Nagavarma II

Nagavarma II was a Kannada language scholar and grammarian of the 11th or 12th century Western Chalukya court centred in Basavakalyan, modern Karnataka state, India. He was the earliest among the three most notable and authoritative grammarians of Old-Kannada language (Keshiraja of c. 1260 and Bhattakalanka Deva of c. 1604 being the other two).^[1] Nagavarma II's reputation stems from his notable contributions to various genres of Kannada literature including prosody, rhetoric, poetics, grammar and vocabulary.^[2] According to the scholar R. Narasimhacharya, Nagavarma II is unique in all of ancient Kannada literature, in this aspect. His writings are available and are considered standard authorities for the study of Kannada language and its growth.^[2][3]

Nagavarma II was awarded the title "poet laureate" (Katakacharya) and "military teacher" (Katakopadhyaya) by Chalukya King Jagadhekamalla.^[4][5][6] His most famous works are Kavyavalokana ("Treatise on the art of poetry) on grammar, rhetoric and poetics, Karnataka-Bhashabhushana ("Ornament of the Karnataka language"), on grammar, Vastukosa (or Abhidanavastukosa, lit, "Treasury of significations"), a lexicon, and Varadhamanapurana, on Jain purana (doctrine).^[4][5][6][7] Nagavarma II's grammatical model is based on the Katantra school of Sanskrit grammar and the author styles himself Abhinava Sarvavarma ("Modern Sarvavarma"), Sarvavarma being a noted Sanskrit grammarian to a Satavahana king.^[7][8]

Life

Historians are divided about the actual period when Nagavarma II lived. According to the scholars R. Narasimhachar (author of Kannada Kavicharitre), and K.A. Nilakanta Shastri, Nagavarma II was the poet laureate of Chalukya king Jagadhekamalla II (r. 1138–1153) and his works are hence datable to c. 1145–1150.^[4][5][9] The modern Kannada poet and scholar Govinda Pai, in his research Nagachandrana Kala Vichara ("Nagachandra's age", 1955) identified three famous Nagavarmas in medieval Kannada literature. Pai estimated that Nagavarma II lived from c. 1120–1200.^[10] However, after the discovery of the writing Varadhamanapurana, dated to c. 1042, and authored by Nagavarma II, it is now held by scholars such as D.R. Nagaraj and Sheldon Pollock that the grammarian was under the patronage of Chalukya King Jayasimha II (r.1015–1042) who also went by the title "Jagadekhamalla", and therefore all of his works were written around c. 1042.^{[3][7][8][11]}

Writings

Nagavarma II wrote his grammatical works at a time when native Kannada language writers were focussed on establishing Kannada language on an equal footing with Sanskrit and Prakrit.^[8] With reference to earlier Kannada language grammarians or rhetoricians, Nagavarma II named Gunavarma and Sankavarma as "path makers", and the phrase "Gunavarma Nagavarmara adhvanagal" may refer to an earlier literary or grammatical tradition.^[7]

Despite being a work on poetics and rhetoric, the historically important Kavyavalokanam, in its first section called Sabdasmriti, deals with grammar. By adding a section on grammar, Nagavarma II had emulated the style of the previous Sanskrit grammarians, Daṇḍin (author of Kavyadarsha) and Bhamaha (author of Kavyalankara).^[7] The Sabdasmriti comprises five chapters (prakarnas) which deal with euphonic combinations (sandhis), nouns, compounds, nominal derivatives and verbs respectively. The 422 verses in the text are written in kanda metre (chaper format), of which 96 are aphorisms (sutras) (the 18th among which focusses on framing grammatical rules based on the spoken language), and the remaining verses are example quotations from the writings of earlier notable Kannada poets such as Adikavi Pampa, Ponna and Ranna.^[7]

His Abhidanavastukosa is a dictionary (nighantu) of 8,000 Sanskrit words for Kannada language users, again an attempt to integrate the Kannada literary culture into the popular Sanskritic cultural cosmopolitan.^[8]

Nagavarma II's authoritative Kannada grammar, Karnataka Bhashabhushana, which is based on his Sabdasmriti, and follows the general framework of Sanskrit grammar, is actually written in Sanskrit language. This has prompted claims that the author did so to prove to Sanskrit scholars of the day, who may have had a callous attitude towards the Kannada the local language (Prakrita Bhasa), that it was a rich literary language. From an invocatory verse in the text, another probable reason is also proposed, in that, being a Jain, Nagavarma II saw all languages as equals.^[7] Though the aphorisms are written in Sanskrit, the glosses (vrittis) are in Kannada, and as a whole, the writing is considered simple to understand, requiring of a student just the basic knowledge of Sanskrit.^[7]

Notes

1. ^ Sahitya Akademi (1987), p. 476
2. ^ ^{a b} Narasimhacharya (1988), p. 65
3. ^ ^{a b} Pollock (2006), p. 340, p. 349
4. ^ ^{a b c} Narasimhacharya (1988), pp. 64–65, p. 19
5. ^ ^{a b c} Shastri (1955), p. 358
6. ^ ^{a b} Kamath (2001), p. 115
7. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Sahitya Akademi (1988), p. 1475
8. ^ ^{a b c d} Nagaraj (2003), p. 327
9. ^ Mugali (2006), p. 176
10. ^ Bhat (1993), p. 106
11. ^ Singh (2001), p. 6147

References

• Bhat, Thirumaleshwara (1993) [1993]. Govinda Pai. Sahitya Akademi. ISBN 8172015402. 
• Kamath, Suryanath U. (2001) [1980]. A concise history of Karnataka : from pre-historic times to the present. Bangalore: Jupiter books. OCLC 7796041. LCCN 809-5179. 
• Mugali, R.S. (2006) [2006]. The Heritage of Karnataka. Lightning Source Inc. ISBN 1406702323. 
• Nagaraj, D.R. (2003) [2003]. "Critical Tensions in the History of Kannada Literary Culture". In Sheldon I. Pollock. Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia. Berkeley and London: University of California Press. Pp. 1066. ISBN 0520228219. http://books.google.com/books?id=xowUxYhv0QgC&pg=PA323&dq=critical+tensions+in+history+kannada+literary+culture. 
• Narasimhacharya, R (1988) [1934]. History of Kannada Literature. Mysore: Government Press. Reprinted by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi. ISBN 8120603036. 
• Pollock, Sheldon (2006). The Language of Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture and Power in Pre-modern India. Berkeley and London: University of California Press. Pp. 703. ISBN 0520245008. http://books.google.com/books?id=0UCh7r2TjQIC&dq. 
• Rice, B.L. (2001) [1897]. Mysore Gazatteer Compiled for Government-vol 1. New Delhi, Madras: Asian Educational Services. ISBN 81-206-0977-8. [1]
• Rice, E.P. (1982) [1921]. A History of Kanarese Literature. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. ISBN 8120600630. 
• Sastri, K.A. Nilakanta (2002) [1955]. A history of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar. New Delhi: Indian Branch, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-560686-8. 
• Singh, Nagendra K R (2001). Encyclopaedia of Jainism. Anmol Publications. ISBN 9788126106912. 
• Various (1987) [1987]. Encyclopaedia of Indian literature – vol 1. Sahitya Akademi. ISBN 8126018038. 
• Various (1988) [1988]. Encyclopaedia of Indian literature – vol 2. Sahitya Akademi. ISBN 8126011947. 
• Various (1992) [1992]. Encyclopaedia of Indian literature – vol 5. Sahitya Akademi. ISBN 8126012218.