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South Asia Across the Disciplines
Extreme Poetry: The South Asian Movement of Simultaneous Narration
Beginning in the sixth century C.E. and continuing for more than a thousand years, an extraordinary poetic practice was the trademark of a major literary movement in South Asia. Authors invented a special language to depict both the apparent and hidden sides of disguised or dual characters, and then used it to narrate India's major epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata , simultaneously.
Originally produced in Sanskrit, these dual narratives eventually worked their way into regional languages, especially Telugu and Tamil, and other artistic media, such as sculpture. Scholars have long dismissed simultaneous narration as a mere curiosity, if not a sign of cultural decline in medieval India. Yet Yigal Bronner's Extreme Poetry effectively negates this position, proving that, far from being a meaningless pastime, this intricate, "bitextual" technique both transcended and reinvented Sanskrit literary expression.
The poems of simultaneous narration teased and estranged existing convention and showcased the interrelations between the tradition's foundational texts. By focusing on these achievements and their reverberations through time, Bronner rewrites the history of Sanskrit literature and its aesthetic goals. He also expands on contemporary theories of intertextuality, which have been largely confined to Western texts and practices.
Originally produced in Sanskrit, these dual narratives eventually worked their way into regional languages, especially Telugu and Tamil, and other artistic media, such as sculpture. Scholars have long dismissed simultaneous narration as a mere curiosity, if not a sign of cultural decline in medieval India. Yet Yigal Bronner's Extreme Poetry effectively negates this position, proving that, far from being a meaningless pastime, this intricate, "bitextual" technique both transcended and reinvented Sanskrit literary expression.
The poems of simultaneous narration teased and estranged existing convention and showcased the interrelations between the tradition's foundational texts. By focusing on these achievements and their reverberations through time, Bronner rewrites the history of Sanskrit literature and its aesthetic goals. He also expands on contemporary theories of intertextuality, which have been largely confined to Western texts and practices.
- GenresPoetry
376 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2010
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August 8, 2024
Scholarship.
Notes
ślesa (embrace), a term that underscores the tight coalescence of two descriptions or narratives in a single poem
Oronyms - “strings of sounds that can be carved into words in two diff erent ways.” naksatra means “planet,” but also, the negative particle na and ksatra (warrior). It can portray either the moon “who resides among the planets” or a king who does not follow the warriors’ code of conduct.
ślesa as unnatural, extravagant, decadent, torturous - influence of Romanticism in 18-19th centuries, Wordsworth/Coleridge, for whom poem is to be composed spontaneously as a result of the inspiration of a muse or nature, a plot that is simple, natural, unembellished, as opposed to slesa’s complex, ornate work. For European master narrative of Orientalism (India in decay, past its golden age, needing Western values), Kalidasa was natural, simple, humane whereas everything afterwards (majority of Sanskrit corpus) indicative of India’s putrefaction.
Subandhu creates new literary form by reworking katha literature (talking parrots, magic horses, heavenly voices) into kavya, Vāsavadattā, reworking tale of Usa (dawn) and Aniruddha during war of Bana and Krishna - concept of shared-dreams, original is decoded by sketch, but Subandhu substitutes with poem, certain type of poetic language closer to emotional landscape of the dream.
Onomatopoeic sounds reverberate with similar-sounding nouns/adjectives. Kulāyârthi- paraspara- kalaha- vikala- kalavi]ka- kula- kalakala- vācāla-śikharesu - [tree]tops were vociferous (vācāla) with the chirrup (kalakala) of the flock (kula) of linnets (kala- vi]ka), unsettled (vikala) by their tussle (kalaha) with one another (paraspara), en route to their nests (kulāyârthi)
northerners favor ślesa, westerners care only about the meaning, utpreksā (poetic fancy) is a specialty of the south, and Bengalis in the east cherish sound patterns. Resembling his patron and hero Harsa, who controlled all quarters of the subcontinent, Bāna insinuates that he has
not just one regional style at his command
Nitivarman’s Kicakavadha (Pandavas in disguise at Virata’s court, killing of Kicaka, exposure and war) - follows twinning (yamaka) as default poetic mode, switches to slesa when the disguised heroes talk to each other.
