Rudra Kavi and Campū Kāvya
Pranav Prakash
Junior Research Fellow, Christ Church, University of Oxford
Pranav Prakash
Junior Research Fellow, Christ Church, University of Oxford
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Among the extant literary works of premodern South Asia, the term campū kāvya appears for the first time in Daṇḍin’s (fl. c. 680–720 CE) Kāvyādarśa. This oldest surviving treatise on Sanskrit poetics is one of the most influential works of literary criticism in the history of South Asian literatures. While discussing different types of poetry (kāvya), Daṇḍin records that campū was used to refer to a form of performative composition in which prose passages (gadya) were blended with poetic verses (padya).
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मिश्राणि नाटकादीनि तेषामन्यत्र विस्तरः ।
गद्यपद्यमयी काचिच्चम्पूरित्यपि विद्यते ॥ ३१॥ प्रथमः परिच्छेदः। श्रीमदाचार्यदण्डिविरचितः काव्यादर्शः। |
Daṇḍin does not elaborate upon the history and aesthetics of the mixed genre of campū kāvya. Despite his passing reference to this genre, his brief definition of campū became axiomatic in Sanskrit literary criticism. It was frequently quoted and reiterated by successive generations of Sanskrit scholars. An identical definition is indeed found in almost all major writings on Sanskrit poetics; most prominently in the works of Agni Purāṇa, Bhoja (11th cent.), Hemacandra (12th cent.), Vāgbhaṭṭa (14th cent.), Viśvanātha (14th cent.), Vidyānātha (14th cent.), Someśvara (14th cent.) and Śrikṛṣṇa (c. 1600).
Ms. Bühler 70b, British Library
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Although some scholars added a few minor details about the classificatory norms of the campū kāvya, this genre nevertheless remained one of the most underappreciated—hence the least theorized—genres in Sanskrit poetics. This disinterested attitude towards campū kāvya is in stark contrast to the substantial rise in the production of literary works of this genre between 11th and 17th century, as well as to its growing popularity in the southern and western parts of the Indian subcontinent (most notably in Kannada).
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My research explores the long history and poetics of the campū genre with the aim of elaborating its significance for the literary cultures of South Asia. As a first step in this direction, I am studying the writings of Rudra Kavi (fl. c.1570-1640), who was employed as a court poet by two rulers of the Bāgula (Rāthoḍ) dynasty—Pratāp Shāh and his son Nārāyaṇ Shāh—in the Bāglāṇ region (Nashik district today) of Maharashtra. His earliest work is a historical poem titled Rāṣṭrauḍha-vamśa-mahākāvya (1596), which narrates the history of the Bāgula dynasty from the time of its founder Rāṣtrauḍha, a king of Kannauj, until the rule of Nārāyaṇ Shāh, a king of Mayūragiri. At the behest of his Bāgula patrons, Rudra composed Dāna-śāha-carita, Navāva-khāna-khānāna-carita, Jahāngīra-carita and Kīrti-samullāsa (or Khuramma-carita) in the honor of Dāniyāl Mīrzā (1572-1604), ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Khān-i Khānān (1556-1627), Jahāngīr (1569-1627) and Shāh Jahān (1592-1666) respectively.
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As a court poet of Mayūragiri, Rudra Kavi regularly interacted with the members of the ruling class and composed poems for them. His writings, therefore, reveal how some prominent Mughal personalities were represented in the subimperial courtly cultures of western India. Subsequently, his deployment of the formal elements of campū kāvya elucidate how traditional genres were being reimagined to accommodate the portrayal of Mughal rulers and Muslim patrons of art. Since his writings exhibit differential approaches to dynastic histories and biographical narratives, they are valuable sources for grappling with the mind of a Sanskrit poet who was compelled to renegotiate diverse aspects of classical genres, patronage ties and regional histories.
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Ms. Acc. No. 5761, Central Library, Baroda.
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Given the relevance of his writings for understanding the interaction between Sanskrit poets and Mughal empire, my study undertakes a critical appraisal of his poetics and politics, alongside a codicological analysis of the extant manuscripts of his work. Furthermore, I am preparing a critical edition of his panegyric poems (campū kāvya) based on the manuscripts found in the Bühler Collection of the British Library, the Oriental Institute’s Collection at the MS University, Baroda, and the Manuscript Department at the University of Nagpur.