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Jivanandana of Anandaraya Makhin (Study)

by G. D. Jayalakshmi | 2019 | 58,344 words

This page relates ‘Establishing the Authorship of Anandaraya Makhin� of the study on the Jivanandana (in English) which is a dramatic play written by Anadaraya Makhin in the 18th century. The Jivanandana praises the excellence of Advaita Vedanta, Ayurveda (medical science) and Dramatic literature as the triple agency for obtaining everlasting bliss.

Go directly to: Footnotes.

Establishing the Authorship of Ānandarāya Makhin

(i) Proving Vedakavi is not the author:

All the above recorded sources invariably give the common information namely, the two ṭa첹 are by Vedakavi and not by Ānandarāya Makhin. The main source of this information is the Introduction given by T.S. Kuppuswami Sastri to the edition of ʲٲñᲹٲ, published by Kāvyamāla in 1894. This has been later rendered to English by the author himself as �Ramabhadra Dikshita and the Southern poets of his Time� in the Indian Antiquary, May-July 1904.

In the first paragraph of the article he has stated that there had been no proper account about 峾󲹻 Dikṣita. “I therefore wrote a short memoir of Ramabhadra Dikshita as a preface to his ʲٲñᲹٲ when I despatched a 岵ī transcript of it for publication in the Kāvyamālā in 1984. This account was based on facts collected from written records, which, though few, could be safely relied on. The present paper is a little more than a reproduction in English of what I have already published in Sanskrit�.

Dr. Raghavan also points out in his Introduction (p.1) to his edition of Ի that “subsequent writers on the history of the Maratha dynasty of Tanjore invariably referred to this article in the Indian Antiquary�. The same situation seems to have prevailed in writing the history of the literature of the Maratha period, by later senior scholars including Dr. Raghavan.

Actually,[1] the information given by T.S. Kuppuswamy Sastri about the writings of Vedakavi and Ānandarāya Makhin is quite brief. While giving details about the contemporary poets of 峾󲹻 īṣiٲ in the second part of his article in Indian Antiquary (July 1904), he records (p.181)�

�(3) Vedakavi, who wrote the īԲԻ岹ṭa첹, վ貹ṇaⲹ and its commentary and who attributed his works to his patron Ānandarāya Makhin�.

Then he continues with the information about Ānandarāya Makhin from (i) ʲṣeԻś󲹰 of 峾󲹻 Dikṣita, (ii) text of the ʰ屹 of īԲԻ岹ṭa첹 to show that it had been written during the period of Śahaji I and (iii) the ʰ屹 portion of the վ貹ṇҲԲṭa첹 to show that it was written during Śarabhoji’s reign.

At the end of this he concludes (p.183)�

“Certainly Vedakavi must have lived during the reign of Sarabhoji I, if he wrote the վ貹ṇaⲹnaṭaka.... Another work by or rather attributed to Ānandarāya Makhin is the ĀśⲹԲṛhⲹūٰṛtپ.�

This article found in the Indian Antiquary being “a little more than a reproduction in English� of what T.S. Kuppuswami Sastri had already published in Sanskrit as preface to ʲٲñᲹٲ, one has to surmise that all information that Sastri had given in the original Sanskrit Preface have been definitely reproduced in the English article.

It is to be noted that there is no other information about Vedakavi in this article. Such being the case, it leads one to wonder about how T.S. Kuppuswami Sastri came to the conclusion that all three works are only works ascribed to Ānandarāya Makhin.

Dr. Raghavan adds one more information in his Introduction (p.43) to ŚԻ that “Periappa Kavi mentions him [Vedakavi] in the prologue to his Śṛṅ-ñᲹ-Śīⲹ as one of the more celebrated poets of the time�. This also does not prove that Vedakavi wrote the two ṭa첹.

Also it should be kept in mind, that there is no internal evidence from the within the texts or external evidences from any other contemporary or later writers to prove this decision of

T.S. Kuppuswami Sastri and all others who followed him.

(ii) Proving Ānandarāya Makhin is the Author:

(a) It would be worthwhile to consider V.A. Ramaswami ٰ’s observations on this issue in his article “Ānandarāya Makhin versus Appādhvarin� (Journal of Oriental Research, Vol.III. p.68-73).

