Verma

(10th century A.D.)6 bear the testimony of early develop-

ment of the Oriya script and language as a vehicle of ex-

pression. As far as the eastern group of the Indian Ian-

guages are concerned, a break-through was made by the wan-

dering siddhas of the 7th and 8th centuries who decided to

depend on the spoken word as a medium of communication with

the common people. Some of them, Luipa, Sarahapa and Kanhu-

pa were among the pioneers who broke the sacred convention

and sang and preached in "Oriya", the people's own language,

instead of, in Sanskrit. The inhibitory gap between thought

and speech was thus closed and the bhashas, t.he spoken

languages, took their second birth and came to be recognised

4. C.R. Das, A Glimolse into Oriva LiteFature, Sahitya Academy, Bhubaneswar, 1982, p.12.

5. J.A.S.B., Vol.XXIII, 1907, p.282.

6. J.B.O.R.S., Vol.VII, 1931, p.175.

75

Orissa

as worthy media for all types of communication.

With the gradual development of script and language,

the Oral Oriya literature, which was transmitted from gener-

at ion to generation came to be recorded by its admirers.

The local poets also comp_osed their songs, bhajans and

jananas and preserved them inscribing on the palm-leaf paper

through a stylus. Bachha Dasa's "Kalasa Chautisa" was a

poetry of such kind considered to be written earlier than

the writings of Sarala Dasa. Sarala Dasa·s writing in fact,

was a major break-through in the history of Oriya language

and literature and his literery creations were held to be a

challenge against the Brahminical hegemony of knowledge and

literature. Sarala Dasa is generally recognised to be the

maker of the Oriya literature, by creating a perennial

f_ountain of literery forms and traditions with distinct

characteristics o{ their own that has come dow~ to posterity

as an ever-widening stream. Three of his epics, the Vilanka

Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Chandipuran are so far

known and of them the Mahabharata is his magnum opus.

SARALA DASA

Sarala Dasa was born in an age when the Society and

literature of Orissa was taking a new shape and he played a

vital role in contributing to its growth and development.

His date of birth can not be accurately determined, but he

76

can sefely be placed in the second half of -the-15th century

- 7 A.D. The Adi parva of his -Mahabharata opens with a long

invocation adressed to Lord Jagannatha of Puri who enjoyed

then and is still enjoying an unquestioned supramacy among

the Hindu Gods and Goddesses. In course of this vocation

which describes the manifold powers and qualities of .Lord

Jagannatha, the poet tells us that Maharaja Kapileswara with

innumerable offering and many a salute, was serving this

great deity and thereby destroying the sins of the kali age.

The reference leaves no doubt that Sarala Dasa started

writing his Mahabharata in the reign of Kapileswara, other-

wise known as Kapilendradev, the famous Gajapati king of

Orissa who ruled from A.D. 1435 to 1467. Kapileswara has

been described by the poet as the servant of Lord Jagannatha

on account of the fact that this great deity had been con-

ceived and regarded as-the real king of Orissa since the

reign of the Ganga King, An~ngabhimadev I I I (A.D. 1211-

1238). He formally dedicated his kingdom to Jagannatha and

·declared himself to be his deputy and first servant. This

custom was followed by the subsequent Orissan kings who too

conceived their_position in the State as the deputy and the

first servant of this deity. Even now, the Raj a_ of Pur i,

7. K.C. Panigrahi, Sarala Dasa, Sahitya Academy, New Delhi, 1975, p.l2. See for detail K.C. Panigrahi, ?arala Sahityara ~itihasika Chitra, Praja Tantra Prachar Samiti, Cuttack, 1989, pp.93ff.

77

the traditional representative of the Gajapati kings of

orissa, is the custodian and the first ~ervant of the Jagah~

natha temple. In view of these facts Maharaja Kapileswar,

represented as the first servant of Lord Jagannatha in the

opening part of the Sarala Mahabharata can be no other than

the SL,~ryavamsi Kirig of the same name who ruled from A._D.

1435 to 1467. The contempqraneity of Sarala Dasa and Kapi-

leswar (Kapile~dradev) has been acepted by all historians. 8

Sarala Dasa witnessed the highest pinnacle of political

glory of Orissa under Kapilendradev, an Oriya legendary

figure after Kharavela. In A.D. 1435 when Kapilendradev

staged a successful coup d' etat and occupied the throne of

the last Ganga king Bhanudeva IV, Orissa's prestige has been

laid low and it had become the happy hunting ground of the

Muslim invaders both from the north and the soL,~th. At this

stage Kapilendradev rose from the common ranks of Orissan

people and not only retrieved the lost prestige of Orissa,

but also in course of his reign lasting for thirty-three

years, established an empire stretching from the Gangese in

the north to the river Kaveri in the South. His achieve-

ments have been estimated by a historian as follows:-

8. P. Mukherjee, The History of the Gajapati Orissa, Kitab Mahal Cuttack, 1981, p.1. vide tab, History of Orissa, Vol.I, Cuttack, 1959, Panigrahi, op.cit, p.13.

78

Kings of H. Maha­p.263 and

"Kapilendra·s reign inaugurated a new epoch in the history of Orissa. Making his way to the throne from a humble position, Kapilendra carved out an extensive empire. As a warrior he displayed unusual energy and Vigour of action. He defeated the Sultan of Bengal and extended the north-eastern frontier of his kingdom, upto the river Hughli. He also made extensive con­quests in South India. Humayun Shah Bahmani, Saluva Narashimha and mallikarjuna suffered defeat at his hands. His dominion extended for sometime from the mouth of- the Hugh! i in the north to the Kaveri in the South. There can be hardly any doubt that Kapilendra was great conqueror, even if we rejec~· in the absence of any conclusive evidence, the statement of the Veli­galani copper plates to the effect that kapilendra successfully invaded Malwa and Delhi or that he pro­ceeded as far as Hampe. The empire which he founded formed a.bulwork against the Muslim kingdoms in north­ern India and the Deccan plateau. Orissa became the standard bearer of Hindu Culture; and scholars like Vasudeva Sarvabhauma and religious teachers like Chai­tanya came to live there."9

There was no a single Oriya ruler by birth or culture

from the Sailodbhavas to Gangas in the land of Orissa. The

Gangas who ruled in Orissa for fourteen generations covering

a total period of about three hundred and thirty three years

although they ultimately became the natives of Orissa,

speaking the Oriya language and imbibing Orissan culture,

they were originally outsiders coming from the A-ndhra re-

gion. The Somavamsis who had preceded the Gangas in Orissa

were similarly outsiders coming from the Kasal country (the

upper Mahanadi Valley). 10 Sanskrit and Tamil were used as

9. P. Mukherjee, op.cit. p.37.

10. K.C. Panigrahi, op.cit, p.22.

79

the official languages du~ing the pe~iods of the Bhaumaka-

~as, the Somavamsis and the Gangas. 1 1 The O~iya language

and lite~atu~e could not develop f~eely with such suffocat-

ing envi~onment. It, howeve~, flou~ished smooth I y dur· ing

the ~eign of Kapilend~adev, founde~ of the Suryavamsi dy-

nasty, who was a native of O~issa and had a humble o~igin. , An O~iya proverb "Kasia Kapila will not meet again" proves

that Kapilendra had a humble o~igin and it is widely be-

lieved that he was a cowhe~ed boy du~ing his early youth. In

the Gopinathpu~ inscription, Gopinath mahapatra, one of the

ministers of Kapilendradev inscribed that King Kapilend~adev

was born in the Sola~ dynasty of Odra desa by the orde~ of

Lord Jagannatha.1 2 That a commone~ of O~iya o~igin became

the King of Orissa and founded a mighty empi~e, ce~tainly

a~oused p~ide and self-~espect among the common men, who

were'undoubtedly encou~aged to make thei~ own lite~atu~e in

thei~ own language.

Du~ing the ~ule of the Ganga and su~yavamsi

milita~y se~vice was compulso~y fo~ all classes and

11. S. Mohanty, O~iya Sahitya~a Adipa~va, p.117.

Cuttack,

Kings

castes

1963,

12. "Bhasvad ban saba tan sa tr ijagadadhipa tJ.- Ni 1 asai 1 ad hi ne: tha sya (dhipasya) Adesadodra dese samajani kapilabhidhand', Vide, J.A.S.B., Vol. LXIX, 1901, p.175.

80

in Orissa. Only the Brahmins were exempted from it, but

even then, as several inscriptions testify, they also some-

times occupied commanding positions in the Orissan army.

.Militarism penetrated into the entire society and the local

militia, mainly consisting of the cultivators, was the

mainstay of the Gajapa~i army. 13 Starting from the Brahmins

to the drummers, all castes in Orissa are now found with

numerous military titles which they had received during the

Gajapati rule. The protection of the Kingdom or its expan-

sian was a responsibility which was shared in Orissa by the

entire population and not by a particular caste or castes.

Most subjects joined the army of Kapilendradev irrespective

of caste distinctions which was made then compulsory to keep

13. "/'1arada Sarira bheda bichara na thiba" Kala aba gora tahin baraji no jiba. Achhaba hoile madhya na thiba bichara" /'1ataraka bhoimula adeshahin sara. Eka ghara karithiba grammara madhyara,

Gruhastha name jahara .• tahara b.ichara."

(Paika Kheda, Ch. I)

81 I

up the glo~y of the O~issan Kingdom. 14

Lo~d Jagannatha was conside~ed to be the nucleaus of

o~issan socio-political life and the O~iya soldie.r·s fought

unitedly in the battlefield afte~ the name of Lord Jaganna-

tha. The love io~ _ Drissan Kingdom, however, ultimately

generated a love for the Oriya language, literature and its

culture. It was an inevitable consequence of the new fer-

ment c~eated by the strong and vigorous rule of Kapilendra-

dev.

Kapilendradev and his successors although patronised

the Brahmin schola~s and Sanskrit literature, but they did

not inhibit the growth of the Oriya literature. Kapilendra-

dev and other Gajapati Kings were learned scholars of San-

skrit but still then they liked to compose the Oriya songs.

14. The Puri Plates of Narasimhadev IV dated 1384 and 1385 A.D. refer to four persons who had the title of Mahase­napati but, in fact, they were Sri Karanas (Chief Accountants). These copper plates refer to seven per­sons who had the title of Sandhivigrahika ..

So the military titles are observed with almost all castes in Orissa. They are such as Senapati, Chhamu­pati, Champati, Cham paray, Rauta, Rautaraya, Dandapa­tya, Dandasena, Dakshina Kabata, Uttara Kabata, Saman­ta, Samantaray Patra, Mahaptra, Samantasimhar, Singha, Manasingha Paharasingha, Baliyarsiflgha, Ray, Ryasingha, Rayamohapatra, Nayaka, Pattnayaka, Dandanayaka, Gada­nayaka, Padhihari, Pradhan, Khuntia, Behera, Dalabeh­era, Mahapatra, Jena, Badajena, Saml, Sasmal, Parija, Parichha, Jagaddeva, mardaraja, Harichandan, Majhi, Bhramarabara, Vahinipati, Parikarnaya and Bahubalendra.