Slesa’s public register for Draupadi entreating Virata to defend her against Kicaka, and private register chastising her disguised husbands for having stood by once and now again.
pārātmya, or “a selfhood bound up with the other,” and tādātmya, “in which the subject
coalesces with his or her self or selves in whole or in part.”
Task of emissaries is not to deliver a message but to gauge the intentions of the enemy by presenting two alternatives, one conciliatory one hostile in a single message. Sisupala’s messenger to Krishna both commends and insults him.
Śrīharsa’s Naisadhacarita (Nala). Sarasvati adds verbal slesa puzzle to visual puzzle for Damayanti (has to choose human Nala while Indra, Yama, Agni, Varuna are all disguised as him) to describe the gods and make it easy to separate human Nala by solving the slesa. General slesa experiment of equating king with god (guardian of the four cardinal directions).
Dandin’s Kāvyādarśa first to recognize a category of ślesa defined by the resegmentability of a phonetic string - udāramahimārāma can be immensely majestic Rama or Yuddhishtira the garden (ārāma) of immense majesty.
Sanskrit epics celebrate heroism. Jain heroes embody ahimsa and renunciation. So center stage is Krsna and Jarasandha, with Balarama being the moral paragon (like Jain Ramayana - Paümacariya - has Lakshmana killing Ravana while Ram does not kill). Jain Pantheon has 63 Eminent Persons (śalākāpurusas) within whose framework history is reconceptualized. These 63 are 12 chakravartins (perfect rulers), 24 tirthankaras who found the path to liberation and now teach it, and 27 heroes. All Jain puranas have a hero triad, one of each of 3 major subtypes (Baladeva ahimsa/renunciation, Vāsudeva protective hero king who is reborn once for sin of killing, Prativāsudeva antagonist, gets killed by Vasudeva and reborn in hell)
Dhananjaya’s Dvisandhānakāvya (poem of two targets - 18 canto conarration of Ramayana and Mahabharata) appeals to both Sanskrit and Jain audience.
Ripple-effect trope called ullekha (Moment of revelation is instantly experienced by self and surrounding universe).
In 1000’s, topic of bitextuality goes beyond Ram vs Yudhishtira - Vidyāmādhava’s Pārvatrukminya (c. 1200) (Shiva Parvati vs Krsna Rukmini), Sandhyākaranandin’s Rāmacaritam (c. 1100) Ram with Bengali king Ramapala.
Jain writer Hemacandra (c. 1150), Saptasandhānakāvya (Poem of Seven Targets) told of Rāma, Yudhisthira, and five Jain saints concurrently.
Rāghavapāndavya of Śrutakīrti Traividya (c. 1100), each verse a palindrome in addition to being ślesa. known as gatapratyāgata, it is different from viloma, where one story is understood when the verse is read in the normal direction, from left to right, and another when it is read backward, right to left.
Lexicographic boom in 1100s, popular lexicons of homonyms (anekārthakosas). Specialized lists of monosyllabic homonyms (ekāksarakosas), words with alternate spellings (dvirūpakosas), lengthy manuals on slesa Kāvyakalpalatā by Arasimha with rules, metrics, crafting, and enormous lists of puns and re-segmentable passages.
Rudrata’s prerequisites for slesa poets - perfect command of grammar, read full corpus of poetic practice, learned vernacular languages, master all the varieties of wordbooks.
in the fi rst half of the second millennium, when South Asia was being thoroughly vernacularized, bitextuality flourished in Sanskrit alone. Later, eventually, Telugu.
