Durgasimha
Durgasimha (c. 1025) was the minister of war and peace (Sandhi Vigrahi) of Western Chalukya King Jayasimha II (also known as Jagadekamalla, r. 1018–1042).[1] Durgasimha adapted the well-known set of fables, Panchatantra ("The five stratagems"), from Sanskrit language into the Kannada language in champu style (mixed prose and verse). The Kannada-language version, whose central theme has a strong Jain bent, contains 60 fables, 13 of which are original stories. All the stories have morality as their theme and carry a summary section (Katha Shloka). The Kannada version is the earliest Indian vernacular version, and the author, being a minister, not surprisingly, chose to write a book on political science (Rajniti).[1][2][3] The scholar R. Narasimhachar fixed the date of this work as c. 1025, but the modern Kannada poet and scholar Govinda Pai dated the work to 8 March 1031, based on information in the concluding stanza of the manuscript.[1]
About the author
[edit]Durgasimha was a Brahmin by birth and is known to have belonged to the Smartha Bhagavata sub-sect of Hinduism, a community which gives equal importance to the Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu.[1][4] He was a native of Kisukadu Nadu, another name for ancient Karnataka, and was a resident of the Sayyadi Brahmin school of higher learning (agrahara).
History of Panchatantra literature
[edit]Although the original text of the Panchatantra is lost, it was evidently an independent work written in Sanskrit around 300 CE (give or take a century or two).[5] Within the text its putative author is often given as Vishnu Sharma, but there is no evidence indicating this to be a real person, as opposed to a fictional story-telling figure.[6] Durgasimha's translation is based on the so-called "Southern Panchatrantra" — a version closely resembling the original, which also engendered several other Indian vernacular versions, as well as the Hitopadesha.[7]
Legendary origin
[edit]However, Durgasimha (or his source) puts forward his own legendary textual history, based on the assumption that the Panchatantra was originally part of the Brihatkatha (when in fact "[i]t appears that the original Bṛhatkathā did not include the Pañcatantra, but a later version made in Kashmir or north-western India seems to have inserted the Pañcatantra into its repertoire of stories"[7]).
Durgasimha's version states that Pushpadatta, a chief attendant of the Hindu god Shiva overheard Shiva telling his consort Parvati a great story. This story was later reproduced as Brihatkatha in Paishachi by Gunadhya, a reincarnation of Pushpadatta, and a court poet of king Shalivahana. He further states that the Sanskrit version by Vasubhaga Datta (who replaces Vishnu Sharma as the putative author in several of the "Southern" versions[6]) was a selection of "five stories" from the Paishachi original, and hence the name Panchatantra ("The five stratagems").[1]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- Narasimhacharya, R (1988) [1988]. History of Kannada Literature. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. ISBN 81-206-0303-6.
- Olivelle, Patrick (translator) (1997). The Pañcatantra: The Book of India's Folk Wisdom. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-955575-8.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help) - Sastri, Nilakanta K. A. (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.
- Various (1988). Encyclopaedia of Indian literature - vol 2. Sahitya Akademi. ISBN 81-260-1194-7.