82

"Parashurama Vijaya", a Sanskrit drama ascribed to Kapilen­

dradev also includes an Oriya song, which shows his empathy

of the king towards the Oriya liter~ture. 15 It was a noble

attempt to create parallel literature along with Sanskrit

and incorporating an Oriya song in the Sanskrit drama like

'1Parashurama Vijaya"' ascribed. to King Kapi 1 endradev on 1 y to

defend the noble endeavour from the opposition and criticism

of the orthodox Brahmins.

There are twelve Oriya inscriptions found at the "Jaya

Vijaya" door of the Jagannatha temple Puri believed to have

been inscribed during the period of Kapilendradev. 16 From

this it is evident that Oriya language was accepted as an

official language from the period of kapilendradev and it

was an impetus for the common men to move to write in Oriya

language.

THE ORIYA MAHABHARATA AND ITS SUDRA AUTHOR:

There were tremendous temptations which were expreised

in almost every Indian language to compose the Puranic

literatures in vernacular during this period. By this time,

the Oriya scripts had attained its full fledged shape and

the writers wanted to preserve the sacred events of Gods and

15. S. Mohanty, op.cit., p.121.

16. Ibid, p.125.

83

Goddesses in the form of their own literature. Since the

Brahmins, were still the devotees of Sanskirt literature and

had perhaps an aversion to the spoken language and its

literature, a man from the lower rung of the social ladder

Sarala came forward to accept the challenge of the time.

Dasa

times.

was born in such conditions and in such

He very often tells us that he was an

propitious

uneducated

Sudra cultivator and a man of no importance. But the poster-

ity will not accept his low self-estimation and will no

doubt take him to be a man of vision, who responded to the

ca 11 of the time and brought about a revolutionary change

in the Oriya literature. His predecessors in Oriya prose

and poetry, small though their achievements, had prepared

the ground for Sarala Dasa. They flourished under the

Sanskrit loving Gangas and their literary ventures look like

hesitant a tempts as yet unaccomplished task. But the

popularity of little thing like Bachha Dasa·s "Kalasa Chau-

t.isa•• must have put into the heart of this semi-educated

peasant poet, the necessary courage for the unprecedented

endeavour of writing epics in a negl~cted tongue.

After Sarala Dasa all castes shook off their prejudice

against the Oriya literature and conjointly contributed to

its growth. Among the poets who immediately followed him

were Sudramuni Balarama Dasa, the author of Oriya Ramayana

and Jagannatha Dasa, the writer of the Oriya Bhaqavata, who

84

was a lea~ned B~ahmin Sansk~itist. He is unive~sally ~e-

ga~ded as one of the lumina~ies of Driya lite~atu~e.

Sa~ala Dasa was born in the village of Jhankada in the

present dist~ict of Cuttack. His descendants a~e still

the~e scatte~ed in the villages round about. He was a

devoted wo~shipper of the Goddess Sa~ala whose temple still

stands in the village of Kanakpu~, about a mile f~om his

native village. No far f~om this village the poet's g~ave

(samadhi) still stands under a sp~eading banyan t~ee, an

object of devotion and respect to people all a~ound.

The name of the poet as given to him by his pa~ents was

Sidheswara and in his earliest work Vilanka Ramayana he has

desc~ibed himself as such, but in his late~ wo~ks his name

appea~s as Sa~ala Dasa. The poet himself explains seve~al

times the ~eason of this change and tells us that since he

became a devotee and se~vant of the Goddess Sa~ala, he came

to be known as Sa~ala Dasa.

Sa~ala Chandi is stated by the poet to be the same as

Hingula Devi; we must note that Hingula is a goddess of the

aboriginal t~ibes and the name itself is a va~iant of the

Mundari word~Shengel which signifies fi~e. That Sarala's

identical with Hingula is what occu~s in a colophon in his

Mahabha~at, Sarala Dasa was a Sudra and belonged to the Odra

tribe. These Od~a tribes are now known by the general name

85

Oda-Chasa or simply as Chasa or Tasa.l 7

Though the biographical references given in the works

of the poet are numerous they do not enable us to obtain a

fu 11 picture of his life. In one verse of the Drona Parva

he describes himself as the son of Yasovanta, and in another

of the Madhya Parva he mentions his elder brother's name as

Parasurama. 18 He very often tells us that he was uneducated

and had no chance of going even to a village school. He had

no opportunity of association himself with the learned men,

particularly with the Pundits of the Sasanas. 19

himself a Sudra ( a member of the last order of

social structure) and a cultivator by profession.

sang in his Mahabharata;

17. "Jhankar Purabasini Hingula Chandi Sarole .• Se mora Tulasi mala hele bruksha Sthale,

He calls

the Hindu

Thus he

Quated in B.C. Mazumdar(ed), Typical Oriva Literature, Vol.I, University p.XXVII.

selections from of Cal.,1921,

18. "Kanakapura patna ghara Parshurama .• 1'1uhin tara anu.ia Sarala Dasa nama.

Mahabharata; Madhya Parva.

19. "Na padhili akshara mu nuhe>n Sastrabadi~ Panditanka Sange basi na kali samadi~ Kusthane basili na basili bipra gosthi~ Si shu bud hi mohara ~ bay a sa al pa ti.

Mahabharata; Madhya parva.

RA

"Sarala Dasa; the unlettered and unknowledgeable one,

the slave beneath the feet of Sri Chandi Sarala

There is a land on the left of the Goddess

that I cultivated by a plough

and sang different songs of cultivators". 20

From the Orona Parva of his Mahabharata we know that he

had children and grand-children, and he derived his living

from his own paddy fields. There is, however, no evidence

to show that he ever received royal patronage.

What Sarala Dasa achieved through self-education and

untiring efforts has all been attributed to the grace of the

Goddess Sarala, the deity of his devotion and inspiration,

and he has nowhere taken any credit for what he wrote. In

the Orona Parva of his Mahabharata the poet says,

20. a) "Srichandi Saralankara Padatala Dasa, Sudramuni apandi ta Sri Sarol a Dasa."

b) "Debinka bamapakhe achhai eka bhumi-, Langala purai mu chasuthili Jami. Jananti Sadhumane Chasanka Charita, Nana bantire mu gauthili gita".

Mahabharata, Madhyaparva.

87

"It is through the grace of the goddess Sarala that I have been able to make the invisible visible. I make no claim to the authorship of these lines, as I write only what she dictates to me. Ignorant from birth, hardly have been to a school, far from being a celbrity and not vested in japas or mantras, I write out that which comes to my mind, through her grace, under this green banyan tree."

merely sitting

With unconditional humility he expressed himself to be

lowly and sang:

"Sudramuni Sri Sarala Dasa, the unlettered one,

the slave beneath the feet of Sri Chandi Sarala

writes whatever she dictates to him.

Oh honest and wise men!

I have no fault in it." 2 1

The poet very often has wished us to believe that what

he composed in his epics, was dictated to him by Goddess

Sarala in the night and he merely committed her dictates to

writing in the day time. A spirit of humility and intense

religiousness pervaded the personality of the poet to such

an extent that it is difficult to reconstruct a real picture

of his own personality from his writings.

21. "Sr:i Chand:i Saralankara Padatala Dasa. Sudramun:i apand:ita Sr:i Sarala Dasa~ Se jaha k a han t :i mote mu taha 1 ek ha:i _. Sadhu Sujna jane ethe mora dosha nahin."

Mahabharata, Orona parva

88

Complete surrender to a personal deity, conceiving Him

or Her as the source of all knowledge and inspirat{on, was a

common practice which Sarala Dasa shared with other poets of

his age. All Oriya poets writing before the middle of the

16th century are found in their works, to have designated

themselves as "Dasa" meaning a slave or -servant of a partie:_

ular God or Goddess. We have thus a long list of poets

preceding and succeding Sarala Dasa, whose names end with

"Dasa" for example, Vatsa Dasa, Markanda Dasa, Balaram dasa,

Jagannath Dasa and Yosovanta Dasa, etc. None of thr:?m has

accepted the surname of his caste. These poets also have

shown intense spirit of humanity and have declared them-

selves in their writings as uneducated, unwise, poor and the

lowly. 2 2 They have also said in no uncertain words that

they composed their works for the benefit of "the entire

world", "all people", and "all creatures". 23 In the fields

of religion and literature the spirit of humility was the

order of the age, which Sarala Dasa shared in a greater

degree.

22. K.C. Panigrahi, op.cit, pp.16-17.

23. " Tu 1 usara Ba 11 ave Padmapada SaroJa, Sudramuni Sarala Dasa binopanti DevaraJ. (223)

Sri Vasudevara Charan niJi Dasa~ Samasara jana hite Sarola Dasa karai abhyasa."(224)

-Mahabharata, Sava parva, p.390.

89

Since time immemorial, Goddess Hingula (later on Hin­

duised and called Sarala ) was worshipped by the non-Brah-

man Sudras. In Sudra Society who used to worship Gods and

Goddesses were called Munis (sages) and similarly since

Sarala Dasa worshipped Goddess Sarala was called to be

Sudramuni. Sarala Dasa was the pioneer_ to break the trad~-

tion of writing religious texts in Sanskrit. As the writer

of the Oriya Mahabharata he was expected to translate the

Sanskrit original, or at least to follow it up closely, but

he has done neither. Borrowing merely the bare outline of

the original Mahabharata he has composed a Mahabhar~ta with

innumarable ommissions, deviations and creations of his own.

The Omission and additions are numerous in the Sarala

Mahabharata and they can not be adequately dealt with within

the limit~d scope of this work. Some important differences

between the Sanskrit Mahabharata and Sarala Mahabharata are

illustrated here. Sarala Dasa has not even followed the

general scheme of the original Mahabharata in dividing his

Mahabharata into eighteen Parvas or books as will be evident

from a comparision given below:-

Sanskrit mahabharata Sarala mahabharata

1. Adi Parva 1. Adi Parva

2. Sabha Parva 2. Madhya Parva

3. Van a Parva 3. Sabha Parva

4. Vi rata Parva 4. Van a Parva

90

5.

6.

7.

8.

