प्रणाम!
Besides the chief objective of poetry, which is to entertain the reader,[1] it is often meant to create a certain element of surprise to bring about joy to the reader’s mind. In this blog, I shall try to find macaronic poetry in Saṃskṛta, Prākṛta, etc.
See etymology here.
Macaronic poetry refers to the usage of more than one language in a single poem. This is often done by poets to skillfully weave puns between languages or sometimes merely to compare expressions. It is often motivated with a cause; for instance, “Maid of Athens, ere we part” by Lord Byron is one of the best-known examples of this:
Maid of Athens, ere we part,
Give, oh give me back my heart!
Or, since that has left my breast,
Keep it now, and take the rest!
Hear my vow before I go,
Ζωή μου, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ. [Zoë mou, sas agapo! (=My life, I love you)]
Here, though this might not seem to produce some out-of-the-world delight, it surely doesn’t fail the rhyme and makes its way to the heart of the girl he met in Athens (and that is why he used Greek).
With this in mind, let us now start looking upon possible contenders to be equivalent to this style. Saṃskṛta has a treasure of figures of speech to experience the effect of sadyaḥ paranivṛtti or ānanda. The first one that comes to mind is bhāṣāśleṣa (linguistic paronomasia), of course, due to its name.
This is a concept of Indian poetics advocated by rhetoricians like Rudraṭa, Mammaṭa, Viśvanātha, Bhojadeva, Hemacandra, etc.
Kāvyālaṅkāra – a 9th-century text on poetics by Rudraṭa discusses this at length. He first defines bhāṣāśleṣa as:
यस्मिन्नुच्चार्यन्ते सुव्यक्तविविक्तभिन्नभाषाणि।
वाक्यानि यावदर्थं भाषाश्लेषः स विज्ञेयः॥४।१०॥
When very distinct and different languages are spoken in padya as for the meaning desired by the poet, it is termed bhāṣāśleṣa.
He illustrates a śleṣa of Saṃskṛta and Prākṛta with the following example:
सरसबलं स हि सूरोऽसङ्गामे माणवं धुरसहावम्।
मित्तमसीसदवरं ससरणमुद्धरमिमं दबलम्॥४।११॥
This verse can be read in both Saṃskṛta and Prākṛta. This phenomenon is termed Bhāṣāśleṣa because different meanings can be understood by reading it as Saṃskṛta and reading it as Prākṛta. For instance, in this verse cited from Kāvyālaṅkāra, if understood as Saṃskṛta, its meaning revolved around sun, and if understood in Prākṛta, its meaning is revolves a soldier who fought for his friend. Another famous examples of this is a verse by Ānandavardhana from Devīśatakam, quoted by Mammaṭa and Viśvanātha in Kāvyaprakāśa and Sāhitya Darpaṇa respectively. It can be read here.
Such verses, which can be read in both languages, may have distinct meanings, for instance, the one cited in Kāvyālaṅkāra, or it can possess the same meaning, for instance, verse 6.10 by Bhavabhūti in Mālatīmādhava – quoted by Bhoja and Hemacandrasūri.[2] This phenomenon, when meaning stays the same in both languages (or more languages in some cases), is termed bhāṣāsama by Viśvanātha. The term was newly coined by him, but that does not mean that the style did not exist before that. For instance, Haribhadrasūri, a 5th-century Jaina monk, is attributed to four such verses that read the same in Saṃskṛta and Prākṛta. Read here. This has been discussed in Hemacandrasūri's Kāvyanuśāsana as well. Other works include Bhaṭṭikāvya's 13th sarga, a few verses in Devīśatakam, Īśvaraśatakam, etc.
These one (or two) alaṅkāras do not fully fulfill the criterion to be equivalent to macaronic poetry. This brings us to the final resort of this journey – Sarasvatīkaṇṭhābharaṇa by Bhoja. The second pariccheda discusses jāti. Jāti has been discussed and defined by preceding and succeeding rhetoricians, but not in the way Bhoja has. Bhoja defines jāti based on the aucitya (rightness) of viṣaya, vaktra, vācya, deśa, and samaya which leads to alaṅkāratā of poetry. This jāti is of six types: śuddhā, sādhāraṇī, miśrā, saṃkīṛṇā, anānyagāminī, and apabhraṣṭa.
By reading this, it might become clear where macaronic poetry resort in terms of style. Indeed the miśra jāti of verse which, like nṛsiṃha, contains two equal parts where the first is in Saṃskṛta and the other in Prākṛta. Miśrājāti is the most similar to the macaronic poetry. To illustrate this, I shall present an example from Sarasvatīkaṇṭhābharaṇa:
जयति जनाभिवाञ्छिरफलप्रदः कल्पपादपो गिरिशः।
जअइ अ तमल्लीअन्ती गिरितनया पणइकप्पलया॥
[जयति च तमालीयमाना गिरितनया प्रणयिकल्पलता॥]
"Victory to the wish-fulfilling tree - Śiva, who is the giver of desired fruits to the people, and victory to the daughter of the mountains - Pārvatī, who is like a wish-fulfilling creeper, settling upon it (the wish-fulfilling tree)."
Another notable work worth mentioning in this style is vīrastuti by 11th century poet - Dhanapāla. Containing 11 verses, this work is a praise of 24th Jina - Mahāvīrasvāmī.
