BEDANDE
AND CHATTANA
We find references to quite a
few literary genres and prosodic forms that were prevalent in Kannada prior to
the ninth century. However the paucity of concrete evidences of usage prevents us
from discussing them in detail. These references are of positive help in
determining the antiquity of Kannada literature. ‘Bedande’ (bedanDe) (ಬೆದಂಡೆ) and ‘Chattana’ (cattANa) (ಚತ್ತಾಣ) are two genres that may be included in this
category. ‘Kavirajamarga’ by Srivijaya, ‘Kavyavalokana’ by Nagavarma-1 and
‘Shbdamanidarpana’ by Keshiraja are the works that refer to these forms.
‘Bedande’ is beyond doubt a genre that should be
included in the category of poems that have to be sung. (Hadugabba) Nagavarma opines that both ‘Bedande’ and
‘Melpadu’ (mElpADu) have originated from ‘pADugabba’. Bedande has to be a poem
with a story line and characters because it is said to contain ‘Rasa’ and
‘Alankara’. Srivijaya says that ‘Bedande’ contains not only ‘vrutta’s and ‘Kandapadya’
but also metrical forms that are native to Kannada. (jAti) Consequently it may
be deduced that ‘Bedande’ is a rare combination of aksharagana, matragana and
amshagana. This hints at the possibility of rendering all these varieties in to
music. This is quite contrary to the commonly accepted belief that only
amshagana forms could be sung.
Even in terms of music ‘Bedande’ is a genre that was
sung with a background of indigenous instruments rather than classical ones
such as ‘Veena’. ‘Bedande’ literally means with out ‘Dandige’ or veena. (vINA)
Even though ‘Bedande’ could be precursor to Champu form, it does not seem to
have any place for prose.
‘Chattana’ (cattANa) is
apparently a variation of ‘Bedande’ with a lot more space reserved for native
prosodic forms such as ‘Tripadi’(three lines in a stanza) and ‘Chaupadi’(four
lines) Some have tried to trace the origin of the word ‘Chattana’ to
‘Yakshagana’ which sounds slightly far fetched.
However in the absence of documentary evidence one
can only speculate that these forms lean more towards Dravidian prosody rather
than Sanskrit.