Hanumān prepares to leap over the ocean en route to Lankā. With its surging waves, sharks, the sea is compared with an unassailable, hostile army. In the simultaneous Mahābhārata register, Arjuna is facing Duryodhana’s massive forces before the Virāta war can begin. In this register the army, with its endless troops and weaponry, is compared with an impassable ocean
Kavirāja’s Rāghavapāndavya’s Dasaratha/Pandu as paradigmatic kings, hunting expedition, tragedy, curse. Surpanakha/Urvasi infatuation (an imbalanced union of man and woman is how Death makes his living). Surpanakha’s revenge brings R into contact with Ravana, Urvasi’s curse helps Arjuna in exile as a eunuch. Sita abduction by Ravana vs Draupadi by Jayadrata (protagonists in exile, away hunting) (In original Mahabharata, Yudhishtira asks is there any man more unfortunate than I, and Vyasa responds with synopsis of Ramayana). Kishkinda and Virata. Vali killed for offending brother’s wife, Kicaka for offending Draupadi. Dead by subterfuge (Rama shoots Vali from behind, Bhima disguises himself as a woman), but Kaviraja fixes these to be heroic and honorable.
Ānandavardhana (c.850) characterizes poetry as dominated by a single aestheticized emotion (rasa) - Ramayana karunarasa (compassion) and Mahabharata santarasa (serenity). M as itihasa (opus primum of world history). R as poetics of perfection (ideal story of ideal man). Sheldon Pollock sees R as a response to moral dilemmas of M (no violence among family)
Older layer of Ramayana has Dasaratha directly promising kingship to Kaikeyi’s son in order to seal the marriage in the first place, like with Mahabharata. Embellished later with story of nonspecific boon to Kaikeyi.
Structure of Virataparva with R’s Sundarakanda - abuse of heroine, redemptive revelation of initially submissive male associate, immediate violence and foreshadow of cataclysmic war by idealized fantasy version (Arjuna single-handedly defeats army, Hanuman single-handedly sets Lanka on fire). Both parts were considered openers, or sufficient when recited independently.
Evolving isomorphism of R and M: Arjuna fights in Virataparva under banner of monkey which actively participates by roaring and is even hurt.
Kaviraja makes R the Primal Poem (adikavya), Ganges (used to purify the world); M is the vast ocean (repository of wide variety of materials, with hidden gems). He is Bhagiratha, who knows how to join Ganges with Ocean.
Ratnākara’s ninthcentury Vakroktipañcāśikā (Fifty Verbal Perversions), Parvati wants to break up with Siva who deflects by purposely misconstruing
Dosas (faults) of slesa - failing to get one’s meaning through (nihatārtha), the fault of expressing an inadvertent meaning (viruddhamatikrt), the fault of a highly inappropriate meaning (anucitārtha), and obscenity (aślla).
Virtuosity, then, can be said to lie in the combination of kāvya’s three necessary conditions or factors (hetus) in Mammata’s classical defi nition: talent (śakti), cultivation (vyutpatti), and practice (abhyāsa)
The bitextual poet, as Kavirāja put it, is the pearl diver and the master jeweler combined. He delves into the deep narrative seas of the epics, avoids turbulent waters and less- than- perfect sediments, and selects only matching pearls. Th en he strings these together on a single necklace in a manner that allows each narrative gem to illuminate the other
Notes
ślesa (embrace), a term that underscores the tight coalescence of two descriptions or narratives in a single poem
Oronyms - “strings of sounds that can be carved into words in two diff erent ways.” naksatra means “planet,” but also, the negative particle na and ksatra (warrior). It can portray either the moon “who resides among the planets” or a king who does not follow the warriors’ code of conduct.
ślesa as unnatural, extravagant, decadent, torturous - influence of Romanticism in 18-19th centuries, Wordsworth/Coleridge, for whom poem is to be composed spontaneously as a result of the inspiration of a muse or nature, a plot that is simple, natural, unembellished, as opposed to slesa’s complex, ornate work. For European master narrative of Orientalism (India in decay, past its golden age, needing Western values), Kalidasa was natural, simple, humane whereas everything afterwards (majority of Sanskrit corpus) indicative of India’s putrefaction.
