Kannada language has its early origins in Banavasi,:the Satavahana and Kadamba periods and hence has a history of over 2000 years.
The Ashoka rock edict found at Brahmagiri (dated to 230 BC).
Though Kannada is grouped among the Dravidian Languages, the Sanskrit and Prakrit is very high in Kannada,as in Telugu, unlike Tamil where the influence of Sanskrit is the least.
And the influence of Tamil can also be seen.
Kannada lends itself for study by being classified into,
Hale Kannada(Old Kannada),
Nadu Kannada(Middle Kannada) and
New Kannada(Modern Kannada).
“Pre-old Kannada (or Purava HaleGannada) was the language of Banavasi in the early Common Era, the Satavahanaand Kadamba periods and hence has a history of over 2000 years.[25][30][31][32] The Ashoka rock edict found atBrahmagiri (dated to 230 BC) has been suggested to contain words in identifiable Kannada.[33]
A possibly more definite reference to Kannada is found in the ‘Charition mime‘ of the 1st or 2nd century CE. The farce, written by an unknown author was discovered in early 20th century at Oxyrynchus in Egypt.[34][35] The play is concerned with a Greek lady named Charition who has been stranded on the coast of a country bordering the Indian Ocean. The king of this region, and his countrymen, sometimes use their own language, and the sentences they spoke include Koncha madhu patrakke haki (lit having poured a little wine into the cup separately) and paanam beretti katti madhuvam ber ettuvenu (lit having taken up the cup separately and having covered it, I shall take wine separately).[36] The language employed in the papyrus indicates that the play is set in one of the numerous small ports on the western coast of India, between Karwar and Mangalore.[36]
The written tradition of Kannada begins in the early centuries of common era. The earliest examples of a full-length Kannada language stone inscription (shilashaasana) containing Brahmi characters with characteristics attributed to those of proto-Kannada in Hale Kannada (litOld Kannada) script can be found in the Halmidi inscription, usually dated c. 450 C.E., indicating that Kannada had become an administrative language at that time. The Halmidi inscription provides invaluable information about the history and culture of Karnataka.[37][38][39][40] The 5th century Tamatekallu inscription ofChitradurga and the Chikkamagaluru inscription of 500 AD are further examples.[41][42][43] Recent reports indicate that the Old Kananda Nishadi Inscription discovered on the Chandragiri hill, Shravanabelagola, is older than Halmidi inscription by about fifty to hundred years and may belong to the period 350–400 CE.[44] The noted archaeologist and art historian S. Settar is of the opinion that an inscription of the Western Ganga King Kongunivarma (c.350 – 370) is also older than the Halmidi inscrption.[45]..
The oldest existing record of Kannada poetry in tripadi metre is the Kappe Arabhatta record of 700 CE.[59] Kavirajamarga by King Nripatunga Amoghavarsha I (850 CE) is the earliest existing literary work in Kannada. It is a writing on literary criticism and poetics meant to standardise various written Kannada dialects used in literature in previous centuries. The book makes reference to Kannada works by early writers such as King Durvinita of the 6th century and Ravikirti, the author of the Aihole record of 636 CE.[60][61] Since the earliest available Kannada work is one on grammar and a guide of sorts to unify existing variants ofKannada grammar and literary styles, it can be safely assumed that literature in Kannada must have started several centuries earlier.[60][62] An early extantprose work, the Vaddaradhane by Shivakotiacharya of 900 AD provides an elaborate description of the life of Bhadrabahu of Shravanabelagola.[63]
Kannada works from earlier centuries mentioned in the Kavirajamarga are not yet traced. Some ancient texts now considered extinct but referenced in later centuries are Prabhrita (650 CE) by Syamakundacharya, Chudamani (Crest Jewel—650 CE) by Srivaradhadeva, also known as Tumbuluracharya, which is a work of 96,000 verse-measures and a commentary on logic (Tatwartha-mahashastra).[64][65][66] Other sources date Chudamani to the 6th century or earlier.[67][68] The Karnateshwara Katha, a eulogy for King Pulakesi II, is said to have belonged to the 7th century; the Gajastaka, a work on elephant management by King Shivamara II, belonged to the 8th century,[69] and the Chandraprabha-purana by Sri Vijaya, a court poet of King Amoghavarsha I, is ascribed to the early 9th century.[70] Tamil Buddhist commentators of the 10th century CE (in the commentary on Nemrinatham, a Tamil grammatical work) make references that show that Kannada literature must have flourished as early as the 4th century CE.[71]
The late classical period gave birth to several genres of Kannada literature, with new forms of composition coming into use, including Ragale (a form of blank verse) and meters like Sangatya and Shatpadi. The works of this period are based on Jain and Hindu principles. Two of the early writers of this period areHarihara and Raghavanka, trailblazers in their own right. Harihara established the Ragale form of composition while Raghavanka popularised the Shatpadi (six-lined stanza) meter.[72] A famous Jaina writer of the same period is Janna, who expressed Jain religious teachings through his works.[73]
The Vachana Sahitya tradition of the 12th century is purely native and unique in world literature, and the sum of contributions by all sections of society. Vachanas were pithy poems on that period’s social, religious and economic conditions. More importantly, they held a mirror to the seed of social revolution, which caused a radical re-examination of the ideas of caste, creed and religion. Some of the important writers of Vachana literature include Basavanna, Allama Prabhu and Akka Mahadevi.[74
Source.Wiki
Related articles
Leave a Reply