According to him (pp.69-70)�

�... Ānandarāya Makhin was a poet of a high order. His works so far as we are able to judge, are (1) վ貹ṇaⲹ, published in Kavyamala Series–an allegorical drama on the model of ṛṣṇaś’s Prabodha-candrodaya and (2) ĀśⲹԲ-ṛhⲹ-ūٰ- (ms. Available in Tanjore Palace Library) a good and readable commentary on the Ṛgvedic ṛhⲹ-ūٰs and to some extent, a good compendium of the duties of the ṛc householder.

There is a strong belief prevalent among scholars that all the works known in the name of Ānandarāya are not his production. It is believed that one Vedakavi wrote վ貹ṇaⲹ and Jīvānanda–another drama of the same type and attributed them to Ānandarāya Makhin.... But the verses in the prologue to վ貹ṇaⲹ, expressly state that the author of the drama was Ānandarāya Makhin whose name as author and as minister of the Maratha kings–Shahji and Serfoji was widely known�.

(b) Another important point in support of Ānandarāya Makhin’s authorship is provided by M. Duraiswami Aiyengar, who edited the text īԲԻ岹 along with his commentary �Ի徱ī� for the Adyar Library, Madras, published in 1947. Himself an erudite Sanskrit scholar and an Ayurvedic physician, he had given some more practically plausible information about Ānandarāya Makhin.

In his Introduction (pp.7-8) he writes:�[2]

“The author of this drama unlike other poets, did not stop merely with great attachment to literature, Գٲ and other arts. He went further. He has proved himself, through this play, as one who possessed taste, high knowledge and skill in the healing science of Medicine, which was a boon to suffering mankind.

“Even from about two hundred years before, Tanjore palace was renowned for famed medicines. Many may know, that a valuable dispensary or ṣa-Ś containing staple medicines prepared from ٳܲ and lohas (minerals and metals) capable of curing even many chronic and complicated diseases, existed in the palace.

“Some of us might also have heard of Dhanvantari Mahal along side of the famous Library, Sarasvati Mahal in the palace, where rare and valuable medical works, were, with royal patronage, collected and kept.

“It is said that the initial founders of such a medical section and progenitors of its activities were Ānandarāya Makhin and his disciples�.

Unless and otherwise one has firsthand knowledge of Āܰ岹, characterisation of diseases as dramatic personae and the relevant respective medicines for these, described suitably in the drama, would be a Herculean task. Ānandarāya Makhin having been the initiation of the Dhavantari Mahal of Tanjore, would definitely have had the knowledge of medicine too. In addition, the war tactics described in the play also convince one of Ānandarāya Makhin’s authorship; he had been the Dalavoy of the Maratha kings, and waged war with the combined forces of Madura and Pudukkottai (as shown earlier) and won the war.

(c) As already pointed out,[3] Ānandarāya Makhin along with Śāhaji is recognised as a scholarly patron by 峾󲹻 īṣiٲ and others.

(d) Vāñceśvara Kavi also known as Kuṭṭikavi (of the time of Pratāpasiṃha�1741-64) laments about the loss of the great scholars (屹ṃs�) and patrons (󲹱�) like Nānāji (minister), Prabhucandrabhānu (king), Śāhaji (king) and Ānandarāya (his minister) and derides his contemporary scholars in his Ѳṣaśٲ첹 (v.3):

ᾱܳԻԳśīԻԲԻ岹岹
  vidvāṃsa� prabhavo gatā� śritasudhīsaṃdohajīvātava� |
vidyāyā� viṣabuddhayo hi vṛṣalāsamyāstvidānīṃtanā�
  ki� kurve'mba kṛṣe vrajāmi śṇa� tvāmeva viśvāvanīm ||

(e) Apart from these external evidences, the ṭa첹 by them-selves show that they are by Ānandarāya Makhin. In addition to recording the author’s name[4] and his family details in the ʰ屹 of both the plays, the main trait of Ānandarāya Makhin as a staunch Ś󲹰ٲ is also well brought out in both the plays.