Subandhu creates new literary form by reworking katha literature (talking parrots, magic horses, heavenly voices) into kavya, Vāsavadattā, reworking tale of Usa (dawn) and Aniruddha during war of Bana and Krishna - concept of shared-dreams, original is decoded by sketch, but Subandhu substitutes with poem, certain type of poetic language closer to emotional landscape of the dream.
Onomatopoeic sounds reverberate with similar-sounding nouns/adjectives. Kulāyârthi- paraspara- kalaha- vikala- kalavi]ka- kula- kalakala- vācāla-śikharesu - [tree]tops were vociferous (vācāla) with the chirrup (kalakala) of the flock (kula) of linnets (kala- vi]ka), unsettled (vikala) by their tussle (kalaha) with one another (paraspara), en route to their nests (kulāyârthi)
northerners favor ślesa, westerners care only about the meaning, utpreksā (poetic fancy) is a specialty of the south, and Bengalis in the east cherish sound patterns. Resembling his patron and hero Harsa, who controlled all quarters of the subcontinent, Bāna insinuates that he has
not just one regional style at his command
Nitivarman’s Kicakavadha (Pandavas in disguise at Virata’s court, killing of Kicaka, exposure and war) - follows twinning (yamaka) as default poetic mode, switches to slesa when the disguised heroes talk to each other.
Slesa’s public register for Draupadi entreating Virata to defend her against Kicaka, and private register chastising her disguised husbands for having stood by once and now again.
pārātmya, or “a selfhood bound up with the other,” and tādātmya, “in which the subject
coalesces with his or her self or selves in whole or in part.”
Task of emissaries is not to deliver a message but to gauge the intentions of the enemy by presenting two alternatives, one conciliatory one hostile in a single message. Sisupala’s messenger to Krishna both commends and insults him.
Śrīharsa’s Naisadhacarita (Nala). Sarasvati adds verbal slesa puzzle to visual puzzle for Damayanti (has to choose human Nala while Indra, Yama, Agni, Varuna are all disguised as him) to describe the gods and make it easy to separate human Nala by solving the slesa. General slesa experiment of equating king with god (guardian of the four cardinal directions).
Dandin’s Kāvyādarśa first to recognize a category of ślesa defined by the resegmentability of a phonetic string - udāramahimārāma can be immensely majestic Rama or Yuddhishtira the garden (ārāma) of immense majesty.
Sanskrit epics celebrate heroism. Jain heroes embody ahimsa and renunciation. So center stage is Krsna and Jarasandha, with Balarama being the moral paragon (like Jain Ramayana - Paümacariya - has Lakshmana killing Ravana while Ram does not kill). Jain Pantheon has 63 Eminent Persons (śalākāpurusas) within whose framework history is reconceptualized. These 63 are 12 chakravartins (perfect rulers), 24 tirthankaras who found the path to liberation and now teach it, and 27 heroes. All Jain puranas have a hero triad, one of each of 3 major subtypes (Baladeva ahimsa/renunciation, Vāsudeva protective hero king who is reborn once for sin of killing, Prativāsudeva antagonist, gets killed by Vasudeva and reborn in hell)
Dhananjaya’s Dvisandhānakāvya (poem of two targets - 18 canto conarration of Ramayana and Mahabharata) appeals to both Sanskrit and Jain audience.
Ripple-effect trope called ullekha (Moment of revelation is instantly experienced by self and surrounding universe).
In 1000’s, topic of bitextuality goes beyond Ram vs Yudhishtira - Vidyāmādhava’s Pārvatrukminya (c. 1200) (Shiva Parvati vs Krsna Rukmini), Sandhyākaranandin’s Rāmacaritam (c. 1100) Ram with Bengali king Ramapala.
Jain writer Hemacandra (c. 1150), Saptasandhānakāvya (Poem of Seven Targets) told of Rāma, Yudhisthira, and five Jain saints concurrently.
Rāghavapāndavya of Śrutakīrti Traividya (c. 1100), each verse a palindrome in addition to being ślesa. known as gatapratyāgata, it is different from viloma, where one story is understood when the verse is read in the normal direction, from left to right, and another when it is read backward, right to left.
