JAGANNATHAVIJAYAM

1. ಜಗನ್ನಾಥವಿಜಯಂ
2. jagannAthavijayam
3. The Victory of Jagannatha (Lord Krishna)
4. rudrabhaTTa (Rudrabhatta)
5. 1185 A.D. (Twelfth Century)
6. Smartha Brahmana
7. Veera Ballala of Hoysala dynasty
8. In the vicinity of Belur and Halebeedu
9. kavirAja
10. Poetry: Champu Kavya
11. kanda, vrutta and prose
12. 1^st Edition: Two palm leaf manuscripts, one from the Madras Govt. Oriental Library and the other from Channarayapattana

2^d Edition: Four more palm leaf manuscripts from Mysore Oriental Library, Mysore

3^rd Edition: No new manuscripts were consulted

4^th Edition: ___________, __________

5^th Edition: Two more palm leaf manuscripts from Kuvempu Institute of Kannada Studies,

Mysore were consulted.

13. 1884 A.D.
14. Chavali Ramaswamy Shastry
15. Siddhanthi Subrahmanya Shastry, Jaganmohini Mudranalaya, Mysore
16. a. Chavali Ramaswamy Shastry, 1896 A.D., Vasumathee Mudraksharashale, Madras

b. S.G.Narasimhachar, 1904, Mysore Oriental Library, Mysore

c. R.Shamashastry, 1923 Mysore Oriental Library, Mysore

d. With M.R. Varadachar’s rendering in modern Kannada, 1976, Kannada Sahityaparishattu, Bangalore

e. G.G. Manjunathan, 1996, Directorate of Kannada and Culture, Bangalore

f. N.Anantharangachar, Abridged Version, 1960

17. ‘Jagannathavijam’ by Rudrabhatta comes under the category of a few epics in Kannada which are based on the life of Krishna. Here Ramayana and Mahabharatha recede to the background and Krishna is fore grounded. However this epic is not deeply influenced by the Bhakti cult and is structured in the classical mould. This work is based on ‘Vishnupurana’, ‘Bhagavatha’ and some more texts relating to the Krishna theme. In a way Rudrabhatta is the harbinger of a tradition because he takes up the cause of Vaidic religion and creates a paradigm shift by choosing to write in Kannada. This becomes a strong movement and gives rise to many important works. He belongs to the Bhagavath tradition and does not really differentiate between Shiva and Vishnu. Here and there, one finds a hint that the poet might have equated Krishna with Veera Ballala who was his benefactor. Jagannathavijaya’ contains eighteen chapters and the main events delineated in the text are the birth of Krishna, his confrontations with demons such as Pootani, Shakata and Dhenuka, Kalingamardana, rasakreede with gopika women, Govardhanagiri incident and the meeting with Parashurama. Later, Rudrabhatta describes the wedding of Krishna with Rukmini and Sathyabhama. The work concludes with the slaying of Narakasura, Shishupala and Banasura.

This prosaic summary does not do justice to the power of narration and the erudition of Jagannatha. Works such as these hold a mirror to the contemporary life styles and world views. Krishna’s rebellion against Indra and other gods suggests a particular stage in the history of Hinduism and his confrontations with the ‘demons’ suggest a significant clash of cultures.

Rudrabhatta’s Kannada is highly sanskritised and contains any number of compounded words. Many a time one’s metrical choice determines the kind of vocabulary that one uses and vice versa. The fact that Rudrabhatta was a contemporary of shiva sharanas and still could use a style like this suggests a high degree of compartmentalization among poets subscribing to different religions. Any way Jagannathavijayam as many other texts of its kind has to be studied from a cultural point of view rather than a purely literary one.

Rudrabhatta is attributed with another work, “Rasakalikaa’ a treatsise on poetics written possibly in Sanskrit. The authorship is disputed even though the work is available.

18. References and criticism: 1. Rudrabhatta by Gundmi Chandrashekhara Ithala, 1970,Prasaranga, Mysore University, Mysore.

2. Srikrishnakatheya ugama mattu vikasa by Pradhan Gurudutt, Institute of Kannada Studies, Mysore University, Mysore.

3. Sri Krishnacharite by K.Venkataramappa, Prasaranga, Mysore University, Mysore.

4. Prefaces to various editions of ‘Jagannathavijayam’

15. Links

16. Translations

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