. 9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

Udyoga Parva

Bhishma Parva

Orona Parva

Karna Parva

Salya Parva

Suptika Parva

Stri Parva

Santi Parva

Anusasanika Parva

Asramavasika Parva

Mahaprasthanika Parva

Asvamedha Parva

Musala Parva

Svargarohana Parva

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

Virata Parva

Udyoga Parva

Bhishma Parva

Orona Parva

Karna f,'arva

Salya Parva

Gada Parva

Kainsika or

Parva

Nari Parva

Santi Parva

Asramika Parva

Aisika

Asvamedha Parva

Musali Parva

Svargarohan Parva

' In these parvas, some of which are obviously his own

creations and Sarala Oasa follows the bare outline of Mahab-

harata story, but omits numerous mythological stor-ies,

fables, incidents, episodes, wise sayings, morals, philo-

sophical and dialectical discourases occuring in the origi-

nal. He has disposed of the entire Srimadbhagavat.a §_ita by

only making a refe~ence to it in two verses. Besides this,

lucid he has presented his Mahabharata in most simple and

mann~r. There are some stories which are either the crea-

tions of his own imagination or the adoptions of the stories

91

current in his time. He describes a story ~bout the origin

of the Mahabharata war which is not to be traced in the

Sanskrit Mahabharata. His story runs as follows:-

The Kauravas and the Pandavas used to play a game known

as jhimiti which involv~d a trial of strength betw~en two

persons of both the parties. The Pandavas always used to

win the game because of mighty strength of Shima, which was

never tolerated by Duryodhan, the eldest of the Kauravas.

Duryodhan became jealous of the success of·Pandavas and he

started humiliating them in some other way. He knew that

the Pandavas were not all the sons of Pandu, and so in order

to humiliate them he addressed Yudhisthir,

and Nakula respectively as the sons of

Shima, Arjuna,

Dharma (Sun ) ,

Pavana(Wind), Indra(Rain God) and Aswini Kumar (the doctor

of heaven), as they entered into his court everyday. Shima

felt, greatly insulted and one day shut himself up his room

without taking food and water. Requests of his mother Kunti

and others to him to break his fast were of no avail and

therefore the mediation of SriKrishna was sought. When

Srikrishna promised to redress his grievance Shima opened

the door and explained to him the cause of his grievance.

Srikrishna smiled and said, " You should retort by address­

ing Duryodhan as the son of Golaka" Shima now got a secret

weapon and wanted to keep the words "the son of Golaka" in

his memory by uttering them again and again. Nevertheless,

97

he forgot them when he slept at night and then early in the

morning searched frantically for them in every nook and

corner of his house. At last his brother Sahadeva revived

his memory again.

Bhima next day Enter~d the court of Duryodhan in a

triumphant manner, and as soon as the king addressed him as

the son of Pavana, he addressed him as the son of Golaka.

Duryodhan did not understand the meaning of the term, Golaka

and with great anger he slept in _f1is chamber without food

and water. He opened the door when his mother promised to

explain to him the meaning of the words "the son of Golaka".

Gandhari

Dhritarashtra.

then narrated the story of her marriage with

She said that, since she was born on the

last day of the dark fortnight which is a very inauspicious

day, no king wanted to marry her, and those who even pro-

posed to marry her, died immediately. On the advic:e of

Vyasa her father Gandharasena first got her married to a

Sahada tree (strebulus asphera) which in consequence weath-

ered immediately. After her first marriage with the Sahada

tree she was married to Dhritarashtra. Golaka is another

name of the Sahada tree. After listening to the entire

story Duryodhana said, " You were then a widow and your

father managed to marry his widowed daughter to my father.

Therefore your father is my enemy."

93

Duryodhana then maintained a great anger against hi~

maternal grand-father Gadharasena and planned to take re-

venge on him and his one hundred sons. He invited his ~rand

father and uncles to his capital for a visit and imprisoned

them together in a locked up stone house. Duryodhana or-

de red that they should be supplied wit~ food through a·

window, but it should be reduced everyday in such a way that

after one hundred days the food supplied should be just

enough for one man. In consequence of this terrible order

many of the prisoners died after-~ few days, and the remain­

ing ones held a conference to select the last survivor. The

eldest son Sakuni being the best; ablest and most intelli-

gent was chosen to be the last survivor and his father

Gandharse~a bequeathed to him the legacy of taking terrible

revenge upon Duryodhan and his family in the guise of

friendship. He exhorted his son to start the Mahabharata

war by turning, after his death, his wrist bones into the

dice which would miraculously obey all calls from Sakuni.

The days passed on and Sakuni remained the only survi-

vor in the prison house. One day, the maid servant, who

supplied food to Sakuni, was passing that way and she saw

the king Duryodana sitting and laughing under a banyan tree.

She caught the contagion of laughter and could not help

laughing. The king became furious and demanded, "why did

you laugh?" " As your Majesty laughed", replied the maid-

94.

servant humbly. "Why did I laugh?" asked the king again. The

poor woman could give no reply. Duryodhana gave her one

day's time to furnish a reply to his query failing which sh~

·was to be beheaded.

The fear-fur maid-servant, while supplying food to

Sakuni that day, told him the terrible order of the king and

the previous circumstances connected with it. After listem-

ing to, Sakuni instrusted her to tell the king that he was

urinating under the banyan tree, and since innumerable tiny

seeds of the banyan fruit floated in his urine, he laughed.

The phenomenon of such tiny seeds producing such gigantic

tre~s excited his laughter. The maid-servant returned and

told the king exactly as she had been.instructed by Sakuni.

The king refused to believe that the circumstances leading

to his laughter could have been correctly guessed by a

simpJe woman like her and so he demanded from her the name

of the person who had instructed her. When she disclosed the

name of Sakuni, Duryodharya personally went to the house of

the stone, released him, took him with all honour to his

palace and made him his Prime Minister. Sakuni, in disquise

became a great friend and well-wisher of Duryodhana but

secretly -planned his and his family's destruction. It was

he who arranged the game of dice between Duryodhana and

Yudhisthira which ultimately led to the great Mahabharata

War.

95

Another story of Sarala Dasa, not to be found in the

original Mahabharata, is the story of a Jackal, which occurs

in the Adi Parvaa. Once upon a time, a pair of jackals

lived in a jungle near the City of Sukanti where a large

number o Brahmins .. " 1 i ved. One day, the jackals while search-

ing for food, found a newly born female-infant abandoned on

the road-side by a young Brahmin widow. They took it to

thei~ house and nourished it with honey and fruit juice. As

the infant grew up, they supplied her with all kinds of food

by taking them from the neighbouring places. The girl, in

course of, time became extremely beautiful young woman, and

one day she attracted the notice of king Bhagyavara of

kingdom while he was on a hunting excursion. The king

in love with that young girl and wanted to marry her.

that

fell

Next

day the king put forward to her jackal parents his proposal

of mprrying her. The jackal parents agreed to the proposal,

but when the king wanted them to take their daughter to his

place for marriage, they declined and insisted that

bridegroom must come to the house of the bride. The

then asked, "How will you feed the bridegroom party?"

jackal put a counter question to him, "Have you granted

rent-free· lands as you have done to your big Brahmins

the

king

The

me

and

big lords?" Sarala Dasa's description of the conversation

between the king and Jackal is very much interesting which

represents his satire on the king's fabulous land-grant to

96

Brahmins and other officials. He shrewdly criticised the

king through a jackal that the king was not impartial and

did not look after others except the Brahmins and the Lords.

Next day the king came with a large, retinue and the

marriage was solemnised amidst pomp and _grandeur. At the

end of the ceremony the bridegroom asked, "where is the

dowry?" The jackal replied "All cultivated lands certainly

belong to you, but I am the master of all waste-lands. I

now make a free gift of them to you by way of dowry. Get

them cultivated". In this version the poet has encouraged

the king to get the uncultivated waste-land cultivated so

that poor peasants could be benefitted and the agricultural

produce be enhanced.

Sarala Dasa appears to have possessed a very good

knowledge of astrology, which he has exhibited in ·various

parts of his work. He speaks of the characteristics of best

horses and of the maladies from which they suffer. He gives

the f·orm of incantation with which snake-bites can be cured.

He believed that through incantations, charms and tracts

people could possess miraculous powers with which they could

achieve whatever they desired.

Of his numerous deviations from the Sanskrit Mahabhara­

ta we give below one instance to illustrate the types of

poetical fancies which Sarala Dasa has presented after being

97

free from the original.

The fall of Salya, the last general of Duryodhana,

practically brought the Mahabharata War to a close. Bereft

of his brothers, best generals, allied kings and most part

of his army~ that were a 11 destroye'd in the continuous war,

the proud Kaurav King sat aghast on ~ stately elephant in

the midst o~ the battle-field, mournfully surveying the

terrible carnage still being perpetrated on the remnant of

his army by the relentless Pandavas. There was no other way

for him than to flee from the battle field, but before doing

so, he frantically searched for his only son, Lakshmana

Kumar, who was also, in the thick of the fight, and fortu-

nately found him out.

"Run away from the battle-field my son and hide your­

self. in a forest," whispered the forlorn king to his son.

The boy being the son of a Kshatriya king, was at first

reluctant to leave the battle-field but had ultimately to

yield to his fathers advice. The Pandavas were, however,

closing upon the remnant of the Kaurava army from all sides

and there was hereby any way to escape. While forcing his

way through the Pandava army Laskshmana Kumar lost his life

under the heavy blow of Shima's terrible club.

could have no knowledge of his son's death.

Duryodhan

!After a short while Shima met Duryodhana and gave a

98

heavy blow on the latter's stately ele~hant which in conse-

quence fell with its rider. Duryodhana then found an oppor-

tunity to hide himself inside the huge bell attached to the

elephant's neck and thus remained concealed underneath its

dead-body. Searches by Bhima to find him out were of no

avail.

The evening came and the fight was over for the day.

The battle-field bacame still in the night. Duryodhana

realised that the night had fairly advanced and he crawled

out from beneath the dead body of the huge elephant. But he

was confronted with a river of blood, deep and wide with

chariots floating like ships, dead elephants and horses like

boats and corpses like rafts. For a while he stood bewil-

dered and then thought of using one of the floating corpses

as his raft to go to the other side of the river of blood.

He ~aw the bodies of his valiant brother Dushasana, his

great friend and general Karna, his instructor Drona and his

trusted minister Sakuni, that came floating one after anoth-

er in the river of blood. He lamented for each of them,

describing their manifold qualities and powers and wanted to

use each of them as his raft, but none could bear the weight

of his body and his huge club. Therefore in his each at-

tempt to cross to the other side he plunged into the river

of blood. At last he saw a dead body, young and slim,

bedecked with jewels, shining bangles and sparkling ear-

99

rings, that came floating like a rising sun in the river of

blood.

"Who are you, lovely one ? Can you take me to the other

side of the river of flood ?" Cried Duryodhana and sat upon

it with his huge club. The corpse floated like a canoe

by using his clubs as Oars, the desperate king was ere

and

long

on the other side of the river of blood. When he was safe,

he wanted to recognise the face of the corpse which did so

great a service to him but alas; he found it to be that of

his only son Lakshmana Kumar. His paternal heart broke and

he lamented loudly. there was no time to loose. He hur-

riedly dug a trench with his club and laid the body of his

beloved son in it, and then ran to his palace.

The rest of the story is connected with Duryodhana's

flight during the same night to the Vyasa Sarovara where he

ulti~ately fought with Shima ~nd lost his life. The devia-

tions which have been given above are numerous and each has

received a distinct treatment in Sarala Dasa's · Mahabharata.

The differences of Sarala Mahabharata from the original were

intended to communicate a definite message to the society.