1. Ānandavardhana's verse from Devīśatakam quoted by Mammaṭa and Viśvanātha:
महदेसुरसन्धम्मे तमवसमासङ्गमागमाहरणे।
हरबहुसरणं तं चित्तमोहमवसरेउमे सहसा॥
Saṃskṛta Reading:
महदे! सुरसन्धं मे तमव समासङ्गमागमाहरणे।
हर बहुसरणं तं चित्तमोहमवसरे उमे सहसा॥
हे उमे = गौरि! महदे = उत्सवप्रदे! मे = मम आगमाहरणे = वेदविद्योपार्जनकाले सुरसन्धं (सुरैः सन्धा यस्मात्, तादृशं) समासङ्गम् अव = रक्ष। बहुसरणं = बहुसंसारं (बहुः संसारः यस्मात्, तादृशं) तं चित्तमोहम् अवसरे सहसा हर।
English Meaning:
O Umā! The giver of festivals! Please safeguard my devotion in the studies of the Vedas, which leads to the union with gods, and in time, destroy the continuously growing delusion of my mind.
Prākṛta Reading:
मह देसु रसं धंमे! तमवसं आसं गमागमा हर णे।
हरबहु! सरणं तं चित्तमोहं अवसरेउ मे सहसा॥
[मह्यं देहि रसं धर्म! तमोवशामाशां गमागमाद् हर नः।
हरवधु! शरणं त्वं चित्तमोहमपसर्पतु मम सहसा॥]
English Meaning:
O the wife of Hara – Pārvatī! Bestow upon me the essence of virtue. Destroy our desire for coming and going (in the world), which has its source in tamas. You are my only refuge. Remove the delusion of my mind quickly.
2. sama-saṃskṛta-prākṛta verse attributed to Haribhadrasūri
संसारदावानलदाहनीरं, संमोहधूलीहरणे समीरम्।
मायारसादारणसारसीरं, नमामि वीरं गिरिसारधीरम्॥१॥
भावावनामसुरदानवमानवेन-चूलाविलोलकमलावलिमालितानि।
संपूरिताभिनतलोकसमीहितानि, कामं नमामि जिनराजपदानि तानि॥२॥
बोधागाधं सुपदपदवीनीरपूराभिरामं, जीवाहिंसाविरललहरीसंगमागाहदेहंम्।
चूलावेलं गुरुगममणीसंकुलं दूरपारं, सारं वीरागमजलनिधिं सादरं साधु सेवे॥३॥
आमूलालोलधूलीबहुलपरिमलालीढलोलालिमाला झंकारारावसारामलदलकमलागारभूमीनिवासे।
छायासंभासारे वरकमलकरे तारहाराभिरामे वाणीसंदोहदेहे भवविरहवरं देहि मे देवि सारम्॥४॥
1. काव्यं यशसेऽर्थकृते व्य्वहारविदे शिवेतरक्षतये। सद्यः परनिवृत्तये कान्तासम्मिततयोपदेशयुजे॥ [Mammaṭa 1.2];काव्यमानन्दाय यशसे कान्तातुल्यतयोपदेशाय च। [Hemacandra 1.3]
2. सरले साहसरागं परिहर रम्भोरु मुञ्च संरम्भम्। विरसं विराहायासं बोढुं तव चित्तमसहं मे॥६।१०॥ - Mālatīmādhava (Bhavabhūti)
1. Bhojadeva's Sarasvatīkāṇṭhābharaṇa, With commentaries by Rāmasiṃha and Jagaddhara, Ed. by Kedārnātha Śarmā and Vāsudev Lakṣmaṇ Śāstrī, Nirnay Sagar, 1934 (2nd Ed.)
2. Rudraṭa's Kāvyālaṅkāra with commentary by Namisādhu, Ed. by Kedārnātha Śarmā and Vāsudev Lakṣmaṇ Śāstrī, Nirnay Sagar.
3. Hemacandrasūri's Kāvyānuśāsana with auto-commentary 'alaṅkāracūḍāmani' and 'viveka', Ed. by Rasiklāl Parīkh, Mahavīra Jain Vidyālaya, 1938
4. Viśvanātha's Sāhityadarpaṇa with Hindi commentary by Śālagrāma Vidyāvācaspati, Bhāratīya Kalā Prakāśāna, 2008
5. Bhaṭṭikāvya of Bhaṭṭi, With the Commentary Jayamangalā of Jayamangala. Ed. by The Late Vināyak Nārāyan Shāstrī Joshi; V.L. Shāstrī Paṇśīkar. Bombay, 1934 (8e éd.).
6. HAHN, Michael. Śivasvāmin's Kapphiṇābhyudaya, edited by M. Hahn with preface in English. Sanskrit text, selected variant readings, index of verses and five appendices. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 2013
7. Pañcapratikramaṇa, Ed. by Pt. Sukhalāl, Ātmārām Jain Pustak Prakāśan Maṇḍal, Āgrā, 1921
8. Specimen of Macaronic Poetry, Richard Beckley, 1831
9. Coldiron, A. E. B. “Macaronic Verse, Plurilingual Printing, and the Uses of Translation.” Printers without Borders: Translation and Textuality in the Renaissance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. 255–282.
10. “Macaronic Verse.” Poem Analysis, poemanalysis.com/definition/macaronic-verse/