The second Իī verse in the īԲԻ岹Բ and the fourth verse in վ貹ṇaⲹ[5] bring out this specific qualities of Ānandarāya Makhin (īԲԻ岹Բ, I.2):

岵ᲹԳīⲹٲ貹� 󲹱� tanubhṛtā prāpyeta mānuṣyaka� tacca prāptavatā kimanyaducita� prāptu� ٰ� |
ٲٱٱ辱 󲹲Բ� prathamato deho rujāvarjitastenārogyamabhīpsita� diśatu vo devo paśūnā� 貹پ� ||

Ānandarāya Makhin further declares about his own ideal of upholding Ś󲹰پ in the ʰ屹 of վ貹ṇaⲹ thus (I.13/14; p.6):

śܳپṛt-پ--ٲԳٰ徱--sāmbaśiva-caraṇaparicaraṇa-tadanusaṃdhāna-nirantarita-nikhilavāsarasya... śarabhamahāraja-mantriśikhāmaṇerasya ||

While Ś󲹰پ is the first character to enter the stage in վ貹ṇaⲹ, in īԲԻ岹Բ, the greatness of Ś󲹰پ is repeatedly referred to in many places such as (I.47ab):

śⲹ� tat khalu puṇḍarīkanagara� gantu� manodvāratastatrāste śivabhaktirityanupamā pramodāspadam |

Ānandarāya Makhin also stresses the fact that Ś󲹰پ is the only and final resort to obtain liberation (I.48):

tāmadvaitā� svarūpeṇa bhakti� hṛdayaraṣjanīm |
svīkṛtyaha� bhaviṣyāmi prāptākhilamanoratha� ||

In both the ṭa첹, ī is the hero and is throughout figured as a devotee of the divine couple Ś and ī. Thus in both the plays he establishes his main aim of depicting the Supremacy of Ś. The concluding śǰ첹 before the traditional 󲹰ٲⲹ of both the plays also emphasize the poet’s extraordinary Ś󲹰پ.[6]

While վ貹ṇaⲹ (VII.38d cited below) states that all the creation is His drama�bhavannāṭakamidam jagad, the last line of the 󲹰ٲⲹ of īԲԻ岹Բ (VII.36d) prays for ṛḍś󲹰پ:

bhūyādasya kaveścirāyurarujo bhaktiśca śaivī ṛḍ ||

Thus, by considering the evidences avaliable from all quarters, it can be definitely concluded that Ānandarāya Makhin is assuredly the author of all the three works�

  1. īԲԻ岹Բnāṭaka,
  2. վ貹ṇaⲹ, and
  3. ĀśⲹԲ-gṛihyasūtra-ṛtپ.

Footnotes and references:

[back to top]

[1]:

See Appendix I–pp.181-85 of Indian Antiquary (July, 1904).

[2]:

M. Duraiswami Aiyengar has given all these points running together in one single paragraph. Here to bring forth the critical value of the fact that Ānandarāya Makhin is the author of all the three texts, they are shown separately.

[3]:

See. fn. 11 supra.

[4]:

See also ĀśⲹԲgṛihyasūtraṛtپ (v.12):
ānandarāyayajvendurakṣaratsvarasānugām |
śⲹԲūٰⲹ ṛtپ� vitanute ܻī� ||

[5]:

վ貹ṇaⲹ (I.4) slightly varies from the text of īԲԻ岹Բ:
岵ᲹԳīⲹٲ貹� 󲹱� tanubhṛtā prāpyeta mānuṣyaka� tacca prāptavatā kimanyaducita� prāptu� ٰ� |
tatprāptiśca yathā bhavetphalavatī viśvottarā� śāśvatī� tāmadvaitakalā� kalānidhikalāmaulirvidhattā� śiva� ||

[6]:

վ貹ṇaⲹ, VII.38:
vilīya svāvidyāghanayavanikāyāmatha vadan ٰ� Ա貹ٳⲹ� naṭasi śiva nānātmakatayā |
svaya� jāgratpaśyasyapi ca paramānandabharito jayatyatyaścarya� jagaditi bhavannāṭakamidam ||
īԲԻ岹Բ, VII.35cd:
Dz� tatastvadupadiṣṭamavāpya jīvanmukto'smi te karuṇayā kimata� ⲹ� me ||

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