topics: |  bengali | poetry | maithili |

bidyApati's poems were first collected into a manuscript-based edition by
nagendranAth gupta; the edition brought out in 1909, published by sAradA
charaN mitra was titled bidyApati ThAkurer padAbalI.  the work was based on
a large collection of pnuthis (manuscripts).  subsequently, khagendranAth
mitra edited another collection.

this volume, based on the mitra work but with much scholarly analysis by
bimAnbihArI majumdAr, is a classic of scholarship.  It starts with
an erudite analytic introduction by bimAnbihArI majumdAr, who was from a
vaishNav (boshtom) family, and collected manuscripts from far and wide.
later, he also lived in mithila, teaching at the haraprasAd-dAs jain
college, Arrah and was therefore well-placed to follow up on maithilic
sources.

Overview

this volume is a critical evaluation of the oeuvre of bidyApatI.

the volume contains two dedications:

A. to George Grierson, who had published the translation of a preface
to an earlier text on bidyApati-padAbalI (ed. sAradA charaN mitra) in the
Indian Antiquary, 1885, as the essay Vidyapati and his contemporaries
[grierson-mitra-1888_vidyApati-and-his-contemporaries.pdf]

Grierson wrote several books on the Maithili language and recorded its
literature.  He is uncomfortable with writing the maithili in bAnglA script
as has been the practice in bengal and also in dArbhAngA.

B. to Calcutta High Court Justice the Late sAradA charaN mitra, who helped
khagendra mitra in the compilation by collecting several ancient
manuscripts and also bore all expenses of publication for the original
volume in 1909.  [contains a full-page autographed image of sAradA charaN
mitra]

sAradA charaN mitra is the author of the widely referred work
Land law of bengal (1898).

vidyApati's ancestry

the long scholarly introductory material (150 pages, 140 footnotes)
outlines a life and genealogy of vidyApati and places it in the context of
the mithilA court at the time.

After a one page section describing the many facets of vidyApatI's work
(sanskrit, scholarship to prAkrit poetry), section 2 outlines how
vidyApati's mithilA origins were documented by rAjkriShNa mukhopAdhYAy in
bangadarshan 1875 which led to a correction of some half-formed opinions
presented by John beames in the Indian Antiquary of 1873, which suggested a
Jessore origin, and the name of basanta rAy for vidyApati.  In 1881, George
Grierson, who was a civil officer in the madhubani area.  In his Maithil
Chrestomathy, Grierson established the ancestry and list of descendants
for vidyApati based on local panjIs.  He also met (?) his 13th descendant,
badarInAth.  Since vidyApati was teaching students in 1460, this suggests a
420 year period for 13 generations - about 31 years per generation, which
is much higher than the generally accepted figure of 25 years.  However,
many in the vidyApati lineage appear to have been quite long-lived.  [p. 17
pdf] [this introductory material (150 pages) has a page numbering scheme in
the anna-pAi system that I cannot read. ]

his great great grand uncle vIresvar was a learned man and minister to the
court, his text chhandopaddhati gives his ancestry in the devAditya
lineage; devAditya was also a minister to the court.  so does the work
sugatisopAne by his son gaNesvar, and so on.

		viSHNu Thakkur
		   |
		harAditya
		   |
		karmAditya
		   |
		devAditya
	   /	   |            \		\
vIreshvara	dhIreshvara 	gaNesvara 	jaTesvara ...
   |		   |
chaNDesvar	jayadatta
		|	|
	  gauripati    gaNapati
			   |
			vidyApati


the second son of devAditya, ganeshwar thAkur was the author of
sugatisopana and gangapattalaka.  his eldest son, ramadatta, wrote
dasakarmapaddhati and mahadaanpaddhati and the younger son, govindadatta
was the author of govindmanasollas, a devotional work on vishnu.  both the
sons of ganeshwar died issueless.

writing in three languages

the lengthy sections 3 and 4 deals with the patrons of vidyApati and the
contemporary history of the trihut kingdom, where several generations of
his family had served as ministers to the court.  

an interesting point I learned was that vidyApati wrote in three languages
- abahaTTa, maithili, and sanskrit.  the works composed in abahaTTa appear
to deal with local matters such as the death of a king.  the sanskrit parts
such as the essay puruSha-parikShA which is a morality tale (tr. Grierson
under the title The Test Of A Man, 1935) are for a pan-Indian readership,
and the maithili poems are for readers in the eastern and Hindi-speaking
areas. [intro p.62] 

at one point it suggests (based on textual aspects) that perhaps vidyApati,
like his more martial ancestors, may have also participated in some of the
battles, particularly against the muslim rulers of gauR with whom the
Trihuts had a feudatory relationship.  there is also a family tree of the
royal line of his patrons devasiMha, shivasiMha, and half a dozen others,
including one poem dedicated to the third sultAn of the iliyAs-shAhi
dynasty, ghiyas-uddin Azam shAh (ruled 1390-1411, a known patron of the
arts); but exactly when this was written is a matter of some speculation by
the editors. [pdf p.40]

vidyApati : life

section 5 of the introductory material starts with the specific period for
vidyApati.  the editors argue that the work kIrtilatA was composed around
1402-1404 A.D. when kIrtisiMha was granted feudatory status, and that at
the time vidyApati would not have been younger than 25 years.  following
arguments similar to muhammad shahidullah, they are inclined to accept a
birth date around 1377.  similarly that he was alive in 1460 is indicated
by a text from that year which refers to him as shrI vidyApati - and the
affix Shri is used only for people who are living. 

sukher kabi - the poet of pleasure

There are very few poems of vidyApatI dealing with viraha.  perhaps it is
this that induced rabindranAth to write:
	vidyApati sukher kabi, chaNDidAs duHkher kabi.  vidyApati birahe
	kAtar haiyA paRen, chaNDIdAser milaneo sukh nAi.
	vidyApati jagater madhye premke sAr baliyA jAniyAchhen, chaNDidAs
	premkei jagat baliyA jAniyAchhen.

	বিদ্যাপতি সুখের কবি,চণ্ডিদাস দুঃখের কবি। বিদ্যাপতি বিরহে কাতর হইয়া পড়েন,
	চণ্ডিদাসের মিলনেও সুখ নাই। বিদ্যাপতি জগতের মধ্যে প্রেমকে সার বলিয়া
	জানিয়াছেন, চণ্ডিদাস প্রেমকেই জগৎ বলিয়া জানিয়াছেন। বিদ্যাপতি ভোগ করিবার
	কবি, চণ্ডিদাস সহ্য করিবার কবি! চণ্ডিদাস সুখের মধ্যে দুঃখ ও দুঃখের মধ্যে সুখ
	দেখিতে পাইয়াছেন ।  (চণ্ডিদাস ও বিদ্যাপতি 1881)

	vidyApati is the poet of pleasure, chaNDidAs of sorrow.  vidyApati
	finds viraha disconcerting, chaNDidAs is not happy even with union.

sources: section 6 and appendix gha

section 6 of the introduction deals with the various sources used.  These
are summarized in appendix gha.  

this is a list of verses which had been included in nagendra gupta (1909),
but are omitted in this compilation.

mitra and majumdAr carefully analyze the earlier edition by nagendra gupta,
which had 935 verses.  of these, 203 are found to be apocryphal and are
dropped.  on the other hand, another 201 verses are added from new sources:
	nepal ms (46),
	rambhadrapur ms. 67
	padakalpataru 1
	padAmr^ta samudra 2
	benIpurI edn 12
	mithilA gIta saMgraha 23
	grierson collection 13
	ramAnAth jhA collection 4
	pandit bAbAjI ms. 8
	misc 16  


For example, the poems rejected include this well known poem,
dine dine unnata - translated by Deben Bhattacharya and
also by Coomaraswamy:
	
		(poem 7 in nagendranAth gupta edition)

translation by Bhattacharya (first lines): 
	Each day the breasts of Radha swelled.
	Her hips grew shapely, her waist more slender.
	Love's secrets stole upon her eyes.
	Startled her childhood sought escape.

all the shringAr poems may not be rAdhA kriShNa related

	following chaitanya, the bengali vaiShNava tradition has taken all of
	vidyApati's shringAr poetry to be in praise of the kriShNa-rAdhA
	lIlA.  however, the editor argues, citing several poems,
	that much of his earlier poetry in the shringAr-rasa vein may have
	focused on an earthier love.  As an example, in verses 554 and 575,
	there is a mention of mAdhava, but the nAyikA is considering other
	lovers.  In another poem vidyApati adivses the nAyikA - "dhairaja
	dhara vahu milata murArI" - have patience, many a murArI can be
	found.

	It would be inconceivable that rAdhA would be considering other
	lovers in lieu of mAdhava.

	[intro 9. rAdhA kriShNa topics in the verses of vidyApati 121]