Table Of ContentGaekwad's Oriental Series
Published under the Authority
of the Government of his Highness
the Maharaja Gaekwad of Baroda
General Editor:
B. BHATTACHARYYA M.A, Ph. D.
Rajyaratna, Jnanajyoti |
*
Number XCIlI
माधवानलकामकन्दठाम्रबन्धः
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MADHAVANALA - KAMAKANDALA
PRABANDHA
Edited with Appendices, Preface etc.,
BY
M. R. MAJMUDAR, M.A. LL. 8.,
PROFESSOR OF GUJARATI, BARODA COLLEGE; FOST-GRADUATE
TEACHER AND RESEARCH SCHOLAR, UNIVERSITY OF BOMBAY,
REVIEWER OF GUJARATI PUBLICATIONS FOR ]938.
In Two Volumes
Volume |
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PREFACE
I
From prehistoric times, India possessed a fascinating wealth of
folk-lore. Literary men from Bhàsa downwards have drawn freely
upon it; and all literatures, Samskrta, Prakrta, Apabhraméa, Old
and Modern, glisten with its golden threads.
The Jdtakas, the lost Brhatkatha, the Kathasaritsagara, the
Brhatkathamafijari and the Brhatkathasamgraha are the reputed store-
houses of popular fiction. Paiicatantra is another such collection with
an all-world fame. Other favourite sources drawn upon by Indian
authors were the so-called “King Vikrama-cycle stories "— the Sim-
hasanadvatrimsikd, and the Vetalapafica-Vim£atikà. Sukasaptati is an-
other fruitful source of popular tales.
Chandragupta II, the Gupta Emperor and the traditional Vikra-
maditya of Ujjayini, is the hero of many miraculous tales and is styled
“ Para-dukha-bhafijana," the reliever of people in distress. He is the
King Arthur of India, who with his gallant knights “rode abroad re-
dressing human wrongs." |
At one time there was scarcely a house in Gujarat perhaps in
many parts of India, where King Vikramaditya’s exploits were not
listened to with rapt attention. Samalbhatta (Samvat 760-825) an
I8th century Gujarati poet compares their recital with the Ramayana ;
accordingly, popular imagination, highly exercised over Vikrama, pro-
duced a number of other tales independently of Sanskrit sources, such
as the " Vikrama Khāparā cora rasa.” mE |
With classical influence on the wane, fiction came into popular
favour in Gujarat, as a contemporaneous tendency in Hindi and Bengali
literature of folk-tales rendered in verse ; and many authors diverted
their attention from religious to secular literature. Even dharma-
kathés were presented as portraits of contemporary real life. The
popular fictions, unlike religious stories, were not allegorical, nor did
the didactic element in them subordinate the human. They were
romances pure and simple.
The author of the Prakrit poem Vasudevahindi, insisted that
romantic stories should be utilised for writing dharmakathàs ; or to
say in other words, dharmakathü should be properly diluted with good
love-stories in order to achieve the best results. Udyotana Süri, the
author of Kuvalayamálà laid down that a story should be like a newly
wedded wife, decked with ornaments, auspicious, moving with grace-
ful steps, sentimental, soft in speech, and ever pleasing to the minds
of men. - | | | |
vi | PREFACE
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oJomtifJafeun ai rrgincwnlania ey aa a l il,ntndt pea hhongc aeeaGltrtaruasssm-js s saa eer-saotāaks fh t a a;.ts ,Gt uh bhubāeujs, taTto riherat nettuwd ht i eaet s khot sfnowfo ereocitwlraiehi a lifslets h , the ohyrrfoec oo bsaijmeusk eamgmicanh,htnnct gu’e sms ia atnnh nddde e div adail reupwiewgoenn,nhpaog utukt nel nwcraewia,rsiaas stpt hepii sewogmi aniattl vghh weei ena nlt claoal.c t oacoi vqrtoeudhn-piAie.aesc nf cicgfutcoa lioriiomrdatn-a-ro
aTREEa Toote mOAnRen Es e winhtoe reMswtea rdeoh fa eviaatcsnh a olwoatn h erw'Khsae rmceao kunattrneudrea pallraotv ,e Kiasas tihilatl ,uws etrreah.to ewd evtehrr,o ughh ast woa peurnsioqnus,e
