Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/345

 307 November, 1873.] KARNATAKA VAISHNAVA DASAS. ON THE KARNATAKA VAISHNAVA DASAS. BY REY. F. KITTEL. MERKARA. IN connection with the interesting articles on the early Vaishnava Poets of Bengal that are appearing in the Indian Antiquary, it may not be out of place to offer a few remarks on the KarnatakaVaishnavaDasa literature.* * 40 In doing so, I confine myself to a collection of 402 Data padas (servant-songs) that appears to have been made chiefly by Dr. Moegling. A selection of 174 of them was printed at Manga- lilr twenty years ago, and reprinted at Bangalfir in 1871. The Karndtaka Ddsa Padas are composed in the Raghata or Raghala metre, a subdivision of the Matra Chhandas, that is expressly stated to be used for poems that are to be sung. Each of the songs has a refrain (pallava or palla) which, in the manuscripts, is put at the head; the number of verses (stanzas) in the different songs varies much—some consisting of only two, others of more than fifty. Each song has also a more or less clear mudrikd or signature, as it is called. This is a final verse that contains the name of the author combined with a homage, or an exhortation not to neglect the homage, due to his cherished deity, or rather idol. For instance, one Dasa’s name is Kanaka, and a signature of his runs thus : 44 Hear ye all Kanaka’s words ! Understand ye all, and repeat! If ye do not understand what has been said in pure Kanarese, Adi Kesava (a Krishna idol at a place called Kagi nSle) him¬ self doubtless knows (it).” If he does not put down his own name (frequently : Kanaka’s Adi Kesava), he signs with 44 Kagi nCIS’s Adi Ke- Bava,” or 44Adi Kesava of Bada,” or simply with “Adi Kesava” (or “Kesava”). In one mudrikd he uses the expression “Adi Kesava of Chanda nelS.” Thus it is found that 160 song9 of the col¬ lection belong to Purandara Dasa, 98 to Vara ha Dasa, 43 to Kanaka Dasa, (3aiva) work, that I remember, occurs in tho Kanarese Chanivi Bis'ivi l'urdn'i (of a.d. 1585), where it is stated that the Hari (or Vaishnava) D & s a, called K A t i N & - yakaof Suggalilru, became a LiiigAita, aud then assumed the name of a h A Linga Devayya. This happened towards the end of the rule of the BallAlas. By the way, regarding the extent of the B a 11A1 a domi¬ nions, I remark that not far from the private sanitarium of Mangaldr gentlemen, on the Ghats, to the east of that town, on the Kudure mukha (horse-face) mountain, there are the ruins of a BallAla'RAjaDurga. The 20 to Vithala Dasa, 13 to VCnkata D4sa, 9to VijayaDasa, 7 toMadh va D4sa, 5 to Udupu’s Krishna Dasa, 5toVaikuntha Dasa, etc. The remain¬ ing signatures, however, are less precise; for instance, I cannot decide whether the Dasa who three times signs “Vithala Raya” is different from the Vithala mentioned above. Besides there are five songs, as the headings state, in Hindu- sthdni, with the signature ofKapirGulam.f The language of most of the Kanarese songs is simple and popular; some four or five Hin¬ dustani words only have I met with. Many songs, however, are rather unpolished. Not a few are frequently sung or quoted by all sorts of people. Regarding the history of the Karnataka Dasas I know only a little that is certain. The apparently general tradition is that K a n a- k a Dasa belonged to the tribe of the B 4 d a s , a low class of Dravidians that live by the chase. He is believed to have been born about 300 years ago. Some say that his birthplace was Kagi nSle (t. e. crow-ground) in the Chit- tledurg division of Maisfir, others that it was the small grdma of B 4 d a in the Koda T41nk of the Dh4rav4da (Dharw4d) Zilla. Both traditions place his death at K 4 g i n 61C*, the second locating this village also in the D h 4 r a - v a d a Zilla. There is a B 4 d a (or Bada?) not far from Bankapura; and one song that has the refrain: 44 What is good, O god ? Thy member (anga), O god, Lakshmi’s Narasinga of Bankapura!” and indicates Adi Kesava in its mudrikd, points to that direction, as would also the not unfrequently occurring mudrikd: 44 The Adi Kesava of Bada,” if Bada and Bada meant the same. But Bada, i. e. North (soil. Tirupati or VSiikata,) might mean Bada Ven¬ kata, i.e. Tirupati of the north, + there being another ono to the south near MadhurA; or Ball Alas have been alluded to in Jnd. Ant. vol. I. pp. 40 seqq., p. 158, p. 360 ; and vol. II. p. 131. + This personage possibly is Kabir, the disciple of RAm&nanda, 1350 a.d. ; see Ind. Ant. vol. II. p. 189. The Kanarese write also “ Vi(h6pa” instead of “ Vithdba.” J This place of pilgrimage is in the A r k A d u (Arcot) district. “ Tim” is the Sanskrit “ Sri.” Tirupati (Sripa- ti, Vishnu) means the idol and the place itself. See Ind. Ant. vol. I. p. 192. A common name for the whole KarS Malf (black hill) range of ghats from Tirupati to Ssri-
 * The first mention of a Hari D A s a in a LiiigAita