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The title
of this article refers to the refraining lines that appear at the end of
each of the eight couplets in the second aSTapadi,
shrita kamalAkuca maNDala
dh.rta kuNDala
kalitalalitavanamAla
jaya jayadEva harE
Here, the
poet Jayadeva, happily shares one of the names of Lord K.rSNa. What are
these aSTapadis? How many are there? What are their salient
features? We shall attempt to answer these questions.
ASTapadi,
as it is popularly known, is often heard in karNATilk music concerts,
in the post pallavi segment, and one such piece is invariably included
in all south Indian bhajans. These aSTapadis are not mere songs
with eight padas (literally, feet). They form part of gIta
gOvindam, a kAvyam, in fact a mahA kAvyam,
composed by the saint poet Shri Jayadeva. It consists of 12 sargams
(chapters) comprising of 24 gItams (or aSTapadis)
and around 92 highly poetic shlOkams in chaste Sanskrit, sprinkled in
between.
CLICK BELOW FOR THE COMPLETE
TEXT OF GITA GOVINDA MAHA KAVYAM
In Sanskrit PDF
In diacritical English PDF
Jayadeva
The composer is a wandering
saint, JayadEva, who calls himself a poet (kavi) at numerous
places in this poem (e.g. “jayadEva kavi bhAratI”, “shrI
jayadEva kavEridam”). He lived in the 12th century. He
was born in a village “kindubilva", which is perhaps the village
Kenduli near Puri in Orissa, or Kindubilva in Birbhum district in Bengal. Some
authors believe it is a village near Jenjharpur in Mithila. In the last lines
of the seventh aSTapadi, in sargam 3, we find a reference to
this geographical location:
varNitam jayadEvakEna
harEridam pravaNena |
kindubilva
samudra sambhava rohiNI ramaNEna ||
In the
final sargam of gIta gOvindam, JayadEva states that he was born
to BhOja dEva and rAmA dEvi:
"shrIbhOjadEvaprabhavasya,
rAmAdEvIsutashrI jayadEvakasya"
Though he was a wandering
minstrel, due to a divine prophecy, he married PadmAvati, and lived as a
householder, in the service of Lord JagannAtha.
He was a disciple of GOvardhanAcArya. His scholarship in sanskrit was immense,
with a powerful diction. He was an eminent writer, who wrote the drama called
`prasanna rAghava'' and many other classical work. But, he is always
remembered for the great work, “gIta gOvindam”, which he
composed as an ardent devotee, with his heart and soul dedicated to the lotus
feet of Lord K.rSNa.
This time
frame is soon after saint RAmAnuja preached vaiSNavism in Orissa. King
LakSmaNasEna (1179 AD – 1205 AD), who became a devoted vaiSNavite, was
a liberal patron of the Sanskrit language. JaydEva was his court poet. In
one of the opening shlOkams of gIta gOvindam., JayadEva states
that he is in the company of the scholarly poets, UmApatidhara, SharaNa,
GOvardhana and DhOyi, all of whom lived during the same period. The work "sadukti
karNAm.rtam" composed by shrIdaradAsa (1205 AD) mentions all these poets,
and also includes several shlOkams that are attributed to JayadEva.
Some anecdotes in JayadEva's life
Jayadeva was proficient in
vEdic knowledge, and he started the life as an ascetic. In another part of
the town, there lived one Devasharma, who prayed to Lord JagannAtha of Puri
for a child, promising that his first child would be offered to Lord
JagannAtha. When the beautiful PadmAvati was born, the parents were
delighted, but also distraught that they had to offer her to the temple. But,
true to their word, they raised her, and when she came of age, took her to the
temple dressed like a bride and offered her to Lord JagannAtha. PadmAvati
stayed in the temple that night. Meanwhile, Lord JagannAtha came in the dream
to the chief priest of the temple, and asked him to take PadmAvati to JayadEva
living like a hermit on the banks of the river Kinduli, and get her married to
him. Next morning DEvasharma took PadmAvati to Jayadeva and narrated the
dream. Though reluctant at first, JayadEva finally yielded to marry Padmavati,
since it was the wish of Lord JagannAtha. JayadEva mentions PadmAvati at
several places in gIta gOvindam (example: “padmAvatI
caraNa cAraNa cakravartI”). It is said that JayadEva would compose and
sing each aSTapadi, and PadmAvati would dance to them at the feet of
Lord JagannAtha. The couple lived a long and happy romantic life in the
service of Lord JagannAtha.
JayadEva composd gIta
gOvindam and offered it to the feet of the Lord. His patron, King
LakSmaNasEna, who has also composed many devotional poems, was a bit jealous
of JayadEva’s fame, ordered that no one was to sing anything except his own
compositions. The anecdote goes that when the King brought the compositions of
himself and JayadEva before Lord JagannAtha, the Lord chose only the gIta
gOvindam as his favourite. Thus, convinced of the superiority of
the gIta gOvindam, the King shed his ego and took JayadEva as his
spiritual advisor.
The next anecdote is more
well-known, and is mentioned in numerous places, including the “vAggEyakAra
caritamu” chapter in “Sa”ngIta SampradAya Pradarshini” of
SubbarAma DikSitar. This poet JayadEva, was composing the eighth couplet in
the nineteenth aSTapadi, and the thought came that he should use the
following lines.
smaragaraLa khaNDanam mama
shirasi maNDdanam
dEhi pada pallava mudAram
(place your
foot on my head – a sublime flower destroying the poison of love)
Hesitating a
little, and without writing it down immediately, he handed the tAlapatram
(dry palm leaf that was used for writing, during those times) to his wife
PadmAvati, oiled his head, and went to the river to take his bath. Soon after,
Lord K.rSNa, disguised as JayadEva, came to PadmAvati, with oiled head, got
the tAlapatram and the pen, and wrote the very same wording as the one
originally occurred to JayadEva, and left. After sometime, JayadEva returned
and asked for the tAlapatram. When he was told that he just came a few
minutes ago, took the tAlapatram and wrote something, curiously, he
looked at it and saw the very same words he had planned to write. He clearly
knew it was Lord JagannAtha who must have done this prank. He was overjoyed,
and told her “Oh! PadmAvati, the Lord has appeared before you; how can I
praise your good fortune?" In the eighth line of that aSTapadi, he
states:
"jayati padmAvatIramaNa
jayadEva kavi bhAratIbhaNitamatishAtam"
In the 21st
aSTapadi, again, in the last stanza, he wrote:
vihita padmAavatI sukha
samAjE
kuru murArE ma"ngaLashatAni
bhaNati jayadEva kavirAjE
(These
are the only places in the gItam segment, where he specifically
mentions his wife PadmAvati).
There are
numerous other stories that are often heard in the Orissa region, most of
them describing some sort of miracles associated with the life of JayadEva,
re-affirming his unparalleled devotion to Lord K.rSNa.
Go to Part II >> |
