Sanskrit poetry

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In addition to the literary works of India such as the Vedas and Upanishads , which are written in Sanskrit , Sanskrit poetry includes an abundance of art and poetry. The following is the tradition of the Hindu-influenced Sanskrit poetry (beginning: approx. 500 BC ) in India, which has been handed down in writing and which survived even after the Muslim Mughal rule and colonization by England (18th / 19th centuries) . The article is structured chronologically. Each section first touches on the historical context, then names important authors and works and finally describes special features and stylistic devices.

Beginnings: the epic phase

With the end of Vedic literature begins in the 1st millennium BC. Chr. , The epoch of the Epic seal. The often themed war suggests that the works were created in the social environment of the warrior caste ( Kshatriyas ). India is in a time of upheaval, new philosophical currents are developing and early Hinduism is replacing the old Vedic religion (see Rigveda ).

The great epics of this time are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata . Both works show the beginnings of poetic art and are therefore forerunners of the later Kavya tradition. In terms of structure and the choice of stylistic devices, the Ramayana is a little more artistic than the Mahabharata. The language, which was relatively simple in contrast to the later artistic poetry, clearly reflects the original oral tradition of the texts. The frequently used present tense, the use of the shloka (an easy, memorable meter) as well as the constant repetitions of sometimes entire stanzas also give evidence of this . Stylistic devices such as metaphors and comparisons are also used, but not with such perfection as in later times. Compounds (the connection of at least two words; example: winter month) are still quite short, less nested and therefore easier to understand. Typical of epic Sanskrit is the frequent use of finite verb forms, while later poets prefer more complex participle constructions. By all of these means, the epic verses are memorable and facilitate oral transmission.

The following verses from the third book of the Mahabharata describe the meeting of Arjuna , one of the main heroes of the epic, with the god Shiva , who disguised himself as a mountain dweller from the people of the Kiratas . Arjuna wants to receive weapons from Shiva for the upcoming great war, but first has to measure his strength against him (MBh 3.40.26-28):

"Then Arjuna let a rain of arrows rain down on the Kirata .
Shiva intercepted it with a calm mind.
When he had fended him off in no time,
he stood there with uninjured body like an immovable mountain.
When Arjuna realized that his rain of arrows had no effect,
he wondered tremendously and said to himself 'Well!' ".

The passage shows some of the most important stylistic devices of epic poetry:

  • Stereotypical comparisons (rain of arrows, mountains) from the areas of nature and war.
  • Simple sentence structure with many inflected verbs.
  • In the original, the typical epic meter of the Shloka is used.

The culmination of art poetry

The heyday of classical Sanskrit poetry (approx. 350 to 550) lies in the period of the Gupta Empire . An important keyword is ' panegyric ', a form of poetry that praises kings. It spreads over India as the poets go from court to court to recite their poetry. The so-called 'classical' Sanskrit today developed into a literary language during this period .

At the same time, the means of artistic poetry ( kavya ) continue to refine . The artistic design of the form comes to the fore, while the content often focuses on well-known topics, v. a. is drawn from the epics. The meaning of form is impressively conveyed through the Alamkarashastras (alamkara - 'jewelry', 'jewelry means'), the textbooks of poetry. Poetry is now a science in its own right. Stylistic devices on the semantic level are metaphors , word games and artful descriptions. Alliterations , later also rhymes and the use of rarely used expressions are used as word figures . Infinite verb forms begin to displace finite verbs, and compound nouns become longer and more complicated in content. One of the most important theorists of poetry is Dandin . Towards the end of the 7th century he wrote the ' Kavyadarsha ', which is still considered a set of rules in poetics today.

Kalidasa is a major lyric poet at the time of the Gupta Empire . In addition to epics and dramas, he also wrote the famous work ' Meghaduta ', a longer poem with artistically designed individual stanzas. Amaru lives around the same time as Kalidasa . He is one of the best-known representatives of the so-called ' muktakas ' (miniature punches). They reflect the typically cosmopolitan character of that time. His famous gathering is called ' Amarusataka ' and is a work of love poetry . Other well-known poets appear later in the epoch of Emperor Harsha (606-647). One of them is the poet Bhartrihari , whose works thematize love, politics or wisdom and renunciation.

Bharavi , whose artistic epic Kiratarjuniya is still counted among the most impressive works of Indian poetry, probably lived a little earlier than Kalidasa . The work is an artful retelling of the fight between Arjuna and Shiva (see above). The following excerpt from the third chapter comes from the complaint of a woman who Arjuna did not rush to help when she was pulled by the hair in public by the villain Duhshasana (additions are bracketed to make the text understandable):

"You have changed unbearably through the loss of self-respect like an elephant through the loss of its teeth,
your radiant shine, subjected to the agony of the enemy, looks like a daybreak that is covered by clouds.

(...)

You, whose tremendous power through my hair, which was covered with dust when pulled through Duhshasana, which was defenseless and only had the luck as a helper,
destroyed - are you the same Arjuna (whom I used to know as a brave warrior)?
The one is a warrior who can protect the good - (as a weapon is only) a bow if it can serve its purpose.
If you use the two (titles) without filling them with content, you rob them of their grammatical correctness. "

Even in the translation it is noticeable that the language is much more complex compared to the epic level, although the poet sticks very closely to the model from the simpler Mahabharata in the design of his material. Bharavi is regarded as the first poet to consistently apply the rules of alamkarashastra in his works . The tendency to linguistic accuracy and the preoccupation with grammatical phenomena of Sanskrit make z. B. noticeable in the last line, which seems far-fetched to the western reader, but can be easily derived from the scientific spirit of classical Indian poetry.

The twelfth century Bhakti poetry

In the 12th century the sphere of activity of the Bhakti movement developed into a breeding ground and a source of inspiration for all arts. Bhakti, loving devotion to God, was the way to salvation. The strict principles of Veda and Yoga , while still being accepted, were not seen as the only way. Instead, devotional worship of the deity of the heart was the direct path to oneness with God. The attributes 'true' (satyam), 'kind' (shivam) and 'beautiful' (sundaram) were ascribed to this. The aestheticization of the concept of God and the attribution of easily comprehensible properties made religion more part of popular everyday life; worship now also placed people in their own personality in a direct relationship to God. On the one hand, God became more commonplace, on the other hand, everyday life became closer to God, the worshiper of God saw himself as part of a mythical theater.

The inclusion of an aesthetic dimension made religious subjects the subject of the arts, and thus also of poetry. A typical representative of the new Bhakti poetry is Jayadeva , who worked as a court poet in Bengal in the 12th century . He wrote the Gitagovinda , which tells of the amorous adventures of Krishna (Govinda) and the relationship with his beloved Radha . The Gitagovinda is formally composed of twelve chants, but is also a collection of already popular contents and forms: erotic and religiously mystical elements (known from the tantras ), influences of folk traditions, fascinating linguistic rhythms, numerous rhymes and onomatopoeia. Not least because of the usually musical performance, the work exerted a strong influence on those who were not able to speak Sanskrit. This is still the case today. The core plot of Gitagovinda, the ups and downs of the relationship between Radha and Krishna, is still a popular motif in modern poetry, theater, music and filmmaking. Likewise, the Gitagovinda soon found some imitators. But the Gitagovinda also had a lasting effect beyond the borders of India. In Europe u. a. William Jones and Goethe impressed by the work.

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