These differences had obvious social connotations. This was

a widespread superstition that a person who weds a girl,

born on the amabasya (the last day of the dark fortnight)

does~ not survive. Secondly, the widow-remarriage was also

100

another superstition which pr~vailed at all level~ of socie­

ty. We have noti~ed earlier that Sarala Dasa was a contem­

porary of Gajapati Kapilendradev, who organised the massive

warfare to extend the frontiers of the Orissan empire. The

large number of widows of the soldiers killed in the battle

field encountered social indignity and ostracisation, be-

sides their personal grief and suffering. By characterising

Gandhari in a totally different way the poet thus intended

not only to discourage the superstition but also to cleanse

the society of them. Since nobody wanted to have her as his

spouse, on Vyasa's advice she was first married to a sahada

(strebulus asphera) tree. Later, even though she became a

widow, her marriage was solemnised with Dhritarashtra. The

poet was not only simply a poet but also a reformer. The

limitations of his reform, however, should not be over-

looked. In a measure, he appears to have conceded the

validity of one of the superstitions, namely, the fate of a

person married to the amabasya kanya, but the more signifi­

cant message he conveyed forcefully was the "remarriage of

widows".

In the second story Sarala Dasa has indirectly criti-

cised the King through a jackal that the king was not impar-

tial and .did not look after all the subjects properly. In

our foregoing discussion we have illustrated on the land-

grants made to the Brahmins and the State officials during

the Gangas and Gajapati rules in Orissa. Sarala Dasa came

101

of a peasant milieu and he himself was also a peasant.

Being a peasant he must have gone through the toiling labour

and insufficient resources to pass the days. He being

poet and a s~nsit~ive member of society, v

appreci<Jted

a

the

implications of the extensive land-grants made to the Brah-

mins and lords a{ th~ cost of toiling ~asses. Representing

C>

the miserable condition of the peasantry Sarala Dasa·s

disapproval of the discrimination was unequivocal which he

intended to convey through the story of a jackal. In the

same story, the jackal has gifted all the waste-land in form

of dowry to the king, so that it could be cultivated. In

this story poet's discontent against the king and his sug-

gestions for increasing agricultural produce are in a shut-

tle way. The story does not delineate th~ poet's anguish

and resentment over the prevailing discriminatory pol icy,

there is also a suggestion for a positive approach to re-

claim the waste-land and bring it under cultivation.

The wicked man gets horrible punishment, the poet has

shown it by describing the fate of Duryodhan on the last day

of the Mahabharata battle. The same day in the evening,

of Duryodhan faced difficulty to cross the riveriblood, when he

was escaping from the battle field. He used a corpse as the

raft to cross the river and recognised thecorpse that it was

his lovely son Laxman Kumar. There was no time to lament

although his heart broke-down with sorrow and grief and

102

immediately he burried his son there and escaped.

story poet gives us a message of pe~ce and amity.

In

To

this

him,

Duryodhan could have saved lives of his brothers, generals,

innumerable soldiers and his son Laxman Kumar by avoiding

the war. Sarala Dasa believ~d in peace and advised very

nft~n, to avoid war. Thus he has deviated from the _orig~~al

by incqrporating these stories and many mundane phenomena in

his Mahabharata which were not supposed to get place in a

sacred religious text. The poet's deviation from the origi-

nal and his own way of writing evoked sharp criticism from

the learned Brahmins, well-versed in sacred texts. It was

to defend himself against such hostile critisms that he appears

have dedicated a 11 his writings to Goddess Sarala and

passed them as emanating from her mouth.

Sarala Dasa·s egelitarian philosophy developed with the

influence of prevalent socio-religious environment of his

times. He protested and sometimes criticised certain. social

customs and wanted to reorganise the society with the human-

itarian principles like, morality, tolerance, and good

character. Although he was pasionately devoted to the

goddess Sarala, he was tolerant of and respectful to all

other deities and sects. There is hardly an important Hindu

deity who has not received homage from Sarala Dasa. The

village deities, presiding deities of cities and towns,

sacn?d trees and snakes have not been left out of his con-

103

sideration and have each received homage in course of

writing the epics.24 Thus, he has sincerely tried to

out a social integration by uniting the God-heads.

his

bring

Sarala Dasa bitterly criticised and protested ~gainst

the spread of illicit love relations among the men and women

and its religious justification given by the Budhist tantrik

Sahajiyas. He ridiculed the people who were having inex-

tricable attachment with the worldly pleasure and enjoyment

and criticised the Sahajiya doctrine and its practitioners

vehemently.

dhacharya ·•

He characterised s~ikrishna as a "Sahaja Sid-

In spite of the order of Mahavishnu Srikrishna

did

two

not like to leave for Vaikuntha because of

thousand women, sons, grand sons

his thirty

and worldly

pleasures. 25 The poet has condemned this evil trend and

tried to preach morality as the essence of society.

Sarala Dasa rescued the spiritual life from the Saha-

jiya·s religious colour of illegal love and propagated the

doctrines of adwait, Surya, Yoga and Sanjam (self -control).

There was a social and ethical need of abolishing the deep-

rooted influence of the Sahaja Siddhacharyas and therefore,

the poet tried to draw attention of society by character-is-

24. K.C. Panigrahi, op.cit, p.36

25. S. Mohanty, op.cit, pp.162-63.

104·

ing Sri Krishna as a Sahaja Siddha and the evil consequences

of the sexual scandal, womanization, and concubinage. 26 The

poet has, however, praised the Kshatriya Sri Krishna but not

Gopal Sri Krishna. Sarala Dasa has sincerely warned the.

people not to be unscrupulous, not to be involved in sahaja

and parakiya cult which were scandallous in the name of

nirvana. 27

-He further criticised the illegal love relations of

Parashara, Santanu, Agnika, Brahma, Orona and Vyas~ who were

respected figures of the Mahabharatiya era. His criticism

against the prevalent Buddhistic tantrik and sahaja has been

concealed in his analysis of the different characters of the

Mahabharata. He has condemned the tatvayogic advocacy of

illicit love relations irrespective of passable or impassa-

ble, Brahmin or Chanda!, beatiful or ugly, mother, daughter

or sister to attain the Siddhi, (perfection) of

26. Ibid, p.170

27. Sarala Dasa writes:

"Kama-sagara agadha apramita jala_.

Kahaku hin drusya nahin nahin thala Kula, Bhangila Jagamohana Purushara darpa,

Upujai Para-dara kala sarba papa.

Kshanika sukha se para dara rasa ranga,

kshan.i ka bhi tara sarba bapu hoe bhanga."

Ouated in S. Mohanty. op.cit, p.177.

105

meditation. 28 Sarala Dasa·s description of illicit love

relations of Satyavati, Kunti, Ambika, Ambalika Nila, Syama-

la and Ratnavati, the great women of the Mahabharata is not

out of the creation of his bad taste and worse environment,

but it was the real picture of the later vedic society.

Procuring a male child was earnestly wanted because of

the loss of males in the continuous warfare Gajapati Kapi-

lendradev. However, the Niyoga (to cohabit with a person

other than husband for procuring a male child) was an estab-

lished tradition in which the people wanted to procure a

male child to preserve the line of their family. Sarala

Dasa, therefore, advised to adopt the tradition of Niyoga to

procure a male child,29 but he did not accept the repeti-

tion of such traditions with religious justification for

worldly enjoyments. He raised his voice against such ugly

religious customs and endeavoured to establish an idea 1.

His aim was to ch~racterise the women in form of

mother, daughter, sister and wife. So he has very often

28. "Brahmanadi Ki..Jlotpanam /'1udram bai antya.iodbhabam .• Duhsilam paralanga cha bikrutam bikalam tatha (24) Janayitrim Svasaram cha svaputri bhagineyikam, Kayayan tatva.iogena laghu siddheypata Sadhaka."(25)

29.

"Prajoopaya vinischavah Siddhih", Two Vajrojana Works of Oriental institute, Baroda, Quated in S. Mohanty, Q.P.· cit' p. 269.

A.B. Mohanty (ed), Sarala Mohabharata, Bhubaneswar, 1965, pp.284-285.

106

( Adi parva) ,

insisted upon the children to obey their parents and elders

failing which there would be a lot of harm to their study,

family, age and l i f.e. 30 He has thus tried to weave social

net work through morality and good conduct.

Sarala Dasa has criticised the discriminative attitude

of Acharya Orona towards Ekalavya and Karna. To him, ,,. they

were the .best students of the world, who flourished in de-

pendently by virtue of their intelligence, sacrifice, perse-

verance and self-confidence. The poet has condemned the

discriminations between the man and man on the basis of

birth. From his descriptions of the conflict between the

Brahmins and the Chandalas in the Adiparva of his Mahabha-

rata, it is assumed that there was cate-tensions in medieval

Orissan society. The poet, however, did neither believe in

rituals nor in pilgrimage or Yajnas. He did neither advocate

the rules of Sastras, nor did he compromise with the Pun-

He criticised and revolted against the exploitative

Brahminic culture. Thus he sang in his Mahabharata;

"Neither I studied letters

nor I was knowledgeable of Sastras.

Neither I discuss with the Pundits

30. A.B. ·p.29.

nor I got of initiation.

Mohanty(ed), Sarala Mahabharata,

107

( Adiparva),

Neither I went on pilgrimage

nor did I visit the sacrificial ceremony.

Neither I studied

nor I did know anything,

But the Goddess Hingulakshi

blessed me to write." 31

SARALA DASA AND THE JAGANNATHA CULT:

Our discussion will not be perfect without assessing an

important contribution of Sarala Dasa to revive and pre-

serve the essence and truth of the Jagannatha cult, which

faced a serious threat in the process of the brahmanisation

of the deity and the shrine in his time. By this time Lord

Jagannatha was already Brahminized and the Power and status of

the non-Brahmin priests had declined. Sarala Dasa protested

agai~st the submergence of this tribal deity into the fold

of Brahminism and propounded the theory of Jagannatha cult

31. "Na padhi 1 i ask.shara mun nuhen Sas trabadi,

Panditank.a sange basi na k.a1i samadi".

Madhyaparva.

"Na paai1i padamantra na ga1i mun tirtha, Na pasi 1 i Jaga Yajne na bhabi 1 i mantra.

Na pad hi 1 i ak shara mun na janai k. J. c hhJ.. _.

f:lna abhyase mote prasanna Hingu1ak.shi."

Bhishma parava.

108

·by offering the dignity due to the tribals and lower classes

of society.

The rise of Jagannatha from the holy blue mountain of

the Sabara tribe to the status of Vishnu, the most popular

God of the Hindu pantheon, accumulates a lot of historical . . ~

-. -ex pl anatio'ns. In "Hushal-iparva" of his Mahabharata Sarala

Dasa has described Lord Jagannatha as the incarnation of

Lord Buddha.32 He has incorporated the contemporary

tions of society by virtue.of his poetic imaginations and

has strongly established Lord Jagannatha as Sabari Narayana

or a tribal deity. This deity was worshipped in the form of

a tree and later on in the from of a piece of a blue-s tone

(Nilamadhav) by a tribal chief Viswavasu. In Sabha parva

the poet has described the pitha of Sabari Narayana as a

great shrine. Anna (rice), the meat of deers and rhinocer-

os offered to the deity in form of tantrik worship and

there was no discriminations of caste and colour in the

shrine.

