Shilabhattarika

Śīlābhaṭṭārikā (IAST: Shilabhattarika) was a was a 9th-century Sanskrit poet, and Digambara Jain religious woman, active She is known from literary anthologies that preserve her verses and from South Indian epigraphic traditions, where the title bhaṭṭārikā denotes a senior Jain religious authority, not a deity or secular title. Recorded in temple and basadi endowment inscriptions where the title bhaṭṭārikā is used in a monastic sense, referring to Jain female religious leaders (āryikā / bhaṭṭārikā). She is regarded as one of the earliest identifiable women poets in classical Sanskrit literature.[1][2][3][4]

Biography

Identity and Religious Affiliation

The title bhaṭṭārikā refers to a respected Jain female religious authority (āryikā) within the Digambara Jain tradition, often associated with monastic leadership, ritual authority, and religious endowments.[5] Epigraphic records from South India and the Deccan document bhaṭṭārikās in clearly Jain contexts, linked with Jain temples (basadis), donations, and monastic institutions.[6]

In 1993, M. B. Padma, a scholar of the University of Mysore, speculated that she may be same as Shila-mahadevi, the queen of the 8th century Rashtrakuta ruler Dhruva. Padma's theory is based on the facts that the suffix "Bhattarika" attached to the poet's and Jain monastic leadership name indicates her high social status, and that the queen is known to have made generous grants to scholars.[7]

Epigraphist and Sanskrit scholar - "K.V Ramesh" states that Śīlābhaṭṭārikā appears among such Jain religious figures, and the contexts in which her name and title occur align with Jain monastic usage, not with Hindu goddess traditions or secular queenship.[8]

In 2023, Shreenand L. Bapat of Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute identified Shilabhattarika as a daughter of the Chalukya ruler Pulakeshin II, based on the decipherment of an inscription. According to Bapat, her name appears in a copper-plate charter of the Chalukya king Vijayaditya, dated January-February 717 CE; she was married to Dadiga, a son of the Ganga ruler Mushkara alias Mokkara.

The 10th century poet Rajashekhara praises Shilabhattarika as a leading figure of the Panchali literary style[9] (one of the four major contemporary literary styles - the other three being Vaidharbhi, Gaudi, and Lati).[10] A verse, attributed to Rajashekhara in Vallabhadeva's 15th century anthology Subhashitavali, states that this style maintains "a balance between words and meaning". According to Rajashekhara, the Panchali style can be traced to the works of Shilabhattarika, and possibly in some of the works of the 7th century poet Bana.[9]

Shilabhattarika has been quoted by several classical Sanskrit literary critics, and her verses appear in most major Sanskrit anthologies. She is known to have written at least 46 poems on topics such as "love, morality, politics, nature, beauty, the seasons, insects, anger, indignation, codes of conduct, and the characteristic features of various kinds of heroines."[11] However, most of her works are now lost, and only six of her short poems are extant.[12]

Sharngadhara-paddhati, a 14th-century anthology, praises her and three other female poets in the following words:[11]

Shilabhattarika, Vijja, Marula, and Morika are poetesses of renown with great poetic genius and erudition. Those who have command over all branches of learning, having participated in dialogues with other scholars and having defeated them in debates, are regarded as sound scholars and experts. Consequently, they alone are venerable in the scholarly world.

— Dhanadevas, in Sharngadhara's Paddhati[11][13]


Distinction from Vijayābhaṭṭārikā (Chalukya royal lady)

Śīlābhaṭṭārikā should not be confused with Vijayābhaṭṭārikā, a Chalukya royal woman known from inscriptions as the wife of Chandrāditya, who was the brother of Pulakeśin II. Vijayābhaṭṭārikā is thus recorded as Pulakeśin II’s sister-in-law and appears exclusively in royal and dynastic contexts.[14]

Vijayābhaṭṭārikā is not recorded as the author of any Sanskrit literary works and is not described as a Jain religious authority. The shared honorific bhaṭṭārikā reflects its dual usage in early medieval India-both as a royal honorific and as a Jain ecclesiastical title-leading to later misidentifications. Modern scholarship distinguishes clearly between these two usages based on context.[15]

Literary activity

Only a small number of verses attributed to Śīlābhaṭṭārikā survive, preserved in later Sanskrit anthologies (subhāṣita collections). Despite the limited corpus, her poetry was highly regarded by later Sanskrit critics for its clarity of expression, emotional restraint, and refined diction.

Her verses are cited in classical anthologies such as:

Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa

Śārṅgadharapaddhati

She is traditionally associated with the Pañcālī (Gauḍī) rīti, a stylistic mode characterized by lucidity, balance, and controlled expression. Later Sanskrit theorists, including Rājaśekhara, cited her as an exemplar of elegant poetic composition.

Association with Jain institutions

Jain epigraphic sources from the Deccan record female religious figures titled bhaṭṭārikā as active participants in Jain institutional life, including temple supervision, ritual activity, and endowments. Scholars such as B. L. Rice and P. B. Desai have documented the presence of Digambara Jain religious women in medieval South India under this title.[16]

Within this context, Śīlābhaṭṭārikā is understood as part of the Digambara Jain religious milieu, rather than as a secular or courtly figure.

Example verses

The following short poem of Shilabhattarika is considered as one of the greatest poems ever written in the Sanskrit tradition.[17] Indian scholar Supriya Banik Pal believes that the poem expresses the speaker's anxiety to be reunited with her husband.[11] According to American author Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, the poet, possibly a middle-aged woman, implies that the illicit, pre-marital love between her and her lover was richer than their love as a married couple.[17] An interpretation by the 16-century philosopher Chaitanya suggests that the verse is a metaphor for a person's desire to be united with the "Supreme Lord - the Absolute".[18]

Who deprived me of my virginhood that same, indeed, is my bridegroom;
those same are the nights of Chaitra (spring); and those same are the luxuriant kadamba breezes, fragrant with the blooming malati flowers;
and I too, am what I was;
yet my heart longs for indulging in sports of love, there beneath the cane arbour on the banks of Narmada

— Shilabhattarika (Translation by R. C. Dwivedi[19])

The following verse expresses the speaker's longing for his wife:[20]

Thought has arisen in the heart of one separated from his beloved
– seeing this, sleep has deserted him. Who would adore a faithless one?

— Shilabhattarika (translation by Roma Chaudhari)[20])

In the following verse, a poor speaker expresses grief at not being able to provide his loved one with jewels or food:[20]

I am deeply anguished at the sight of my beloved’s bracelet bereft of jewels.
Yet now my heart breaks to see our earthen cooking vessel without any morsel of food left in it.

— Shilabhattarika[20]

The following verse, also quoted in the Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara, describes the importance of learning and engaging in discussions with scholars:[9]

The talent of the man who engages himself in studies, cultivates
exercises on writing, possesses a clear view, participates in discussions
and debates with scholars, and exchanges his views
with senior experts will blossom forth in its rich abundance like
the lotus unfolding its petals at the touch of the sun’s rays.

— Shilabhattarika[9]

References

  1. ^ Dundas, Paul, The Jains, 2nd ed., Routledge.
  2. ^ Rice, B. L., Epigraphia Carnatica, Vol. XI.
  3. ^ Desai, P. B., Jainism in South India and Some Jaina Epigraphs, 1957, pp. 167–168.
  4. ^ Ramesh, K. V., Chalukyas of Vatapi, 1984, pp. 48–52.
  5. ^ Dundas, Paul, The Jains, 2nd ed., Routledge.
  6. ^ Rice, B. L., Epigraphia Carnatica, Vol. XI.
  7. ^ M. B. Padma 1993, p. 169.
  8. ^ Ramesh, K. V., Chalukyas of Vatapi, 1984, pp. 45–55.
  9. ^ a b c d Supriya Banik Pal 2010, p. 152.
  10. ^ Supriya Banik Pal 2010, p. 159.
  11. ^ a b c d Supriya Banik Pal 2010, p. 150.
  12. ^ Andrew Schelling 2003, p. 142.
  13. ^ A. K. Warder 1994, p. 421.
  14. ^ Ramesh, K. V., Chalukyas of Vatapi, 1984, pp. 55-58.
  15. ^ Dundas, Paul, The Jains, 2nd ed., Routledge.
  16. ^ Dundas, Paul, The Jains, 2nd ed., Routledge.
  17. ^ a b Alan Deyermond 1990, p. 132.
  18. ^ Supriya Banik Pal 2010, p. 150-151.
  19. ^ R. C. Dwivedi 1977, p. 9.
  20. ^ a b c d Supriya Banik Pal 2010, p. 151.

Bibliography

  • A. K. Warder (1994). Indian Kavya Literature. Vol. 4: The ways of originality (Bana to Damodaragupta). Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0449-4.
  • Alan Deyermond (1990). "Sexual Initiation in the Woman's-Voice Court Lyric". In Keith Busby; Erik Kooper (eds.). Proceedings of the 5th triennial Congress of the International Courtly Literature Society, Dalfsen, The Netherlands, 9–16 Aug. 1986. Utrecht Publications in General and Comparative Literature. Vol. 25. Utrecht. pp. 125–158. doi:10.1075/upal.25.12dey. ISBN 90-272-2211-8.
  • Andrew Schelling (2013). "Nights of Jasmine and Thunder". Mānoa. 25 (2). University of Hawaii Press: 72–74. doi:10.1353/man.2013.0061. S2CID 145271967.
  • Andrew Schelling (2003). Wild Form, Savage Grammar: Poetry, Ecology, Asia. La Alameda. ISBN 978-1-888809-35-0.
  • M. B. Padma (1993). The Position of Women in Mediaeval Karnataka. Prasaranga, University of Mysore. OCLC 36806821.
  • Pavan K. Varma; Sandhya Mulchandani, eds. (2004). Love and lust: an anthology of erotic literature from ancient and medieval India. HarperCollins. ISBN 9788172235499.
  • R. C. Dwivedi (1977). The Poetic Light. Motilal Banarsidass.
  • Supriya Banik Pal (2010). "Some Women Writers and their Works in Classical Sanskrit Literature: A Reinterpretation". In Philip F. Williams (ed.). Asian Literary Voices: From Marginal to Mainstream. Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 978-90-8964-092-5.
  • Shreenand L. Bapat (2023). "Pune Copperplate Charter of Bādāmi Cālukya Ruler Vijayāditya, Dated January-February 717 CE, Mentioning Śīlabhaṭṭārikā, a Daughter of Pulakeśin II and Perhaps a Coveted Sanskrit Poetess". In Pramod Joglekar and Shilpa Sumant (ed.). Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Volume 101, pages 7-16. Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. ISSN 0378-1143.
  • Dundas, Paul (2002). The Jains (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0415266055.
  • Rice, B. L. (1915). Epigraphia Carnatica, Vol. XI: Kadamba–Chalukya Inscriptions. Government Press.
  • Ramesh, K. V. (1984). Chalukyas of Vatapi. Agam Kala Prakashan.
  • Desai, P. B. (1957). Jainism in South India and Some Jaina Epigraphs. Published by the author. pp. 167–168.
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