Yadav Dynasty – Founders of Marathi Culture

Anjali Malkar  

anjali.malkar@gmail.com

 The medieval period of India witnessed great changes in political arena. The advent of Turks, Arabs, Syrians, and Zoroastrians blemished the stability of the subcontinent. The weakened kingdoms felt prey to the foreign invasions and the feudatories revolted against the king declaring independent state for themselves. The Ghori’s, Ghazini’s and Ghulam dynasties took full opportunity of the commotion and ruled the north part of India till 10th century. The khilji’s took over Delhi in medieval period and started expanding towards west and south. Though South India faced fewer invasions, the Hoysalas, Kakatakiyas, Cholas and Western Chalukyas battled amongst themselves for acquiring the kingdoms. In such political turmoil, the feudatory of Western Chalukya, Bhillam V took over the Chalukya capital Kalyani in1190 C.E and laid down the foundation of Yadav dynasty. He shifted his capital to Devgiri (now Daulatabad) in Maharashtra.

       According to the references in the literature of 13th century, Yadavas claimed themselves as the descendants of Lord Krishna. They were called as Dwarvatipuravaradhishvaras(masters of Dvaravati or Dwarka).Hemadri,( one of the chief ministers of Raja Ramchandra Yadav ) called them Krishnakulotpanna. But the historical evidences trace the lineage of the Yadavas till 9th century, when Dridhprahar, son of Subahu ruled the upper part of Maharashtra. Son of Dridhprahar, Seunchandra, set up a new capital’ Seunpur’ and ruled the region called Seunadesh (present day- Khandesh).The Seuna Yadavas were feudatory of western chalukyas  till 1173 C.E, when BhillamV declared himself as the king and made Devgiri his capital.

      The kingdom of Yadav dynasty stretched from the Tungabhadra to the Narmada Rivers including present day Maharashtra, North Karnataka, and parts of Madhya Pradesh. The Kings of this dynasty, BhillamV, Jaitugi I, Singhana II, Kannara, Mahadeva, Amana, and Ramchandra were very powerful, who patronized Marathi culture and developed Maharashtra’s social life.

[The lineage of the Yadavas as Feudatory of Western Chalukyas of Kalyani and independent kingdoms given in the box]

        Languages like Sanskrit and Marathi were patronized by the kings of Yadav dynasty. Many scholars believe that Kannada was also one of the court languages, but the majority of the literature was written in Marathi and Sanskrit. Viveksindhu and Paramamrita of Mukundraj in the period of Jaitugi or Jaitrapal has been the earliest works in Marathi followed by Leelacharita by Mhaimbhat in 1238 C.E. A commentary on the Bhagvad Geeta written in Marathi as ‘Bhavarthdeepika’ by saint poet Dnyaneshwar boasted the sweetness of Marathi. He proudly said,

माझा मर्हाटाची बोलु कवतिके

परि अमृताते पैजा जिंके

ऐसी अक्षरे रसिके मेळवीन .II

      The Abhangas and the Oovis of saints like Dnyaneshwar, Namdeo, Janabai, in Marathi stirred the society and gave momentum to varkari cult. Chakradhar Swami also propagated the Mahanubav cult, using Marathi as the medium for his religious teachings. Chief Minister (Shrikaranadhipa) of Raja Ramdevrai Yadav, Hemadri invented Modi script.

         In Kannada, Kamalbhava wrote Santhishwarapurana, Kavi Achanna composed Vardhamanapurana, Amugideva composed Vachanaas and Chaundarasa wrote Dashkumara Charite.

       The Sanskrit literary works created in Yadav dynasty in different streams of knowledge were phenomenal. They became the lighthouses for the other sojourners for years to come. ‘Sidhhant Shiromani’, ‘Karnakautuhal’ by Bhaskaracharya on mathematics and astronomy, ‘Chaturvarga Chintamani’ by Hemadri, Suktimuktavali by Jalhana, Hammiramadhana by Jayasimha Suri, Aparaki’s  commentary on Yadnyavalkya Smruti, and Bodhdeva’s ‘Muktaphal’ contributed in enriching the cultural arena of Maharashtra. The Yadavas built up a Marathi face of Maharashtra. Their reign can be called as dawn of Marathi culture.

      Similar to literature, genres of other knowledge also bloomed to its fullest.. The concept of Zero (Kha or Sunya) introduced by Bhaskarachrya in the chapter’ Lilavati’, in ‘Sidhhant Shiromani’ is considered as a milestone in the field of Mathematics. The shloka says

खयोगे वियोगे धनर्णं तथैव

च्युतं शून्यस्तद्विपर्यासमेति I

वधादौ वियत् खस्य खं खेन घाते

खहारो भवेत् खेनभक्तश्च राशिः II

अस्मिन विकारः खहरे न राशावपि 

प्रविष्टेश्वेपि निःसृतेषु I

बहुश्वपि स्यल्लय सृष्टि काले Sनन्तेSच्युते

भूतगणेषु यद्वत I I

      This means Zero added to a quantity or substracted from a quantity does not change the number. Any quantity multiplied by zero, or zero multiplied by any quantity would furnish the product zero. But any quantity divided by zero (Kha) would become Khahara(infinite). Anything added to Khahara (infinite) or subtracted from Khahara would not cause a material difference in it.