Jara, son of Viswavasu, used to worship the deity after

his father. This was the time when the Aryans were expand-

32. "Buddha abatara nische biharibu, Dusta ~ana. mari santha ~ananku palibu, Kshirasindhu tire taha deba chhanti kahi, Jibi Nilagiriku mun ethe mithya nahin. Rohini kundare ambhe kaya badhaibu Bauddha abatara kaya dekhaibu."

Mahabharata, l"'ushali parva.

109

ing towards east and occupied whatever the shrine, regions

they came across. Vidyapati, a minister of Galamadhav, the

king of Malav discovered the worship of, Vishnu to the Nil a-

madhav by ·Jar a. Vidyapati wanted to take away the deity,

whereas Jara and his tribal soldiers resisted with dire :-,'

consequences. There was thus a batt.le between the two

groups. The king Galamadhav .o won the battle by killing 1.36

tribal commandors and took away the deity. The deity was

soon brahminized and he came to be known as Jagannatha (the

Lord of Universe) instead of Nilamadhava. But the great war

did not come to an end only with the killing of the Sabaras.

The Sabaras also killed the whole family members of the king

Galamadhava and occupied an indispensable position in ritual

hierarchy of the cult as the non-Brahmin priets. It is

widely believed Galamadhava to have been cursed by the God

to be rootless of his family, because he killed the Sabaras,

the primary worshippers of the deity.33 The Dai tas or-·

33. "Vidhip.a ti bol i thi 1 .a ek.ai Sabar.a, Sriy.a nami boli kari duhita tahara. sehi Sab.ariku muhin hoikari bibha, Sri Sabari Nar.ayana rupe heli sobha. gand.a mruga m.ansa sala patra thola k.ari, L.ab.ana besara tahin sangat.are bhari. Emant.a k.ari bhunjai mote s.abaruni, Nat.a,th.aru adhika mun taku achhi jani. Ete bag.are .ambhanku kar.ai se bhakti, Ki hetu sabara vamsa nasilu nrupati. Nama bhakt lokanku kalu tu binasa, He Galaba raja tara na rahiba vamsa."

Sarala Mahabharata; Musaliparva.

110

the

non-Brahmin priests of the Jagannatha temple of Puri are

believed to have been the descendants of Vidhyapati, the

Brahmin minister of the king Galamadhav and Lalita, the

daughter of Sabara chief Jara who got married each other

before the deity was located in the forest. This is a leg-

endary explanation of. the Jagann~tha cult descending a

unique cultural synthesis of Aryans and non-Aryans in the

land of Orissa. The poet has explained this theory of the

Jagannatha cult not only as a form of protest, but has tried

to preach egalitarianism by raising dignity and self-respect

in the broken heart of the neglected tribals and other

depressed classes of society.

Sarala Dasa was also a champion of the cultural uplift-

ment of women. To bring pride and honour in the heart of

the neglected women folks, he made the women characters of

his epics more powerful than and superior to their male

counter parts. In his Vilanka Ramayana, it is Sita, an

embodiment of feminine beauty, who ultimately killed Sa has-

rasira Ravana (thousand headed Ravana), triumphantly

establishing her superiority over the male Rama who had

doubted the destructive capacity of females. 34

34. Janaki boile prabhu pratijna na kara~ Muhin na maile kahun maranta asura. tumbhe kiba kashta paiachha Raghurana,

con td ... p. 112

111

In his

Chandi Pur-ana, it l. s· Durga, an incarnation of combined

divine energies and an embodiment of feminine beauty, who

ultimately killed Mahisasura the baffalo- headed demon),

demonstrating her superiority over all Gods who had been

defeated and oppressed by this terrible demon. In his

·Mahabharata, the poet deviates from the Sanskrit Original

and represents Draupadi as the unseen destructive force

working for the death and destruction of all the Kauravas,

all the Pandavas excluding Yuddhisthira and all the Yadavas

including Sri Krishna. This the-ory of Sarala Dasa which

finds a distinct mention in the Kar-na par-va of his Mahabha-

r-ata, is altogether novel, yet it has proceeded from his pen

on account of his conviction that the female energy is

preserver and destroyer of the world.

contd .•• fn.34 •.. ghora kashta paili mun maili Ravana. £manta pratijna jebe achf"}i Raghusain. Vilankara Ravanaku badha kara Jain.

Apurva murati dhaileka Baidehi, Asura agare ubha hele devi jai. Nahakope Daitya anga kampe tharahara. Naba jaubana sati deleka dekhai, Bege panchashara puspa dhanure purai.

Kandarpara panchasara angare bajila, Belu bela daitya tanu atura hoila."

Vilanka Ramayana, Lanka Kanda.

112

the

This great unschooled p~asant poet had an intuitive

conviction that the quietly pervasive qualities of the women

are far superior to the activities of the men. His epic

characters, namely Durga, Sita and Dr au pad i, combine in

themselves supreme material achievements with supreme femi-

nine charms. They overtake the men charatters by their

resilent vitality as well as by their irresistible beauty.

Sarala Dasa was thus not only a great poet but

radical of all the poets in old Oriya literature.

the most

He may be

unique in the whole of Indian vernacular literature from

this stand-point. He does not preach in favour of the

practice of Sati, rather he has made Sri Krishna to speak to

Uttara that ~elf-immolation and killing of unborn infant

(feutous) is a great sin in the world. The widow must live

for the sake of bringing up her children and by this act she

could rescue the ihaloka and the paraloka of her family. 35

Simi,l ar 1 y, Vyasa also pursuaded Kunti not to commit Sati

because of the death of Pandu. He advised her to live and

bring up her little five children and to him it was the most

religious work she could do in this world. 36

Sarala Dasa has understood that the role of women is

indispensable for the family discipline and social integra-

35. Sarala Mahabharata, "Dronaparva", (R.P.), p. 54.

36. Sarala Mahabharata, "Adiparva", (D.C.), pp.270-72.

113

tion as well. So they should maintain a good cha~acte~, be

tole~ant, peaceful and vi~tuous. The men a~e bo~n to mothe~

who a~e women. So women a~e g~eate~ than the men and they

have mo~e ~esponsibility towards the construction of an

ideal society.37

EGALITARIAN OUTLOOK:

In an unequal agrarian society, Sarala Dasa was the

first peasant poet who decla~ed that all men and women we~e

equal. The discrimination between the ~ich and the poor,

the Brahmin and the chandal was a by product of the prevai-

lin social order, he believed. He visualised a f~ee social

order on the basis of the lofty principles of humanism,

liberty, e~uality and frate~nity~ The poet had unbound love

and sympathy for all c~eatu~es of the wo~ld. He was full of

remo~se when he desc~ibed on the death of numerous birds and

wild,animals owing to the bu~ning of the Khandava fo~est. 38

In the Adiparva of his Mahabharata he has made Sri Krishna

to declare that a~l fifty-six crores of creatures of the

Universe are equal and the God takes birth in form of human

beings and

37.

38.

sa~ala

pp.52,

lives in the body of every man and woman. So

Mahabharata, (R.P.), Adi, pp.22, 26, Madhya, 120, Drona, p.57, Vana, p.241, Udyoga, p.3.

Madhya, pp.28-29.

114

there is neither di~trinctLon between man and man nor be-

tween man and woman. In the-same Adiparva Sahadeva did not

find out a Brahmin to perform the Puja of Gokarneswar and

brought a Tainla Sabar to Yudhisthira. Then Sri Krishna

described that all men were equal and there was no harm in

Sabar· s performance o{ Puja to the' God. 3~-

In Virataparva the poet has made Bhima a cook to arrange

common sitting and common dinning' irrespctive of Brahmin and

Chandal. Even Sri Krishna in quis~ of-Ananta Padhihari has

treated and welcomed Yudhistira into the rajasuya Yajna is

also another example of Sarala's egalitarian outlook. To

the poet, humanity is the index of personality and position,

but not -wealth,- po.wer and prosperity. 40

Sarala Dasa has criticised Sri Krishna Characterising

him as an amorous, abductor of -women,_ diplomat and a con-

spirator. He has hardly used the name of Sri Krishna in his

Mahabharata. In place of Sri Krishna the poet has used the

name of Jagannatha very often.41 Similarly his description

of _Yuddhisthira's marriage at his old age with Suhani the

daughter of Hari Sahu, a poor vaishya shows an ugly picture

39. Ibid., Adi, p.634.

40. I bid. , "Savaparva", p. 240.

41. ·r bid.; "Savaparva", pp. 425-80.

115

of soci~ty that arr old man could also marry a young girl by

virtue of his wealth and power. He was opposed to this

customs. The poet has also criticised the luxurious life of

the king and other feudal nobles, their polygamous tradition

and exploitative attitude. He has warned the ruling class

that the kin~dom will be certainly collapsed by the rising

of the discontented subjects. 42

Politial Thought:

Sarala Dasa's political philosophy was enriched with

the influence of the contemporary institutions starting from

the darbar of the King to the level of the village politic~}

system. The administrative system of medieval Orissa may be

characterised .as the despotism from above and a kind of

democracy from. below. Each and every village was autonomous

and administered by a village headman Gramika, with the

support of a panchayat known by gramasabha or janasabha.

Spread of education, cleaning village roads and tanks and

redressal of the village disputes were carried with by the

village administration. 43 Sarala Dasa although, he was born

and b~ought up in a village, still then he enumerated a fine

42. Ibid.,· "Santiparva", pp.11-12.

43. N.K. Sahu, p.37

•

Oriya Jatira Itihasa,

116

Bhubaneswar, 1974,

document 'of an administrative system as reflected in his Ma-

habharata, by virtue of his experience, vision and imagina-

tions.

To the poet, the first and foremost duty of the king

,f is to protect the life and properties of the subjects from

the wild animals and the enemies and to work for their-

welfare. 44 The King has to adopt two policies to accomplish

this duty. These are, for example~ participation in war and

patronage to religious institutions. He did not mean the

King must adopt the method of warfare to extend his empire,

but he may adopt it to protect the frontier of his own

empire. Besides this the King should also patronise the

religious institutions directed towards social welfa~e. The

poet has expressed his deep concern to the situation of

anarchy and blood-shed and, therefore, he has suggested for

hereditary succession to the throne. The coronation ~eremo-

ny was an important factor of the royal dignity. It was

politically and economically significant to the people as

the king used to declare his special policies like remit-

tance of certain taxes, tax-free land-grants to the temples

and Brahmins. The capital also got rejuvenated with gar-

dens,

44.

perf_ormances of songs and dances etc.

