Janna (
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
: ಮಹಾಕವಿ ಜನ್ನ) was one of the well-known
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
poets of the early 13th century who also served in the capacity of a minister and a builder of temples. He graced the court of
Hoysala empire
The Hoysala Empire was a Kannada people, Kannadiga power originating from the Indian subcontinent that ruled most of what is now Karnataka, India, Karnataka between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially loca ...
King
Veera Ballala II
Veera Ballala II ( kn, ವೀರ ಬಲ್ಲಾಳ 2) (r. 1173–1220 CE) was the most notable monarch of the Hoysala Empire. His successes against the Yadavas of Devagiri, the Southern Kalachuris, the Pandyas of Madurai and the wani ...
and earned the title ''Kavichakravarthi'' ("Emperor among poets"). His noteworthy writings include ''Yashodhara Charitre'' (c.1209) which deals with
Jain
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
tenets, ''Ananthnatha Purana'' (c.1230) which deals with the teachings of the 14th Jain
tirthankara
In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (Sanskrit: '; English: literally a 'ford-maker') is a saviour and spiritual teacher of the ''dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a '' tirtha'', which is a fordable passag ...
,
Anantanatha
Anantanatha was the fourteenth Tirthankara of the present age (Avasarpini) of Jainism. According to Jain beliefs, he became a siddha, a liberated soul which has destroyed all of its karma in Jainism, karma.
Biography
Anantanatha was the fourte ...
and a short piece called ''Anubhava Mukura''. Although all his works are known for the grace and style, ''Yashodhara Charite'' is his ''magnum opus'' and one of the classics of
Kannada literature
Kannada literature is the Text corpus, corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, a member of the Dravidian language, Dravidian Language family, family spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script.
A ...
.
[Sastri (1955), pp. 358–359][Kamath (2001), p. 133]
Janna finds an important place in
Kannada literature
Kannada literature is the Text corpus, corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, a member of the Dravidian language, Dravidian Language family, family spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script.
A ...
, though he is not as famous as
Adikavi Pampa. He came from a family of Kannada writers; Mallikarjuna, the well known anthologist was his brother-in-law and
Kesiraja
Kēśirāja, also spelled Keshiraja ( kn, ಕೇಶಿರಾಜ), was a 13th-century Kannada grammarian, poet and writer. He is particularly known for authoring ''Shabdamanidarpana'', an authoritative work on Kannada grammar. According to Dravid ...
the grammarian, was his nephew.
[Nagaraj in Pollock (2003), p. 364] Janna's style essentially belonged to the classical ''marga'' (mainstream) brand of Kannada writers and his works were primarily meant to propagate the
Jain
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
philosophy.
[Shiva Prakash (1997), p. 204]
Magnum opus
''Yashodhara Charite'', an epic written in the ''kandapadya'' metre is a unique set of stories in 310 verses dealing with perverted sex and violence and contains cautionary morals on the issue of extreme desires.
[Nagaraj in Pollock (2003), p. 377] Inspired by the Sanskrit writing of the same name by Vadiraja, the Janna transcreates stories of king Yashodhara and his mother and their passing from one life to the next without attaining ''
moksha
''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriology, ...
'' (liberation from cycle of death and rebirth).
In one of the stories, the king intends to perform a ritual sacrifice of two young boys to a local deity, Mariamma. Taking pity on the boys, the king releases them and gives up the practice of human sacrifice.
[Sastri (1955), p. 359][E.P. Rice (1921), pp. 43–44] In another story, the poet narrates the infatuation of the king for his friends wife. Having killed his friend, the king abducts the wife who however dies of grief. Overcome by repentance, he burns himself on the funeral pyre of the woman.
[Sahitya Akademi (1988), p. 1181] The stories of infatuation reaches a peak when Janna narrates the attraction of Amrutamati, the queen, to the ugly
mahout
A mahout is an elephant rider, trainer, or keeper. Mahouts were used since antiquity for both civilian and military use. Traditionally, mahouts came from ethnic groups with generations of elephant keeping experience, with a mahout retaining h ...
Ashtavakra, who pleases the queen with kicks and whip lashes—a story that has piqued the interest of modern research.
To expiate the queen from her sinful act, King Yashodhara takes his mothers advice and decides to perform a symbolic sacrifice of a cock made of flour, to please the gods. But the cock comes to life and crows at its time of death. For committing the sin of violence, Yashodhara and his mother are reborn as animals. After much suffering, they are eventually born as the children of Yashodhara's son in their seventh rebirth. The writing powerfully narrates the consequences of passion gone awry and the terrible suffering it brings in human life.
[Sahitya Akademi (1992), p. 4629]
Other writings
Janna's ''Anubhava Mukhura'' is a treatise on erotics and the science of lovemaking, a topic that was well established as a genre of Kannada literature by his time.
[Nagaraj in Pollock (2003), p. 375]
Notes
References
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{{Karnataka topics
13th-century Indian poets
History of Karnataka
13th-century Indian Jain poets
Kannada poets
Poets from Karnataka
Indian male poets