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ptpofoahrffeer o m tvgiwesenidotnidT oesmehrrtdeybesa .n lyy t; heaofpedcfro u cerecipct,adro rteiuainnreyotctden ieud.pzc aaoarlnt La se o,idmv fn eort.h ,teeai ein ngvtihdeisnl o otycne v;i n eecs| taruesysnl u.edt sd aut nraoediTird nnhd e iesdnaytp anho redntSi thlpaeyflon i okneyseeaot e luhn esat or,;ift mom sife oc snr;oeta -r aoieblfcede esutrh crtieaaanoaiyttfndaie l-or esnldsot eotvrg feoar rnensoig,edft ,
|
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Aplnagcae s VIc,o vGeürhinàg 64ov3e-r7 6] tw;o anhdu nAdnrgead VvIeIrIs,e s düh(àA ng7a4 6-V8,5 ).d ühà 928-72 ;
nayikI&t is( hveerroyin ec)o momno ns eptaor atfiinodn tfhre omd eshcerri ptlioovner ogfi vpeann gsi n odfr almoavse oafn da
FREFACE vii
in poems popularly known as seasonal songs or songs of the Twelve-
months’ cycle of the year—the Baramasi songs. These constitute one of
the principal items in the repertory of popular feminine music all over
India even now, and especially so in Gujarat and Bengal. (See Kama-
kandala Viraha Bara-Masa, Anga Vl, dūhā 37-64), The romance
of Madhavanala Kümakandalà by Ganapati is unique in describing
the pangs of the hero also at the separation from his beloved (4720
VII, dūhā 737-72). Over and above these two songs of separation,
the poem indulges in a pleasant description of the pleasures and pas-
times of the united lovers—starting the description at all the three
places from Félguna, the month of Spring (Aga VIII, daha 6-36).
IT |
The tale of Madhavanala-Kimakandals Prabandha, is a tale
linked up to the Vikrama-cycle stories of wild, romantic love which
fascinated Gujaráta, which is possibly the land which fostered its
growth from small beginnings in a Sanskrit prose-version intermixed
with occasional verses partly with a direct bearing on the text, and
partly in the form of quotations from other anthologies. 'The per-
formance of Ganapati is unique in medieval Indian vernacular literature
of the early l6th century as a composition designed on the canons oí
a Sanskrita mahdkévya, expressed in the current style of Prikrita
and Apabhraméa Prabandhas. | |
The Prabandha is pre-eminently a love-story of middle class life,
in the poetic style of the period, full of delicate touches and refined
sentiments. It describes the ideal love of the hero Madhava, a high-
class Brahmin for Kamakandali, the young but high-souled daughter
of a courtezan—an Apsarā in previous birth, reminding one of
Vasanta-Senà in the Mrcchakatika nataka. This fascinating metrical
romance has absorbing story-interest, and is even more valuable from
the point of sociology and folk-lore. |
It is significant that in this poem, even the ordinary rule of invok-
ing the help of Sarasvati and Ganeáa in the mangalacarana has been
disregarded, and the first and the foremost deity to be reverenced and
greeted is the God of Love himself. The author begins with a salute to
the son of Rukmini and the husband of Rati, the great hero Madana,
whose feet he worships first. We can well imagine the kind of story
that would be ushered in by such a prologue, | |
| l III
The story of the Prabandha told, in short, is like this :—
" In the city of Puspavati, where Kamasena rules, lives a Bràh-
mana youth by name Madhava, as ‘ handsome as Love’. The women
of the town run after him, and the citizens beseech the king to get rid
viii PREFACE
of so fruitful a source of trouble. The king, in a judicious mood, tries
to test the intensity of the fascination exercised by the boy by bring-
ing him before his queens. Finding him, however, a danger to his own
domestic peace, the king promptly banishes him.
“ Madhava, wandering from place to place, comes to Amarüvati.
His extraordinary intelligence immediately draws the attention of the
local king, who gives him an honoured place in his court. A courtezan-
girl, Kamakandala the favourite of the king, is at the moment exhi-
biting her first dance in the public. Madhava watches her perform-
ance. Admiring her skill in dancing, undisturbed even by a bee which
alights on her dress, he presents to her the very betel-leaf which the
king had presented to him as a mark of honour.
