INTRODUCTION:
This devotional song of Sri Vyasatirtha in Kannada language is a perfect blend of devotion and history.
It clearly shows how the history can be understood from the philosophical works of this land!
Here is the devotional composition of Sri Vyasatirtha:
In this song, Sri Vyasatirtha describes little Krishna as a physically impaired child (having hurt his legs & unable to use them).
In first two charanams (stanzas) the saint-poet alludes reasons for the impairment such as
- Due to the retrograde of Grahas or
- Inauspicious eyesight (cast by the vice) or
- Due to suckling the poisnous milk fed by Putana or
- Due to the fear of Kamsa, the brother of his mother etc.
In the 3rd charana which is the concluding stanza of the composition, Sri Vyasatirtha says:
“To show the beauty of His consorts to the victorious Krishnaraya or by deeming that Vidyanagara (Vijayanagara aka Hampi, the capital of the empire) is a much greater place, O you cute little Krishna, you came from Udayagiri!”
Among the 90+ compositions of Sri Vyasatirtha in Kannada that I could get to read, this is the only song that has a specific reference to a mortal and a king!
Those who are familiar with Sri Vyasatirtha’s Kannada literature may argue that compositions eulogising his vidya guru Sri Sripadaraja tirtha or Sri Purandaradasa may also fall under the category of “praising human beings.” But, in my opinion, Sri Vyasatirtha didn’t praise his Guru as a mortal but as a Devata! Same holds good for Sri Purandaradasa as well. Because, as per the tradition in Madhva fold, Sri Sripadaraja is the avatara of Dhruva and Sri Purandaradasa is the incarnation of Narada.
Whereas, there are no such traditional accounts that link Krishnadevaraya to any amsha or avatara of a particular Devata. Hence, it is unique of Sri Vyasatirtha to include the name of a mortal king in his devotional song on his Ishta Daiva i.e. Srikrishna.
HISTORICITY OF SRI VYASATIRTHA’S KRITI:
Now, coming to the historicity of this song, its 3rd stanza directly refers to the victories gained by Krishnaraya against Gajapatis. The line “ಧುರವಿಜಯ ಶ್ರೀಕೃಷ್ಣರಾಯಗೆ” affirms that Krishnaraya was the victor in the Vijayanagara-Kalinga conflict that occurred in c.1512.
The campaign of Krishnaraya against Gajapatis began with the taking of Udayagiri fort presently located in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.
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Udayagiri Fort – Image Courtesy: Wikipedia.org
The Udayagiri town was located at the foothill and housed the temple of Udayagiri Balakrishna.
Balakrishna temple at Udayagiri – Image Courtesy: teamgsquare.com
HISTORICL VALUE OF THE SONG AS PER HISTORIANS:
Noted historian and expert in Vijayanagara studies, Dr. K. G. Gopalakrishna opines that the Kannada devotional song of Sri Vyasatirtha hints certain strange developments that got unfolded during the attack on Udayagiri fort by Vijayanagara Forces.
Dr. Gopalakrishna proposes that the Vijayanagara army started bombarding the fort walls of Udayagiri with heavy canons as the hill locating the fort is inaccessible from all sides. Hence the only way to storm the fort is by crumbling the walls down.
Udayagiri hill – Image Courtesy: razzwashere.blogspot.com
While the bombardment continued and later became fierce, some of the shells fell up on the Balakrishna temple located at the foothill. This temple, at that time, was a small shrine and was without protective structures around it. Hence, the canon balls from Vijayanagara guns damaged the temple and also caused few cracks to the Balakrishna vigraha installed in the garbhagruha.
Garbhagruha of Udayagiri Balakrishna Temple – Image Courtesy: teamgsquare.com
After running over the fort and the town, the victorious Krishnaraya went to the temple of Udayagiri Balakrishna and was wonder-struck with the beauty of the murthy. He also regretted the damaged caused to the sculpture. He then decided to shift the murty to Hampi into a palatial temple. Thus, the Udayagiri Krishna, like a great king, traveled to Hampi in a palanquin and settled there till the fall of the grand city.
Udayagiri Balakrishna & Krishnaraya
Dr. Gopalakrishna analyses the opening sentence of the present kriti i.e. ಕಂದನಿಗೆ ಕಾಲಿಲ್ಲವಮ್ಮ as a symbolic description of the damage caused to the beautiful sculpture of little Krishna of Udayagiri.
CONCLUDING NOTES:
Thus a unique Kannada devotional song of Sri Vyasatirtha provides the account of a historical battle and its outcome succinctly and factually.
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