Lexicographic boom in 1100s, popular lexicons of homonyms (anekārthakosas). Specialized lists of monosyllabic homonyms (ekāksarakosas), words with alternate spellings (dvirūpakosas), lengthy manuals on slesa Kāvyakalpalatā by Arasimha with rules, metrics, crafting, and enormous lists of puns and re-segmentable passages.
Rudrata’s prerequisites for slesa poets - perfect command of grammar, read full corpus of poetic practice, learned vernacular languages, master all the varieties of wordbooks.
in the fi rst half of the second millennium, when South Asia was being thoroughly vernacularized, bitextuality flourished in Sanskrit alone. Later, eventually, Telugu.
Hanumān prepares to leap over the ocean en route to Lankā. With its surging waves, sharks, the sea is compared with an unassailable, hostile army. In the simultaneous Mahābhārata register, Arjuna is facing Duryodhana’s massive forces before the Virāta war can begin. In this register the army, with its endless troops and weaponry, is compared with an impassable ocean
Kavirāja’s Rāghavapāndavya’s Dasaratha/Pandu as paradigmatic kings, hunting expedition, tragedy, curse. Surpanakha/Urvasi infatuation (an imbalanced union of man and woman is how Death makes his living). Surpanakha’s revenge brings R into contact with Ravana, Urvasi’s curse helps Arjuna in exile as a eunuch. Sita abduction by Ravana vs Draupadi by Jayadrata (protagonists in exile, away hunting) (In original Mahabharata, Yudhishtira asks is there any man more unfortunate than I, and Vyasa responds with synopsis of Ramayana). Kishkinda and Virata. Vali killed for offending brother’s wife, Kicaka for offending Draupadi. Dead by subterfuge (Rama shoots Vali from behind, Bhima disguises himself as a woman), but Kaviraja fixes these to be heroic and honorable.
Ānandavardhana (c.850) characterizes poetry as dominated by a single aestheticized emotion (rasa) - Ramayana karunarasa (compassion) and Mahabharata santarasa (serenity). M as itihasa (opus primum of world history). R as poetics of perfection (ideal story of ideal man). Sheldon Pollock sees R as a response to moral dilemmas of M (no violence among family)
Older layer of Ramayana has Dasaratha directly promising kingship to Kaikeyi’s son in order to seal the marriage in the first place, like with Mahabharata. Embellished later with story of nonspecific boon to Kaikeyi.
Structure of Virataparva with R’s Sundarakanda - abuse of heroine, redemptive revelation of initially submissive male associate, immediate violence and foreshadow of cataclysmic war by idealized fantasy version (Arjuna single-handedly defeats army, Hanuman single-handedly sets Lanka on fire). Both parts were considered openers, or sufficient when recited independently.
Evolving isomorphism of R and M: Arjuna fights in Virataparva under banner of monkey which actively participates by roaring and is even hurt.
Kaviraja makes R the Primal Poem (adikavya), Ganges (used to purify the world); M is the vast ocean (repository of wide variety of materials, with hidden gems). He is Bhagiratha, who knows how to join Ganges with Ocean.
Ratnākara’s ninthcentury Vakroktipañcāśikā (Fifty Verbal Perversions), Parvati wants to break up with Siva who deflects by purposely misconstruing
Dosas (faults) of slesa - failing to get one’s meaning through (nihatārtha), the fault of expressing an inadvertent meaning (viruddhamatikrt), the fault of a highly inappropriate meaning (anucitārtha), and obscenity (aślla).
Virtuosity, then, can be said to lie in the combination of kāvya’s three necessary conditions or factors (hetus) in Mammata’s classical defi nition: talent (śakti), cultivation (vyutpatti), and practice (abhyāsa)
The bitextual poet, as Kavirāja put it, is the pearl diver and the master jeweler combined. He delves into the deep narrative seas of the epics, avoids turbulent waters and less- than- perfect sediments, and selects only matching pearls. Th en he strings these together on a single necklace in a manner that allows each narrative gem to illuminate the other
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