श्रीकविकर्णेर पाला (कलामूलशास्त्र ग्रन्थमाला)- Palas of Srikavikarna (Set of 4 Volumes)

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Sri Kavi Karner Pālā (Pālās of Śrī Kavi Karna) composed by Sri Kavi Karna, appearing in four volumes under Kalamulasastra series of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts as 4, 5, 6 and 7, of the series sing the glory of Satya nārāyaṇa.

Composed in Bengali in the late 17th century, recitation of Kavi Karna's Solo Pala or sixteen musical compositions narrating the glory of Satyanarayana, is widely prevelent in contemporary Orissa. Satyanarayana puja and recitation of Vrata Katha, along with partaking sirini-a typical Muslim Prasada, offered to Satyapir, who is identified with Satyanarayana in the Pālās, are considered well integrated a ceremony by the Hindus all over India. The Vrata Kathas, found in all the Indian languages, along with the Palas of Kavi Karna, have their origin in the 'Reva Khanda' of Skanda Purana. But the word Satyapir is found in no other Vrata Katha except in the Palas of Kavi Karna. In the introduction of a Muslim Fakir in all his Pālās and distribution of sirini as prasada, Kavi Karna makes a commendable attempt at cultural synthesis on a religious and ritual planes-a valuable contribution to national integration. The particular sequence of the sixteen Pálás, as Kavi Karna wished to maintain, has been followed in this work.

Dr. Bishnupada Panda, a distinguished scholar of both Oriya and Bengali, was educated at the University of Calcutta and obtained his Ph.D. and D.Litt. degrees from that University. Author of about 28 books and 150 research papers, he was on the faculty of the Regional College of Education, Bhubaneswar. In recognition of the excellent work done by him on manuscripts in the Orissa State Museum, he was selected for the University Grants Commission's Higher Research Award, to enable him continue his researches. He has translated a number of Oriya poems and short stories into Bengali and English. Recipient of the Sarojini Basu Medal of the University of Cal cutta, Dr. Panda belongs to that generation of scholars in India, who being conversant with several Indian languages, were able to handle most competently primary source materials.

Kavi Karna-pseudonym of the talented Oriya poet of the 17th Century and a prolific writer in Bengali, is considered the author of the sixteen Palas Solo Pala-all singing the glory of Satyanarayana. The Satyanarayana Katha and Satyanarayana Puja, known practically to every Hindu-household has so far been considered as popular literature, what may be called the living tradition. A deeper probe into this living tradition of Satyanarayana Katha and Satyanarayana Pújá has revealed that there is sizeable body of literature in many libraries of India where Satyanarayana Katha, Puja and Vrata are mentioned in detail. A perusal of the manuscripts in different parts of India available in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and other languages, shows that there are many vital links between the written textual material and popular performance of it as part of life-style.

Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, committed to identifying texts and traditions which are Pan-Indian or pervasive, was fortunate in persuading Dr. Bishnupada Panda-an eminent scholar, to examine, collate, edit and translate the Palas of Kavi Karna found in the manuscript collection of Orissa State Museum, Bhubaneswar.

Although the Satyanarayana Vratakatha is found in the Reva-Khanda of the Skanda Purana (Vangavasi edition), both M.M. Hara Prasad Shastri and editors of the Venkateswara Press decided not to include this portion in their presentation of the Skanda Purana text. For M.M. Hara Prasad Shastri held the view that the Satyanarayana Katha was of Muslim origin and was called Satyapir Puja. The Oriya version of Satyanarayana Katha as found in the Sixteen Palas of Kavi Karna is in fact the story of Satyapir who is consciously identified with Satyanarayana by Kavi Karna. The Prasada is sirini in this version. Thus it is evident that at some time in history, there was a confluence of some aspects of either the Sufis or the mendicant traditions of the Fakir which probably can be traced back to the Nathapanthis. As a result, the community presentation of the Vratakatha is an integral whole where, in course of the presentation of the different episodes, it is necessary to introduce the character of a Fakir.

Besides invaluable anthropological and archaeological collections, the Orissa State Museum (OSM) at Bhubaneswar has built up a very interesting store of palm-leaf manuscripts (MSS). By now, it has collected about fifty-five thousand MSS and divided them into twenty-six categories subjectwise. Every math or monastery, almost every old temple, many literary associations and interested individuals have their own collection of MSS. The Universities of this State and the OSM are new entrants into this field. Orissa attained the status of a separate State only in 1936. Considering the span of time the OSM could have built up its collection of MSS, the figure is encouraging and more encouraging is the fact that every year the OSM is adding to its collection through purchase and voluntary presentation of MSS.

The OSM had collected more than five hundred MSS which were listed as Bengali in its printed catalogue. During the late sixties, went to the OSM. MSS Ι Section to glance through its catalogue. I found that there were about two hundred MSS which are the copies of Bengali Ramayana by Krttibas, Mahabharata by Kasiram Das, Caitanya-caritamṛta by Kṛṣṇadas Kaviraj and some such medieval classics. Copies of some famous Mangal kavyas of Bengali literature, which the OSM had collected could also be traced out from the catalogue.

But to me, more interesting were three hundred and odd MSS, the titles and authors of which were unknown to me. Names along with their titles of a number of authors clearly indicated that they all belonged to Orissa and it could also be found out that they have Oriya works to their credit.

It was known to all that a couple of Oriya poets did compose lyrics in Bengali or Brajabuli during the 16th and the 17th centuries under the influence of Sri Caitanya. Their lyrics have already found a place in anthologies commonly known as Vaisnava padavali in Bengali. But the collection I chanced upon, was absolutely an unknown thing. It comprised long and short narrative poems, lyrics, some päläs or Ballads. A new horizon was opened up before me with its multifaceted significance. I found out that scores of Orissan poets did contribute substantially to medieval Bengali literature between 16th and 18th centuries. Since none of them had formal education in Bengali, they could not use Bengali script but used Oriya instead. This was nothing surprising as MSS of Bengali language have already been found at least in six different scripts, including Urdu.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages