Western Chalukya literature in Kannada

Territory of the Western Chalukyas (c. 1100 CE) in India (modern boundaries shown) and the empire's capital, Kalyani, in the modern Bidar district, Karnataka state, India

A large body of Western Chalukya literature in the Kannada language was produced during the reign of the Western Chalukya Empire (973–1200 CE) in what is now southern India. This dynasty, which ruled most of the western Deccan in South India, is sometimes called the Kalyani Chalukya dynasty after its royal capital at Kalyani (now Basavakalyan), and sometimes called the Later Chalukya dynasty for its theoretical relationship to the 6th-century Chalukya dynasty of Badami.[1] For a brief period (1162–1183), the Kalachuris of Kalyani, a dynasty of kings who had earlier migrated to the Karnataka region from central India and served as vassals for several generations, exploited the growing weakness of their overlords and annexed the Kalyani.[2][3] Around 1183, the last Chalukya scion, Someshvara IV, overthrew the Kalachuris to regain control of the royal city. But his efforts were in vain, as other prominent Chalukya vassals in the Deccan, the Hoysalas, the Kakatiyas and the Seunas destroyed the remnants of the Chalukya power.[4]

Kannada literature from this period is usually categorised into the linguistic phase called Old-Kannada. It constituted the bulk of the Chalukya court's textual production and pertained mostly to writings relating to the socio-religious development of the Jain faith.[5][6] The earliest well-known writers belonging to the Shaiva faith are also from this period.[7] Under the patronage of Kalachuri King Bijjala II, whose prime minister was the well-known Kannada poet and social reformer Basavanna, a native form of poetic literature called Vachana literature (lit "utterance", "saying" or "sentence") proliferated.[8][9] The beginnings of the Vachana poetic tradition in the Kannada-speaking region trace back to the early 11th century.[10] Kannada literature written in the champu metre, composed of prose and verse, was popularised by the Chalukyan court poets. However, with the advent of the Veerashaiva (lit, "brave devotees of the god Shiva") religious movement in the mid-12th century, poets favoured the native tripadi (three-line verse composed of eleven ganas or prosodic units), hadugabba (song-poem) and free verse metres for their poems.[11][12]

Important literary contributions in Kannada were made not only by court poets, noblemen, royalty, ascetics and saints who wrote in the marga (mainstream) style,[13] but also by commoners and artisans, including cobblers, weavers, cowherds and shepherds who wrote in the desi (folk) style.[14] These Vachana poets (called Vachanakaras) revolutionised Kannada literature, rejecting traditional themes that eulogised kings and noblemen, and writing didactic poems that were closer to the spoken and sung form of the language. In addition to hundreds of male poets, over thirty female poets have been recorded, some of whom wrote along with their husbands.[15][16]

  1. ^ Kamath (2001), p. 100; B.R. Gopal in Kamath (2001), p. 100
  2. ^ Kamath 2001, p. 108
  3. ^ Cousens 1926, p. 13
  4. ^ Kamath (2001), pp. 107, 109
  5. ^ Narasimhacharya (1988), p. 17
  6. ^ Pollock (2006), pp. 288–289
  7. ^ Kamath (2001), p. 115
  8. ^ Cousens (1926), pp. 12–13
  9. ^ Sastri (1955), pp. 360–361; Rice E.P. (1921), p. 56; Kamath (2001), p. 115; Nagaraj in Pollock (2003), p. 21
  10. ^ Shiva Prakash (1997), pp. 168–169, 171; Sahitya Akademi (1988), p. 1324
  11. ^ Rice E.P. (1921), p. 59; Sahitya Akademi (1988), p. 1324
  12. ^ Shiva Prakash (1997), pp. 163–164, 166–167
  13. ^ Durgasimha was minister to King Jayasimha II–Sastri (1955), p. 357; Prince Kirtivarma was the younger brother of King Vikramaditya VI – Kamath (2001), p. 115; Gunavarma, identified as Udayaditya, was a Ganga prince under Chalukya King Someshvara II – Lewis Rice (1985) pp. xix–xx; Nagavarmacharya was a saint – Rice E.P. (1921), pp. 33–34
  14. ^ Shiva Prakash (1997), p. 182; Sahitya Akademi (1988), p. 1324; Nagaraj in Pollock, 2003, p. 348
  15. ^ Quote:"Over two hundred writers, many women among them" – Sastri (1955), p. 361; Quote:"More than 300 poets", "33 women Vachana poets" – Shiva Prakash 1997, pp. 167–168; Quote "Over 300 Vachanakaras" – Ramanujan A.K. (1973), p. 11
  16. ^ Quote:"More than 200 authors from the 12th and 13th centuries – mostly from the lower castes, and including more than 40 women are known to have composed Vachanas" – Nagaraj, 2003, p. 348; Quote:"The Vachana literature contains Vachanas of 200 to 300 Sivasaranas of whom 50–60 are women" – Leela Mullatti, The Bhakti Movement and the Status of Women: A Case Study of Virasaivism, p. 23, (1989), ISBN 978-81-7017-250-5