“The king angry at the scant courtesy shown by Madhava to the
royal present, orders him to leave the town. The young man with the
curse of beauty upon him, while on his way to leave the city, meets
Kamakandala
“ She invites him to her house. The two meet ; both fall in love
with each other, exchange spicy riddles and their spicier solutions, and
are happy. In the morning, both part from each other with breaking
hearts
“Madhava goes to Ujjayini, and describes his distress in verses
which he writes on the wall of the Mahakale$vara temple. Wandering
in disguise about the city at night, as was his wont, to discover the
miseries of his subjects, King Vikrama reads the verses, and he em-
ploys an old courtezan to find out their love-lorn author
adhava is found, and, is brought to Vikrama. Apprised of
the hero's love for Kàmakandala, the reliever of distress forthwith calls
upon Kamasena to give her up ; and, on his refusal to do so, marches
upon his city with an army. — ZEN |
“ Vikrama, however, wants to test the strength of Kamakandala’s
love. He goes to her in disguise, and tries in vain to win her for him-
self. As a further test, he informs her that Müdhava is dead. On
hearing of the death of her lover, K&makandalà becomes unconscious,
and is on the point of death mE
“The King comes back. to his camp, and informs Madhava of
Kamakandala’s death. The poor lover also faints
“Vikrama, horror-struck at having killed a Brühmana, and a
woman, wants to commit suicide. The spirit Vetala, his friend (so
well-known as the hero in the VelGlapaficavimésatikd-stories) from the
other world comes to his rescue, and revives the lovers.
“They are married by the King with great pomp ; and the lovers
live happily ever afterwards indulging in pleasures and pastimes be-
fitting their honoured place in society."
PREFACE Ix
IV
The Gujarati poet has worked into this tale as Prologue a history
of the previous births of the lovers after the style.of the Sanskrit
romance of Kadambari, and the Prikrta story of Tarangavati or
Tarangalola |
This story appears to have been popular mostly in Western India
and only at a very late period it came to be adapted in Marathi. The
version of the story in Hindi by a Muslim poet Alam styled ‘ Madha-
vanalakatha’* (yet unpublished) was composed in Hizri Samvat, 99
(Samvat ]640, A.D. 584), only a decade after Akbar's conquest of
Gujarat, at the express desire of Raja Todarmall, for the pleasure of
Emperor Akbar, whose exploits were comparable to those of King
Vikrama and Bhoja
The love-episode of Madhava and Kamakandala had become so
much a stock-in-trade that it has been woven as a minor story by
Caturbhujadás, a Kayastha poet, in his another equally popular rom-
ance of Madhu-Malati composed sometime in the l7th century, richly
illustrated manuscripts of which are so well-known. The story is again
retold in Gujarati verse in a summary fashion as the Twenty-sixth of
the Thirty-two entire new stories, woven round the old superstructure
( चुपई )
* “ जंगपतिराज कोटि जुग कीजे । साहू जलाल छत्रपति FAN ॥
RAI अकबर सुरताना । सप्त दीपमें जाकी आना ॥
धर्मराज सब देश चलावा | हिंदु तुरक पंथ सब लावा ॥
आगे नेउ महामति मंत्री । नृप राजा टोडरमछ क्षत्री ॥
(aar)
जो मति विक्रमभोजकी, मंत्र करत मन चेन ।
gaa वेद. सुमिरत सदा, पुन्य करत दिन रेन ॥
(s ui )
सन नोसे इक्यावनु वे आइ । करो कथा अब बोलो ताइ ॥
कहो बात सुनो अब लोग । करो कथा सिंगार वियोग ॥
कछु अपनी कछु परकृति चोरो | जथा-सकति करि अच्छर जोरो ॥
सकल सिंगार विरहकी रीति । माधो-कामकंदळा प्रीति ॥
कथा संसकृत सुनि कछु थोरी । भाषा बांघि चोपडे जोरी ॥
(gat)
माधोनल सबगुन चतुर, कामकंदला जोग
करे कथा आलम सुक्रवि, उतपति विरह वियोग ॥ ”
| = —From a.copy in my possession
