VACHANA SAHITYA
Vachanas (vacanagaLu) (ವಚನಗಳು) represent
one of the highest peaks reached by Kannada literature in its history of more
than one thousand and five hundred years. It was the creation of a talented group
of poets who were committed to social activism and never the less had
philosophical aspirations. This was in direct contrast to the poets who were
aligned with royalty and for whom literary creation was the raison de etre of
existence. Basavanna was the founder of a religion which was not shackled by
the caste system or Varnashrama dharma. Veerashaiva religion had its doors open
to the lowliest among the low. Vachanas were the by products of their life
rather than the other way round. The socio-political ethos of the twelfth
century was manifestly disturbed by the events that took place in Kalyana and
it has never been the same in spite of the efforts of an orthodox society to
minimise the impact of the movement.
Vachanas constitute a
heterogeneous body of poems bound together by some common concerns and
philosophical tenets. They attempt to delineate universal truths through verbal
structures based on subjective experiences. They cannot be crowded in to the
categories of philosophy, religion or ethics. They contain all that and are
couched in a language suffused with literary merits.
The word ‘vachana’ was
earlier used to denote the prose passages in Champu epics. But the
Shivasharanas of the twelfth century redefined the term and now it refers to
short pithy poems that do have a definite rhythm pattern even though they are
not constrained by the rules imposed by prosody. There is no restriction on the
number of lines either and they range from a couple of lines to those that
contain more than fifteen lines. They do contain poetic merit because of their
imagery, poetic images, figures of speech and a rhythm pattern which is poetic,
although irregular. More than anything else they are based on human experiences
and they are loaded with emotions. The commotions of human life in a social
context and a possible alleviation of the same through ‘Bhakti’ constitute the
major concern of these compositions. Hence they have risen to literary status
without a tangible story line or a continuous narrative. Attempts to
contextualise the vachanas have taken place later.(Shunyasampadane) But they are not
mandatory to enjoy their poetic beauty. Many vachanas could be rendered to
music and singing vachanas both as classical compositions and as light music
has become quite common. Svara Vachanas of later centuries by mystics such as
Kadakola Madivalappa and Kudaluru Basavalingsharana have added another
dimension to this genre.
Devara Dasimayya (Jedara
Dasimayya) who lived during the second half of the eleventh century is the
first ‘vachanakara’ and many of his compositions are very powerful. The open
invitation tendered by Basavanna to every one to participate in the revolution
that was taking place and the apparent equality accorded to all of them opened
the flood gates of creative imagination and gave an opportunity to the under
privileged to express themselves in a language which was divorced from that of
the folklore. Of course Basavanna,
Allamaprabhu and Akkamahadevi were the major poets
that emerged from the movement. These three shared the burden of formulating
the movement in different ways. Each one of them composed vachanas with unique
characteristics. The philosophical and mystical core was provided by Allama and
the social philosophy of the movement was forged by Basavanna. The lyrical
intensity of the vachanas of Akkamahadevi gave a new dimension to the very
meaning of poetry. Others such as Siddarama, Chennabasavanna, Hadapada Appanna
and Madivala Machayya added their own mite to the corpus. The relationship
between their vachanas and their profession was amazing. The tradition of
Vachanas passed on to the succeeding centuries also and the vachanas of
Akhandeshvara, Tontada Siddalingayati and others manifest this stage,
The path traversed by these
compositions in the last eight centuries is very interesting. Veerashaiva
religion survived the onslaught of other religions even after the dissolution
of the sharana movement. There were attempts in the later centuries to build a
theology with some vachanas as their core. For a number of centuries they lead
a double existence, one among the lay men kept alive by the mendicant sharanas
and other confined to the coteries of the caste system. The dynamics of
Veerashaiva dharma and the status accorded to the vachanas are interconnected.
The modernity that was ushered in during the early twentieth century could
recognise the literary importance of the vachanas and the attempts to place
them in a more secular context have met with remarkable success. Presently
vachanas are accorded respect and love by one and all irrespective of caste
creed and gender. New modes of perception and analysis have given rise to new
interpretations. They are lauded for their social relevance as well as philosophical and literary brilliance. The
fact that they were successful in creating a new poetic idiom for Kannada is
undisputed.
Appendix: Important Vachanakaras with some useful
details.
Sl. No. Name Ankita
1.
Devara
Dasimayya rAmanAthA
2.
Basavanna kUDala sangamadEvA
3.
Allamaprabhu guhEshvarA
4.
Akkamahadevi cAnna mallikArjunA
5.
Siddarama kapila siddha
mallikarjuna
6.
Chennabasavanna kUDala cannasangamadEva
7.
Ambigara
Choudayya aMbigra cVDayya
8.
Madivala
Machayya kalidEvaradEvA
9.
Hadapada
Appanna basavapriya kuudala chennasangamadeva
10. Moligeya Marayya nihkaLanka mallikArjunA
11. Neelambike(Neelalochane) sangayya
12. Bahurupi Choudayya dEkaNNapriya nAginathA
13. Sakalesha Madarasa sakaLEshvarA
14. Urilingapeddi
urilingapeddipriya
References:
1.
‘Speaking
of Shiva’, A.K.Ramanujan, 1973, Penguin Classics,
2.
‘The Revolution of the Mystics’, (on the social aspects of Virasaivism)
Kampen JP SCHOUTEN - 1991 - Kok Pharos Publishing House
Links: 1. Bhakti Tradition and Modernization: The Case of Lingayatism (K.Eswaran)
2. [PDF] ►Talking to God in the Mother Tongue
3. Download Vachana
Software - Win95/98
Translations: 1. Vachanas of Akka Mahadevi, A MENEZES, AM ANGADI - Dharwar, 1973
2. ‘Speaking of Shiva’, A.K.Ramanujan, 1973, Penguin
Classics,