Sarala Mahabharata (R.P.), Adi, p.164, Santi, p.12, Asramika, p.46.

117

It may be

Vana, p.136,

mentioned here that Gajapati Kapilendradev, the contemporary

of the poet had remitted the taxes levied on salt and co­

wries,45 and Gajapati Purushottamadeva remitted the chauki­

dari tax from Brahmins, during the time of their coronations

46 to.)· the throne .

. -The poet is also conscious of the conduct

worthiness of the king. To him, the kingdom may

destroyed if the King is not intelligent and is guided

the evil-minded counc i 11 ors. 4 7_.-- The King should

and

be

by

be

religious, faithful, wise, conscientious and knowledgeable

of Vedas and Sastras. 48 The poet, however, does not be-

lieve the King will be able to keep up the Kshatriya

religion only by being a great giver, for that he must be

apt in military and warfare activities. 49 The poet believed

the power of wealth and weapon of a ki~gdom is not an

eternal power, but the relig~ous merit of the King is the

45. South Indian Inscriptions (S.II), Vol. v, No.1035.

46. Jagannatha Temple Inscriptions, Dated 1470 A.D.

47. Sarala Mahabharata, (R.P.) (Adia), p.131.

48. Ibid, Sava, p.138.

49. I bid, "Adiparva", pp. 65 and 100.

118

~eal ete~nal powe~ of the kin~dom. 50

Sa~ala Dasa has p~opounded the theo~y of an ideal

kingship. Acco~ding to him, the kingdom and the people

enjoy the consequences of the me~its and deme~its of the

King. The poet has made Yuddhisthi~a to explain the theory

of kingship to Dh,;..ita~asht~a in the Adiparva·of his Mahab-

ha~ata. To him, it becomes ha~mful to the kingdom and the

people if the king becomes weak and ang~y. The king should

be efficient both in Sastras (weapons) and Sashtras (law

books on dharma). To acqui~e the te~~itory of othe~ king-

doms by avoiding wa~ is also another element of the ideal

kingship. To punish the ~eal culprit is the ~eal dharma of

the king. 51

50. "Rajyabit.ta astrabala nuhain sarbatha_, Dharma tapabala Loke hue balabanta. Podu e rajya moharndhin proyjana~

Jiba.i mun desantara hebi. tapodhana."

Ibid, Adiparva, p.160.

·s1. "Raja hoina Jadyapi sake hue krodhi, Nanda bruddhi hue rajye karanti abidhi. Nrupati hoina Jadi Sada l<rodha l<ari, Santana hani huai l<andhu chhade Shiri. Raja hoi l<rodhe jebe na manai pita, Habirbhaga na ghenai anala Devata. Rajara dharame banchanti sina prajajana, Rajara Krodhe samaste huanti nidhana. Raja hoi jebe hue abirata l<rodhi, Virya hani hue Satru na parai sadhi. Para rajye chara gana gupatare thanti, BaJa kshina heba barta neina dianti. Bijita ahari jebe hoibati Raja

contd ••• p .1

119

In the,Santiparva of his Mahabharata, Sarala Dasa has

made Bhishma to explain some policies of the State adminis-

tration which reflects the poet's political thought. Shish-

rna advised;

"Oh ~ Yuddhisthira, rule- the country according to· Dhar-

ma, or else you will loose it. Rule the country in sucha

way that nobody should be unhappy. Know it for certain that

the happiness of the people is the happiness of. the King.

Indra sends rain, if a king deals justice even handed to all

and his subjects become happy. Reward punishments to he

culprits after due investigation. Ascertain the truths

through spies and cut off the heads of the real enemies of

the country. Know it for certain that it is not a sin

punish evil doers. Prepare a rod of twenty five hands in

contp ••• fn.Sl •••

Sastra Sashtra Vidyare hoiba nirjata, Para rashtraku Jiniba sina ahe tata. Pratapadi gunadhika hoiba akrodhi, Para bhumiku gheniba sangrama nirodhi. Dande dandile Rajara nuhai adharama, kshatriya Kulara tata atai e dharma."

Mahabharata, Adiparva, pp.88-89.

Similar advice was delivered by Ganga to Santanu:-

"Paraja paliba gheni bale para ·rashtra. Sambhara ghenina sadhu thiba para thata Danda palana ghenina dushta nibariba .•

- SajJana paliba tapodhana uddhariba."

Adiparva, p.lO.

120

to

length and with it get the land measured. 52 Know it that

twenty five gunthas make up a mana (i.e. 100 decimiles), and

twenty manas make up a Vati. For one Vati of land take only

one China of gold from your subjects. The people will then

be happy and wish your long life. Through the spies you

should gather informations from all parts of the country.

Send your brothers to punish rebels. Appoint a wise man as

your minister and discharge your royal duties in accordance

with his advice. Do not offer all the powers to the minis-

ter, but entrust certain responsibilities with him. Do not

fine the cultivators with money. Supply the right type of

horses to the cavalry. Remain vigilant over the activities

of other kingdoms. Listen to the Puranas from the learned

men. Visit the different parts of the country incognito at

night to verify the truth of the information received. Do

not give up hunting. Do not cast·your· longing eyes on the

property and wives of others. Do not allow the spies of

other kingd~ms to enter into yours. Do not harass cultiva-

tors. Set apart sufficient pasture lands for cows. Give

away your best things at the places of pilgrimage. Station

52. During the reign of Kapilendradeva the differ~nces of the nala. measurements was removed and it was uniformed by the king himself. Sarala Dasa writes them,

"Apana kara Pramane kathi dele kati, Pancha-bimsa hate bhiaile nala Kath.i."

Adiparva.

121

yoUor generals in proper places of your kingdom. Supply

sufficient food to horses and elephants. Entrust your COWS

to best cowherds. Show respect to the learned and do not be

niggardly to poets. Always pay excuse to the faultless.•• 53

In Sarala Dasa's vision the links between an effective

administrative system and espionage are also clear. To him

the minister is required to be more clever and in tel 1 igent

than of the king. It was an important duty df the king to

appoint a wise and faithful minister. 54 The king was

supposed to be dependent on aid and advice of the minister.

But according to the poet, it was not proper to entrust all

administrative power and responsibilities on the minister.

They should be authorised on limited and certain· responsi-

bilities. 55 Moreover, if the advice of the minister goes

against the interest of the citizens or subjects, in such

aspects the poet advises to accept the opinion of the many.

Sarala Dasa, here declares to uphold the democratic values

for the State administration. For example, in

53. "Krushi karmakari Jane na tandiba dhana, Gochara nimante chhadi debu bahu sthana. Krushikarinku kadapi arthe na dandibu, Nirdoshi jananku sada kshama acharibu."

Santiparva.

54. Sarala Mahabharata (R.P. ), Madhya, p.105.

55. Ibid, Santi, p.12.

122

the Udyoga

parva of his Mahabharata the queen Bhanumati advised Duryod­

hana not to accept the advice of the minister Sakuni, rather

she insisted upon to accept the opinion of

councillors. 5 6 Besides this, the poet also advised

consult the wise men, the pundits and the poets - in

field of sta~e administration. 57

Economic Thought:

The economic thought of Sarala Dasa has also

many

to

the

been

reflected in his Mahabharata. We know from his writings

that the revenue collected from the subjects is the chief

source of royal treasury. To him, this treasury should be

spent on expendition, performances of Yajnas (sarifices),

construction of· temples and on various social welfare activ-

ites like digging wells, ponds and constructing roads. 5 8

The 'kingdom where as less as the poor people live,

becomes a rich and prosperous kingdom. The poet thought

was the foremost duty of the king to remove poverty

that

it

and

elevate the status of the poor. The king should provide one

pauti (almost 70 kgs.) of seeds for sowing

56. Ibid, Udyoga, p.56.

57 .. Ibid, Gada, pp.29-30.

58. Ibid, Santi, p.12. Aswamedha, p.lB.

123

one Vati (20

acr-es) of land and collect five pauti of crops as r-evenue

after- the pr-oduction59 The field for- which the king does

not pr-ovide seeds it is to be cultivated on the basis of

sanja and the king should collect one pauti of revenue fr-om

one vati of such land. The king should not levy any r-evenue

on the pr-oduction of fr-uits and ber-r-ies fr-om such land. 60

Those who want to pay revenue in cash, they may pay one

China gold coin as the r-evenue of one vati of land. The

poet was also, in favour- of assigning land to the officer-s,

in lieu of, their- salar-ies. 61 'The king should also look

after- the animal husbandr-y by which the elephants, hor-ses,

and cattle be pr-oper-ly maintained. He advised the king to

keep pastur-e land for- the maintenance of the animals, par--

ticular-ly, the cattles. 62

The development of industr-y and spr-ead of commer-cial

activities wer-e essential ~or- the gr-owth of the state

economy, the poet believed. The poet does not, however-,

appr-eciate if a mer-chant tells lie for- making pr-ofit.

Accor-ding to him, the seller- should make pr-ofit at the r-ate

59. Ibid, Asramika, p.46.

60. Ibid, Santi, p .11' Swargarohan, p.2.

61. Ibid, Santi, p. 12.

62. Idem.

124

of one for four, four for twenty and twenty for eight

only. 63 It was not improper on part of a king to involve

himself in commercial activities. But he should not be

greedy either of his property or the property of his sub-

jects. 64 The poet, however, puts emphasis on the economic

stability and liberal attitude of the king for maintaining a

strong and healthy political system.

The political philosophy of the eminent philosophers

like Manu, Parasara, Brihaspati,. Sukra and Kautilya was

directed towards strengthening the sovereign monarchy and

protecting the kingdom. But the aim behind the political

thought of Sarala Dasa was for people's welfare, development

of agriculture and of peasants, protection of hermits and

thus reconstruction of a healthy and ideal society.

Before we conclude a word about how important Sarala

Dasa's Mahabharata could be as a source of

history of India of his time. Sarala

63. "Banijyara swarupa mun kahuachhi jatha, Labha painki kadacha na kahiba mithya. gandake kada, kadike. gheniba gandai, Panake kodi kahane labha padikae.

Jete labha hele mithya na kahiba hade, Chari pade kini nei bika pancha pade."

Suargarohana Parva.

