Charyapada

The Charyapada is a collection of mystical poems and songs of realization in the Vajrayāna tradition of Buddhism from the tāntric tradition in Assam, Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. It was compiled between the 8th and 12th centuries in late Apabhraṃśa or various Abahaṭ‌ṭha dialects, showing the early stages of the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages.

Scholars of many eastern Indo-Aryan languages, such as Assamese, Bengali, Maithili, and Odia, find features of these languages in the language of this work. A palm-leaf manuscript of the Charyāpada was rediscovered in the early 20th century by Haraprasād Shāstrī at the Nepal Royal Court Library. The Charyāpada was also preserved in the Tibetan Buddhist canon.

Manuscripts

The original manuscript of the Charyapada, written on palm leaves, has 47 verses and a Sanskrit explanation. It was edited by Haraprashad Shastri and published in 1916. Today, it is kept at the National Archives of Nepal. Later, a different version with 50 verses was found and shared by Prabodhchandra Bagchi. This version is a Tibetan translation, and tradition says it was done by Vairocanavajra, a Buddhist teacher from the 12th century.

The Tibetan translation gave more details. It said that the Sanskrit explanation was written by someone named Munidatta. It also said the original text was translated by Shilachari, and the explanation was translated by either Chandrakirti or Kirtichandra.

Poets

Main page: Category:Poets of Charyapada

The poems in the Charyapada were written by 22 special poets called Mahasiddhas, who lived between 750 and 1150 CE. Each poem usually starts with the name of the poet who wrote it. Sadly, some parts of the old books containing these poems are missing. However, we do have a translation of 50 poems from a different collection, which includes some of the missing ones.

The poets' names and the music style for each poem are mentioned before the poems. These names were likely added by a commentator named Munidatta.

Period

Haraprasad Shastri, who found the Charyapada again, thought it was written in the 10th century. But Suniti Kumar Chatterji believed it was made between the 10th and 12th centuries. Sukumar Sen agreed but also said it might have been written between the 11th and 14th centuries. Muhammad Shahidullah thought it could be even older, maybe between the 7th and 11th centuries. Rahul Sankrityayan guessed it was probably written between the 8th and 11th centuries.

Language

Haraprasad Shastri, in his introduction to the Charyacharya-vinishchaya, described the mysterious language of its verses as "twilight language" based on old Sanskrit commentaries.

The poems were written by poets from different places, so their language shows connections to various regional dialects. Scholars have found similarities between the language of the Charyapada and the languages of Assamese, Bengali, Maithili, and Odia.

Affinities with Assamese

Luipa was from Kamarupa and wrote two charyas. Sarahapa was from Rani, near today’s Guwahati. Some features link the Charyapada to Assamese, like certain word orders and endings used in old Assamese.

Affinities with Bengali

Many poets of the Charyapada were from Bengal. The language shows links to Bengali language in word endings, verb forms, and vocabulary.

Affinities with Bihari languages

Scholars have noticed links between the Charyapada and Bihari languages like Maithili and Magahi. Some historians think the poems are an early form of these languages.

Affinities with Odia

The start of Odia poetry happened around the same time as the Charyapada poems were written.

Rāga

Before each song in the Charyapada, a special music style called a Rāga is listed to guide how the song should be sung. The complete list of these Rāgas used in the Charyapada is shown below.

Some of these Rāgas are no longer used today, but others might be different names for Rāgas that are popular now.