Caryāgītikoṣa

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Pages from a manuscript of the Caryāgītikoṣa.

Caryāgītikoṣa (T. spyod pa’i glu’i mdzod). "Anthology of Songs on Practice."[1] A collection of fifty songs of realization, dating from the eighth through the twelfth centuries, that represent some of the oldest examples of specifically tantric literature written in an Indian vernacular language (see Apabhraṃśa).[1] The text is commonly known as "Caryāgīti" or "Caryāpada".[2] The text is also extant in Tibetan translation.[3][4]

It was compiled between the 8th and 12th centuries in late Apabhraṃśa or various Abahaṭ‌ṭha dialects, representing the formative stage of the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages.[5][6][7] It was written during a period when the northeastern Prākrit languages had not yet differentiated into later forms, or they were just getting differentiated.[8]

Title variations

Sansrit title variations:[2]

  • Caryāgītikoṣa
  • Caryāgīti
  • Caryāpada
  • Caryāgītikoṣavṛtti
  • Caryācaryaviniścaya (name of first section)

Text

Indic language manuscript

A palm-leaf manuscript of the Caryāgītikoṣa was rediscovered in the early 20th century by Haraprasād Shāstrī at the Nepal Royal Court Library.[9]

The manuscript, spanning 47 padas (verses) along with a Sanskrit commentary, was edited by Haraprashad Shastri and published from Bangiya Sahitya Parishad as a part of his Hajar Bacharer Purano Bangala Bhasay Bauddhagan O Doha (Buddhist Songs and Couplets) in 1916 under the name of Charyacharyavinishchayah. This manuscript is presently preserved at the National Archives of Nepal.

Tibetan text

Tibetan depiction of the 12th century monk of Nalanda, Vairocanavajra, who translated the Charyapadas into Tibetan

Prabodhchandra Bagchi later published a manuscript of a Tibetan translation containing 50 verses.[10] Traditional Tibetan sources assign the translation of the dohās to the 12th century Indian Buddhist monk of Nalanda, Vairocanavajra.[11]

The Tibetan translation provided additional information, including that the Sanskrit commentary in the manuscript, known as Charyagiti-koshavrtti, was written by Munidatta. It also mentions that the original text was translated by Shilachari and its commentary by Munidatta was translated by Chandrakirti or Kirtichandra.[12]

The verses (padas)

The manuscript of the Charyapada discovered by Haraprasad Shastri from Nepal consists of 47 padas (verses). The title-page, the colophon, and pages 36, 37, 38, 39, and 66 (containing padas 24, 25, and 48 and their commentary) were missing in this manuscript. The 47 verses of this manuscript were composed by 22 of the Mahasiddhas (750 and 1150 CE), or Siddhacharyas, whose names are mentioned at the beginning of each pada (except the first pada). Some parts of the manuscripts are lost; however, in the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, a translation of 50 padas is found, which includes padas 24, 25, and 48, and the complete pada 23. Pada 25 was written by the Siddhacharya poet Tantripāda, whose work was previously missing. In his commentary on pada 10, Munidatta mentions the name of another Siddhacharya poet, Ladidombipāda, but no pada written by him has been discovered so far.[citation needed]

The names of the Siddhacharyas in Sanskrit (or its Tibetan language equivalent), and the raga in which the verse was to be sung, are given prior to each pada.[citation needed]

Poets

Luipa, the author of the first poem of Charyapada
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A contemporary bronze image of Sarahapa holding an arrow, probably made in Nepal
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A sketch of Siddhacharya poet Kanhapada

The poets and their works as mentioned in the text are as follows:

Poet Pada
Luipāda 1,29
Kukkuripāda 2, 20, 48
Virubāpāda 3
Gundaripāda 4
Chatillapāda 5
Bhusukupāda 6, 21, 23, 27, 30, 41, 43, 49
Kānhapāda 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 24, 36, 40, 42, 45
Kambalāmbarapāda 8
Dombipāda 14
Shantipāda 15, 26
Mahidharapāda 16
Vināpāda 17
Sarahapāda 22, 32, 38, 39
Shabarapāda 28, 50
Āryadevapāda 31
Dhendhanapāda 33
Darikapāda 34
Bhādepāda 35
Tādakapāda 37
Kankanapāda 44
Jayanandipāda 46
Dhāmapāda 47
Tantripāda 25

Date of original composition

Haraprasad Shastri, who rediscovered the Charyapada, conjectured that it was written during the 10th century. However, according to Suniti Kumar Chatterji, it was composed between 10th and 12th century. Prabodh Chandra Bagchi upholds this view. Sukumar Sen, while supporting this view, also states that the Charyapada could have been written between the 11th and 14th centuries.[13] However, Muhammad Shahidullah was of the opinion that the Charyapada dates back to an even earlier time. He maintained that it was likely to have been composed between 7th and 11th century.[14] Rahul Sankrityayan thought that the Charyapada was probably written between 8th and 11th century.

