JADABHARATA CHARITAM

JADABHARATA CHARITAM

Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri (1559-1632) was the celebrated author of Narayaneeyam, a devotional composition in Sanskrit verse which is a masterly summary of the main episodes in Srimad Bhagavatam. He was a scholar in the Sanskrit Language and its grammar on which he wrote his masterpiece Prakriya-sarvaswam which sets forth an axiomatic system elaborating on the classical system of Panini the grammarian.

Narayana Bhattathiri was born in a Namboodiri family of Kerala. He was a disciple of Achyuta Pisharati from whom he studied Sanskrit grammar. As a student he also studied the Rig Veda and Tarka Sastra (the science of logical reasoning and argument).

Bhattathiri was struck with paralysis when he was still young. The disease was painful and Ezhuthachan the author of Adhyatma Ramayana in Malayalam who was also a devotee of Lord Krishna of Guruvayoor advised Bhattathiri “meen thottu koottuka” in Malayalam which meant ‘take fish as food’ or ‘start counting from fish’. It was obvious that the erudite Ezhuthachan would not have advised Bhattathiri, a Nambooiri brahmin, to eat fish since Namboodiri brahmins are staunch vegetarians. The intelligent Bhattathiri figured out that the meaning of ‘start counting from fish’ was that he should start recounting the incarnations of the Lord from the matsyavatara (incarnation as fish) onwards, the sequence being matsya (fish), Kurma (tortoise), Varaha(Boar), Nrusimha (half-man and half-lion), Vamana who asked for two feet of land from Mahabali and measured the three worlds in two steps as trivikrama, Parasurama, Srirama, Balarama, Krishna and Kalki (the incarnation yet to come).

Bhattathiri took the advise and wrote his Magnum Opus based on Srimad Bhagavatam which chronicles the many incarnations of Mahavishnu and expounds the highest philosophy of the Hindus embodied in the Upanishads. He dedicated his work to Lord Krishna, fondly called by devotees as Guruvayoorappan, at the temple at Guruvayoor in Kerala. The work consists of 100 dasakas each containing 10 verses. However, a few dasakas contain more than ten verses so that the total number of slokas is not 1000 but 1034.

Legend has it that Bhattathiri composed one dasaka a day in the presence of the Lord and recited it before Him for His approval and the Lord did nod his head in agreement. The composition is directly addressed to the Lord telling him His own exploits and leelas. The refrain in the last sloka of every dasaka is a prayer to the Lord of Guruvayoor to remove his (Bhattathiri’s) ailments and sufferings.

The late Brahmasri Anantarama Dikshitar, the celebrated exponent of our Vedas, Epics and Puranas used to quote profusely from Narayaneeyam during his discourses on Srimad Bhagavatam. He was instrumental in popularising Narayaneeyam outside Kerala. He is considered by many as the reincarnation of Narayana Bhattathiri. The omission from Narayaneeyam of the important episode of King Bharata, described in chapters seven to fourteen in the fifth Canto (skandha)of Srimad Bhagavata, perturbed him. Being himself a scholar in Sanskrit and author of several stotras in that Language he wrote the episode in three daskas to fill the gap. He adopted the same style of narrative directly addressing the Lord and ending each dasaka with a prayer for healing the illness of the author.

The story of Bharata from whom India got the name Bhaarata, as told by Brahmasri Anantarama Dikshitar in Sanskrit verse, is reproduced below with an English translation.

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