64. Savaparva, p.32, Virataparava, p.29. ~~* "'11._.·~ • .r.

125

the general

Dasa men-

tions an unusual.! y large number of historical and

geographical names which he incidentally introduces into all

his narratives~ but particularly into such narratives as

relate to notable marriages like those of Bhanumati, Draupa-

di and Uttar~, in which the kings of all parts of India are

said to have been p~esent. In his Savaparva he presents a

historical and geographicalftpicture of India as was known to

him and devotes the major portion of thirteen thousand

verses to the description of digvijayas (conquests) of the

pandavas, in course of which th~y are taken to different

kingdoms passing through numerous temples, shrines and

rivers. Arjuna, the third Pandava reached Malava after

coming across Yamuna, Ganga, Gaya, Haradwara, Vaitarani,

Narmada, Saraswati, Krushna, Godavari, Kashi, Kaushika,

Punyabhadra, Sarvabhadra, Suvarnabhadra, Chandrabhaga,

Chitrotpala, Dhauli, and Puskara, 6 5 The names of the coun-

tries and kings that participated in the Mahabharata war,

65. "1'1al aba desare jai bijaye Ar;iuna, Jamuna nadi Kulare ta raija gahana. Ganga Gaya Godavari Haripada Vaitarani, Narmada Saraswati je abara Krushnaveni. Sagara Sangama je Pragarudra Prachi. Kasi kaushika Andheka Rudra Sachhi. Punyabhadra Sarvabhadra Subarnabhadra Pingali, Ananta Vijaya Chandrabhaga Chitrotpala Dobali. Kotie tirtha gheni kshetradhi puskara. Pratakale abhishek.a kari achhanti jahara payara. Patala-basani go Sabari Bhairobi. Swami-mukati banchha nimante jahar charan sebi."

Sava, pp.332 & 558-59.

126

have been given in the Udyoga parva. In the Asvamedba

parva. the sacred horse has been taken to different parts of

India, which have been meMtioned by their names.

The art of writing history or geography in a direct and

systemat.ic manner was not one of the achievements of the

ancient Hindu writers, thus our poet could hardly be expect-

ed to have risen above the general level of social and

intellectual milieu of his age. Among the geographical

places mentioned, some may be fictitious, but the vast

majority of them are identifiable. Evidently the poet did

not use any maps. He has left to us certain historical and

geographical names which he had heard, and which he could

remember at the time of writing and conveniently incorporate

them in h1s metrical compositions.

Sarala Dasa's knowledge of history and geography

constitutes an important and interesting source of

information to all cl-asses of readers. After giving a

descriptions of each kingdom that partie i pated in the

Mahabharata war, the poet sums up the participating kingdoms

which practically cover the whole of India. Along with the

kingdoms of the Mahabharata age such as Sindhu and Gandhara,

occur the kingdoms of the historical times such as Garjana

(Ghazna or Ghazni), Tihudi (Tehri in Garhwa 1), Bhutan,

Assam, Bengal , Malwa, Saurastra, Kashi, Kanyakubja, and

Maharashtra. 66 The poet mentions Lohapura (Lahore), Punjab,

Haryana, etc. His geographical knowledge extended beyond

the north-west frontier of India as is evident from his

mention of Ghazna, Khurswan and Persia.

The geographical names of the central India such as

Ajayameru67 ( Aj mer) , Ranastambha Pura68 (Ranthambhor),

Amber, Jodhpur, Kalinjar (Kunjara), Chanderi, Bhopal, Seo-

pur, Ujjain69 and others have found mention of the western

India a few places like Baglana70 (in the Nasik

and Bhrigukachhcha (Bhrigupura), now known

66. "Gauda Gar zan T.i hud.i Bhotan 1'1aihara, Kamak.shi Bangala aau Belavalipura.

Kshiri3 1'1i3laba Gun_iar puni hin Si3uri3stri3~

Ki3shi Kaushiki3 Kubja aau 1'1aharashta."

Udyagaparva, p.BB.

67. "1'1atsya kosala aabar uttara kosala .• 1'1eru kosala 1'1alaya ~nila."

Adya, p.116.

68. "Bahu katha achhi Ranastambhara gadare~ Se pura rache kari3ta ki3nana bhitare."

Vanaparva, p.287.

69. "Bhupal desaku teJ.i bira ~rajuni3,

Ujanaki3nti ra_iyaku karila prayana."

Savaparva, p.131.

70. "Rrishyamukha panchavati Chi trakuta vana.

Baganala kalap je vana 1'1adhuvana."

Virata parva, p.88.

128

as

Distr-ict)

Broach in

I

Gujurat, have been mentioned. The sacred cities of the

region now known, Uttara Pradesh, have necessarily found

mention, but along with them the places not traditionally

sacred, also occur in his work. Kalpi 71 (in the Jalaun

District), Kalanagara (Kara near Allahabad), Suklapura

(Sakaldih in the Chandauli Tahasil of Baranasi), Jaunapur72

and Delhi and Malav73 have been prominently mentioned. Two

long narratives of the Sarala Mahabharata have been devoted

to the wars connected with Kalpi. On the break-up of the

Delhi Sultanate on the eve of Mahammad Tughlaq's death,

Kalpi became a small independent state and also a bone of

contention among the Sultans of Delhi, Malwa and Jaunpur-.

The tripartite struggle that ensured for its possession has

become the subject matter of these narratives, which Sarala

Dasa has written in his own way in Puranic settings with the

changed names of the Sultans, but with the correct names of

their territories. Similarly, he has also written

71. "Kalpidesa raja nama ate vira bahu~

Danda bahilani aasi jesaneka rahu" •

• Virata parva, p.162.

72. "Suk 1 ambar pur a Sank hapur Jomadagni .• Hara_papa Ganga bastraharan Baruni."

Virataparva, p.87.

73. "Di 1 hi je dingara mago 1'1al av Kun.far • . Ete duru ani mago poshu tu udar."

Madhyaparva, p.76.

129

a long

nan·· a ti ve in the Sava parva echoing the conflict between

Orissa and Jaunapur which he mentions as Yamunapura or

Yamadagnipura.

In the Bihar and Bengal region~ mention has been made of

the main political divisions such as Magadha, Mithila,

Bhojapura, Anga (Karna-Mandalal, 74 Tirabhukti, Varendri

(Nilendri), East-Bengal (Velala-Desa, 1.e. the country of

Ballalasena)75 and West Bengal (Mandara-desa, i.e. tract

where the fort of Mandara exis~ed). 76 Sarala Dasa also

refers to a few cities of this region such as Udandapura 77

(Bihar-sherif), Vaishali (Vrisala-nagar), Champapur-·a (the

Capital of Anga, i.e. the Bhagalpur-Monghyr region), Velav-

alipur (i.e. Gaur, the Capital of Ballalasena), Jnanapura on

the Gangese which he makes the capital of the kings Jnana-

Chandra and Kula-Chandra~ Hari Kalanagara by which he proba-

74. "Tahun Sahadeva bJ.. ra tha taku chal a.i, · Karna mandai' raj yare prabesi le jai."

Savaparva, p.206.

75. Supr~, n.66.

76. "f1andar desara raja ate kalanemi,

Hastinare prabesila danda chhatra gheni."

Madhyaparva, p.257.

77. "Ganga sagarar purba kapi 1 a sa k handa,

Labana mahikhanda _7e danda hJ.·n Udanda."

Virata parva, p.87.

130

bly means Pattike~a, the capital of Ha~ikaladeva Ranavanka

Malia and Dandapu~a, pe~haps the capital of Dandakabhukti or

p~esent Midnapo~e.78

The poet knew ve~y well the names of the ancient polit-

ical divisions of Assam sue~ as Kamarupa, P~agjyotisapura,

Sonitapura and Kamakshya and also the name of the medieval

kingdom Lakshmipura or Lakhipura in the Valley of the

Brahmaputra, ruled by a tribal people known as Chhutias in

the 13th century. In the contiguous Himalayan region he

places the countries of Nepal, Bhutan, Pasupalaka (probably

Sikkim), Khaga-desh (the land of birds), Mahat~ina-desa (the

land of tall grass), the Mahalara-desa (i.e. the land of the

wande~ing tribes) and the jala-taranga desa (i.e. the

with a ve~y high ~ainfall).79

land

Sarala Dasa being a poet of Orissa it is natural that a

very' la~ge numbe~ of geog~aphical places of this ~egion have

been mentioned by him. He ~efe~s to such well-known places

as Ekam~a (Bhubaneswa~), Kona~k and ·Pu~i and also to the

places like Ama~avati and Kalakala.

The poet shows a detailed knowledge of south India,

pa~ticula~ly of the Andh~a ~egion whe~e, probably, he se~ved

78. K.C. Panig~ahi, QQ. cit., (1975), p.61.

79. Ibid.~ p.62.

131

as a sold~er in the army of the Orissan king. He correctly

refers to the main political divisions of the south of his

time, namely, Coromandala80 , Vijaya-mandala or Mallika-

mandala, which was no doubt the Vijaynagara empire ruled

over by his contemporary Malikarjuna, Chela-Mandala, Udaya-

Mandala or Kanchi-Mandala which w~s no doubt the ter-ritory

administrated by Saluva Narasimha and in which Udayagiri and

Kanchi were situated, and Kosala-mandala or Brahma-sahi by

which the poet certainly meant the Bahamani kingdom. Beyond

these regions by Chitra-desa, i.e~ Chera-desa or the Kerala

country and Kajjala-desa and Khinna-desa which are to be

identified with Konkan and its strong fort Khelna. 81

The poet refers to a very large number of places situ-

a ted iM th~se broad divisions. Of the places situated in

the Andhra region, mention has been made of

80. "Karnamandida rajyara prabesa hail e .• Nedhare bhitage nei kanyaku thoile."

Madhya, p.293.

81. "Kanauja Udegiri puni Chandragiri, kanchi chandrapura au uttama kaveri. Chaura-mandal kosala-mandal Nallika. Pandav-nagar krushnaveni sadanchika. Udanga matanga Bhadra Krushna se sunanda, Gopana-Bhagi vijaya abara ananda. Sarabhanga sunindrika Kanauja bhota, Khina Gomati kajjali adi sarbarashtra. Nata Chodanga ~banti abar KamakshJ.·. Tara tara Kundaved.J. ;Jurn· Nan gal c;;J; sh1. .. ··

Virata, p.86.

1 -.:-· "- ..._,L

Mahendr-anagar

(modern Ra,jahmundar-y), Kundavedi or- Kondavidu situated in

the Guntur- distr-ict, Amar-a-Chuda parvata or Devar-konda

situated in the Nalagonda distr-ict Udayagiri and Chandragir-i

which wer-e the famous for-ts in the ter-r-itory of Saluva

Nar-asimha and Kakatipura which was the old capital of the

Kakatiya kings •. Many smaller places like Bhadrachalam,

Vijayawada (Bezwada), Matanga or- ~r-isailam, Patala-Ganga

etc. have also been r-efer-r-ed to. 82 The poet r-ecor-ds the

my tho log ica 1 stor-ies about the origins of the shrine of

Mallikar-juna situated on the·top of the Sr-i Sailam, by the

side of the Patala Ganga that flows near-by. He has also

written a very long narrative in a pur-anic form about the

battle of Devarakonda fought between the Gajapati king

Kapilendra and the Bahamani king Humayun. 83

The famous places mentioned in Tamilnadu region are

Kanchi, Chandrapura (i.e. Chingleput), Kaveripattna which is

perhaps the modern Nagapatam, Udanga which is a shor-tened

form of Urangapura or Ur-gapura the ancient name of Tr-ichi-

nopoly, Padmanabha-Parvata (i.e. the temple of Srirangam),

Rudy-a Parvata (i.e. the temple of Tanjor-e), Pandavanagar-a

82. Supra, n.81 and also vide,

"Kundinagar 1'1ahendra nagar abar~ Nila Anila desa je puni hin 1'1andara."

Adi, p.116.

83. K.C. Panigrahi, QQ. cit., pp.62-63.

133

(i.e. Madura), Ramesvara, Setuvandha etc. The similar names

mentioned of the Mysore region are Balaura (i.e. Bellary),

Bela-nagar-a (i.e. modern Belur in the Hasan district),

Suravara-Pattana (.i.e. Sriranga Pattanam) and Maulavatinaga-

ra which is probably the city of Mysore. 8 4

We also come across numerous historical names mentioned

by him. He .refers in slightly changed forms to such

historical royal dynasties as the Chauhanas, Chalukyas,

Solankis, Haihayas, Yadavas, and _A-ndhras. Mention has been

made of such historical Orissan kings as Yayati of the

Somavamsi dynasty and Chudanga (Chodaganga) of the Ganga

dynasty. Mallikarjuna and Virupaksha, the emperors of

Vijayanagara, who were the contemporaries of the poet, have

been referred to more than once. In his Savaparva, Sarala

Dasa takes Sahadeva in course of his digvijaya to different

parts of Bengal, which are said to have been ruled by such

kings as Kulachandra, Jnanach~ndra, Belalasena (Ballalasena)

~nd Kesabasena. He mentions simultaneously Hastikalanagara

and Madhu-matangadesa which are probably the corrupt forms

84. Supra, n.Bl and also vide,

"Reti f1edu Nardanadi charinagre bul i ~

Belaura Belangra galun Velabali. Suravarapatana je nagra NaulabatJ.-, Hiranya pura Ganduki nadi je Sumati."

Virata, p.87.

134

of Harikala-nagara and Madhu-mathana-des~. . . The existence of

two historical kings names Harikaladeva, Ranavanka Malla and

Madhumathanadeva ruling in East Bengal, is corroborated by

epigraphi~al records. When Sahadeva went to Mithila on the

occasion of the Rajasuya sacrifice, Nandasena is said to

have been ruling there. It appears that Nandasena is cor-

rupt version for Nanyasena or Nanyadeva who was a historical

king of Mithila.85

The above survey of the geographical and historical

information obtained from the Sarala Mahabharata is a very

brief one. Sarala Dasa rose above the prejudice of his age

and incorporated into his work the mundane matters, which

from the orthodox stand-point were not to find place in a

sacred book like the Mahabharata. He has even given us the

glimpse of the Muslim history and geography of his time. We

have stated earlier that his Mahabharata is neither an

adoption nor a translation of the Sanskrit original. The

story of the original Mahabharata has been merely a means to

him to record his own knowledge and experiences, events of

the surroundings in which he lived and above all, of the

history and geography as were known in his time.

Sarala Dasa was the pioneer in writing the sacred-texts

in Oriya and he was the poet, who laid the foundation stone

85. I<.C. Pan~grahi, QQ· cit. pp. 6:::.-64.

135

of the rise and grow~h of the regional literature in eastern

India. He deviated the set tradition through his philosophy

and action which was never tolerated by the orthodox sec-

tions of society. The poet had to face a lot of criticisms

and humiliation, because he was a Sudra and dared to compose

puranas and sastras in the language of the common people.

To protect himself from the anger and criticisms of the

learned Brahmin Pundits, he described himself to be unedu-

cated, unknowledgeable of Sastras and whatever he wrote it

was to grace of the Goddess Sarala.

Adikabi Krittibasa, who wrote the Ramayana in Bengali,

after half a century of Sarala Dasa, also faced similar kind

of opposition and criticisms from the orthodox sections of

society. The orthodox Pundits systematically propagated an

idea that they would go to hell after their death, who will

listen to the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and other eighteen

puranas written in the regional languages. To give a justi-

fication of their propaganda they composed a sloka in San-

skrit thus:

"~shtadasha Puranani Ramasya Char .i tani Cha

Bhashayah t1anavah Srutwa ,-ourabam Narakam brajet • .. 8 6

86. Qua ted in D.C. Sen, Calcutta University,

Benga 1 i Language_ ar1d

Calcutta, 1911, p.7.

136

They also created~ Bengali proverb characterising

poets, namely, Kruttibasa, Kashidasa, and peoples'

Ghosh as

1£Jllows:

the symbols of destruction. The proverb

"Kru t t i bf?se_. Kasi Dase aar Bamun Gheshen,

Ei tini Sarabanese."Sl

three

Bamun

is as

It may be well assumed of the natu~e and contents of

criticism faced by the poet Sarala Dasa of Orissa who w~ote

his Mahabha~ata half a century before Krittibasa w~ote his

Ramayana. In spite of the bitte~ c~iticisms and opposition

of the orthodox sections of society, the epics of Sa~ala

Dasa earned tremendous popula~ity in Orissa and Bengal as

well . His language was simple and expressive. His Mahabha-

rata is a national epic from many stand points. It is

although a book written in the medieval Oriya, but contains

a lot of significant information on the history and geogra-

phy of India. His epic has been ext~emely popular in O~is-

sa, which is a portrayal of Oriya social life that is tr-ue

even today. To make his motherland impo~tant in the eyes of

his compatriots with the holiness of puranic sanctity, he

not only linked Srikrishna's death in Sau~ashtra to the rise

of Jagannatha at Puri, but he b~ought the Pandavas to visi.t

87. Idem.

137

•

all the holy places of Orissa and,made them to live like

common Oriya citizens.

The Mahabnarata of Sarala Dasa was written two cen--

turies before the Mahabharata came into existence in Benga-

li. The Mahabharata in Telugu was written by three succes-

sive court poets and was completed in the

Perhaps in no other modet-n Indian language was a !'1ahabharata

p r· o d u c e d so ear l y ( 1 5th c en t u r y A • D . ) and by s u c I• a poe t as

Sarala Dasa, a semi-educated Sudra poet. no other

vernacu 1 a r· Mahabharata has the same hold on the common

people as the Oriya Mahabharata of Sarala Dasa. The sto-

ri~s, characters, episodes and lines from Sarala·s

rata have gone deep into the life of the Oriyas. In the

eyes of the people of Orissa this epic has assumed the

sanctity and the sanctifying power of a scripture. Man'(· an

Oriya peasant ceremonially starts its recital in to

bring about the birth of a son. The popularity of this

Mahabharata caused it to be translated into old Bengali and

according to B.C. Mazumdar it was translated in the early

16th century.B9 There was also a considerable impact of

Sarala Mahabharata on the Bengali Mahabharata of Kashi Dasa,

88.

89.

M. Mansingh, QQ· cit. p.67.

B.C. 1'1a:zumdar· \ed), Iy~ical Selectio~? from Lite~ature, Vol. I, LalLutta Universlty, Calcutta, (Intr-oduction) .

Q_r_i__j'a

:. 921 '

written in the early 17th century. 90

In the last quarter of the 15th century, three other

important poets were remarkable who contributed to the

growth of Oriya literature by following the traditions set

up by Sarala Dasa. They were Arjuna Dasa, Markand Dasa

and Chaitanya Dasa who composed the Ramabibha, the Keshav

Koili and the Nirquna Mahatmya respectively.

The Ramabibha, composed by Arjuna Dasa was a popular

poetry of medieval times. It -is believed to have been

written after following the stories narrated by Sarala Dasa.

The poet's description of the events of birth of Bali,

Sugriva and Hanumana is quite synonymous with the narrations

found in the Vilanka Ramayana of Sarala Dasa. Poet Arjuna

Dasa has lucidly described from the beginning of

Biswamitra's invitation to the episodes of killing of

Tadaka, liberation of Ahalya, birth of Bali, Sugriva and

Hanumana, Sita's marriage with Rama and defeat of Parashura-

ma by Rama. This work has been divided into twelve Chhandas

and written with different lyrics. It was widely

among the people of all classes of village society. 91

90.

91.

Sukumar Sen, History of Benqal·i Academy, Delhi, 1960, pp.132-33.

Literature,

S.N. Dash, Oriya Sahityara Itihasa, ~uttack, 1963, p.417.

139

Grantha

popular

Sahitya

Mandjr,

Markanda Dasa·s Keshava Koili is earliest of the Oriya

Koili literature. Pt. Suryanarayan Dash has placed Markanda

Dasa to be a poet of pre-16th century. But there is no

evidence to regard him as a contemporary of Sarala Dasa, nor

tan he be placed in pre-Sarala Dasa period. Mark<:~rida Dasa

composed his Keshava Koili before the period of Jagannatha

Dasa (16th century) and because of the popularity of Keshava

Koili, Jagannatha Dasa composed his Artha Koili being influ-

enced by the earlier. Keshava Koili was accepted in the

school syllabus of medieval Orissa since the time of its

composition and thus it came to be extremely popular.

Similarly Dinakrushna Dasa·s Gunasagar, Hari Dasa"s "Ka-Ka

Kalindi tir-e, Kha-Kha Khelanti dhire", etc. Chautishas were

taught and recited in every medieval Oriya village. 92

Chaitanya Dasa in his Nirguna Mahatmya openly declared

the superiority of the Buddha over Krishna as an incarnation

of

and

Vishnu. He said, "Krishna not only abducted many

enjoyed princesses as well as cow-herd girls, he

women

even

committed incest with his own aunt and sister. He killed

cows and he killed his own uncle." But he says of the

Buddha, "He condemned sacrifices and preached the knowledge

of "Brahman". He contradicted the knowledge of "Brahman"

mere rituals such as pilgrimages, sacrifices, and fasting

92. Ibid., p.412.

140

with

and extolled the supe~io~ity of brahmajnana ove~ these me~e

outwa~d pe~fo~mances. The Buddha-narayan thus disca~ded all

tenets and emphasised on self cultu~e." 93 Chaitanya Dasa

p~opagated the philosophy of ni~guna and t~ied to establish

the supe~io~ity of Buddhism ove~ the tenent of Hinduism

propounded by Krishna.

The subsequent developments in Oriya lite~ature owe

agreat deal to Sud~amuni Sa~ala Dasa. He influenced as we

will see, not only Arjuna Dasa, -Markanda Dasa and Chaitanya

Dasa, but also the Panchasakhas of 16th centu~y and late~

the other poets down to modern times. Many a poet including

Utkalamani Gopabandhu Dash, the western educated Radhanatha

and Madhusudan of mode~n times (20th centu~y) drew heavily

on Sa~ala Dasa·s sto~e-house fo~ their own lite~a~y c~ea-

tions. Sa~ala Dasa's w~iting in O~iya educated the common

peasant folks and brought out a consciousness against injus-

tice and exploitation. Besides contributing enormously to

the growth of O~iya language and literatu~e Sa~ala Dasa also

tried to construct an egalitarian social orde~.

93. Chaitanya Dasa, Nirquna Mahatanya, Ch. XVI.

14.1