Language

Haraprasad Shastri, in his introduction to the Charyacharya-vinishchaya, referred to the enigmatic language of its verses as "twilight language" (Sanskrit: Sandhya-bhasha), or Alo-andhari (half-expressed and half-concealed) based on the Sanskrit commentary of Munidatta. Vidhushekhara Shastri, on the basis of evidence from a number of Buddhist texts, later referred to this language as 'Intentional Language' (Sanskrit: Sandha-bhasha).[15]

The padas were written by poets from different regions. Scholars have noted the affinities of the language of the Charyapada with Assamese, Bengali, Maithili, and Odia.[16]

English translation

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Buswell & Lopez 2014, s.v. Caryāgītikoṣa.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ghatak 2024, p. 88.
  3. ↑ Ghatak 2024, p. 89.
  4. ↑ Kværne 2010.
  5. ↑ Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (26 July 2007). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. p. 433. ISBN 978-1-135-79710-2. The language of the Caryas is late Apabhramsa, and represents the formative period of the NIA languages including Asamiya. 
  6. ↑ Murshid, Ghulam (25 January 2018). Bengali Culture Over a Thousand Years. Niyogi Books. p. 34. ISBN 978-93-86906-12-0. Muhammad Shahidullah described the branch of Prakrit prevalent in the Bengal region as ‘Gauri Prakrit’. This Prakrit gradually evolved into apabhramsa, and then into abahatta, which is, more or less, the language of the Charyapada. 
  7. ↑ Kitada, Makoto (2023). "On the 'New' Caryāpada"Paid subscription required. Orientalistische Literaturzeitung. 117 (4–5): 315–322. doi:10.1515/olzg-2022-0096. 
  8. ↑ "The language of [charyāpadas] was also claimed to be early Assamese and early Bihari (Eastern Hindi) by various scholars. Although no systematic scientific study has been undertaken on the basis of comparative reconstruction, a cursory look is enough to suggest that the language of these texts represents a stage when the North-Eastern Prākrit was either not differentiated or at an early stage of differentiation into the regional languages of Eastern and North-Eastern India." (Pattanayak 2016, p. 127)
  9. ↑ Guhathakurta, Meghna; van Schendel, Willem (2013). The Bangladesh Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Duke University Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-8223-5318-8. Retrieved 13 February 2016. 
  10. ↑ Bagchi Prabodhchandra, Materials for a critical edition of the old Bengali Caryapadas (A comparative study of the text and Tibetan translation) Part I in Journal of the Department of Letters, Vol.XXX, pp. 1–156, Calcutta University, Calcutta, 1938 CE
  11. ↑ SCHAEFFER, KURTIS (2000). "THE RELIGIOUS CAREER OF VAIROCANAVAJRA — A TWELFTH-CENTURY INDIAN BUDDHIST MASTER FROM DAKṢIṆA KOŚALA"Paid subscription required. Journal of Indian Philosophy. 28 (4): 361–384. doi:10.1023/A:1004844115222. JSTOR 23496816. 
  12. ↑ Sen Sukumar (1995). Charyageeti Padavali (in Bengali), Kolkata: Ananda Publishers, ISBN 81-7215-458-5, pp. 29–30
  13. ↑ Sen Sukumar (1991) [1940]. Bangala Sahityer Itihas, Vol.I, (in Bengali), Kolkata: Ananda Publishers, ISBN 81-7066-966-9, p. 55
  14. ↑ Muhammad Shahidullah: Bangala Bhashar Itibritto, 2006, Mawla Brothers, Dhaka
  15. ↑ Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol.IV, No.1, 1928 CE, pp. 287–296
  16. ↑ Majumdar, R. C.; Pusalker, A. D.; Majumdar, A. K., eds. (1980) [First published 1960]. The Delhi Sultanate. The History and Culture of the Indian People. VI (3rd ed.). Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. pp. 516, 519. OCLC 664485. The Charyāpadas of Old Bengali have also been claimed for Old Assamese ... Some Oriyā scholars, like those of Assam, regard the speech of the Charyāpadas to be the oldest form of their language. The Maithils have also made the same claim. 

Sources

  • Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University 
  • Ghatak, Kalyanishankar (2024), "Caryāgītikoṣa, the Mystic Songs by the Tantric Buddhist Sahajiyā Cult: A Case for Bengaliness", Journal of Bengali Studies, 7 (1): 88–101 
  • Kværne, Per (2010). An Anthology of Buddhist Tantric Songs: A Study of the Charyagiti. Bangkok: Orchid Press. 
  • Pattanayak, D. P. (2016). "Oriya and Assamese". In Emeneau, Murray B.; Fergusson, Charles A. Linguistics in South Asia. De Gruyter. pp. 122–152. ISBN 978-3-11-081950-2. 

Further reading

  • Charjapad Samiksha by Dr. Belal Hossain, Dhaka: Borno Bichitrra.
  • Bangala Bhasar Itibrtta, by Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah, 1959, Dhaka.
  • Sen Sukumar, Charyageeti Padavali (in Bengali), Ananda Publishers, 1st edition, Kolkata, 1995, ISBN 81-7215-458-5.
  • Shastri Haraprasad(ed.), Hajar Bacharer Purano Bangala Bhasay Bauddhagan O Doha (in Bengali), Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, 3rd edition, Kolkata, 1413 Bangabda (2006).

External links

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