       The structural design of Hemadpanthi temples was one of the major accomplishments in the field of architecture. Hemadri, the inventor of this method mounted slabs of stone on each other without any mortar. The slabs were locked in such a manner that even today we can marvel at its beautys practiced  were appreciated, and noted down by many foreign travelers like Ibn Batuta. There has been a detail description of Rangavalis in Mhaimbhat’s Leelacharitra. The structural design of Hemadpanthi temples was one of the major accomplishments in the field of architecture. Hemadri, the inventor of this method mounted slabs of stone on each other without any mortar. The slabs were locked in such a manner that even today we can marvel at its beauty

        In fine arts, music was one of the major art forms practiced in Yadav dynasty. A vivid description of musical scenario in the capital of Raja Ramdevrai Yadav by a foreign traveler Ibn Batuta supports the statement. He notes

      “In the midst of the market place would be a shamiyana decorated with valuable carpets. Every Thursday the main singer would come with its troupe and would perform a musical piece. From late afternoon till dusk many female singers would come and present their art the learned scholars. The king also visited the show frequently and enjoyed it. At that time the main artist would perform before the king”.

      All the Yadav Kings not only patronage music by donating lands to the artists, arranging discussions on music in court and honoring scholars, but brought the art to their homes. According to one of the in scripts, ‘Kanho’, the son of Purushottam and grandson of Raja Singhanrai were called ‘Sangeet Gunanidhi’ .Jethai, the princess of Raja Ramdevrai was a great Veena player. One can find the evidence in the book ‘Chitaivarta’. Raja Harpal, the son in law of Raja Ramdevrai was a famous musicologist. His book ‘Sangeet Sudhakar’ gives the first evidence of emergence of two musical streams in Indian music i.e. Carnatic and Hindustani. It quotes

       तदापि,द्विविधं ज्ञेयं दक्षिणोत्तर भेदतः I

       कर्णाटकं दक्षिणेस्याधिंदुस्तानि यथोत्तरे I I

      The musical terminologies and musical descriptions in’ Rukmini Swayamvar’ composed by Kavi Narendra, the court poet of Raja Ramdevrai showed the elevation of art to a very high dignity. The deep appreciation of music in the society and the royal protection given by Yadav kings produced two gems that changed the path of Indian music. Their works turned as milestones in the history of Indian music. They were Nissanka Sharangdev, the author of ‘Sangeet Ratnakar’ and Gopal Nayak, the great musician and scholar of Prabandh gayaki.

       The ancestors of Sharangdev came down to Devgiri from Kashmir during the period of King Jaitugi Yadav. The prosperity in Devgiri and the patronage of the king for arts suited them. They settled down in capital Devgiri. Sharangdev grew up amongst the scholarly and musical environment his father Sodhal and grandfather Bhaskar inherited from their ancestors. Sharangdev grew up as a multifaceted personality having excellence in streams of knowledge like Ayurveda, Mathematics, philosophy, Literature and most of all Music. He worked as a treasurer officer (Karnadhipati) in the court of Raja Singhanrai II. ‘Sodhalputra Sharangdev’ as he called himself had studied great musicologists of past like Bharat, Matanga, Abhinavgupta, Someshwar, Narad and Nanyadev. He was also well versed with the musical forms, styles, and ragas prevalent during and before his regime. He compiled them, naming ‘Purva raag ‘and ‘Adhuna Prassidha raag’ in his treatise ‘Sangeet Ratnakar(1247 C.E). The book describes number of Prabandhas (prevalent music forms) categorizing them into ‘Sud’, ‘Aali’ and ‘Viprakirna’ Prabandh. The Taal and the Nartanadhyay in the treatise reveals the prevalent Vaadan and Nritya systems. The criticisms written on Sangeet Ratnakar by Kallinath and Singhbhupal showed its importance and popularity. The book has been a reference material for all the musicologists in India.

      The second outstanding personality in music in the Yadav period was Gopal Nayak. He was the court musician in Raja Ramdevrai’s court in 13th century C.E. A musician of Prabandh gayaki of highest order mesmerized all the living beings. The myth of attracting the deer’s while he sang very well expresses his musical genius. He was later taken away by Allauddin Khilji, the sultan of Delhi. Gopal Nayak and Amir Khusrau (Poet, diplomat, musician of Persian music) came together and churned out a new musical system called ‘Chaturdandi Prakashika’. Gopal Nayak couldn’t come back. He created a new raga in the memory of his beloved land and named it ‘Devgiri Bilawal’.

        Other than Sangeet Ratnakar, ‘Sangeet Samaysaar’ written by Parshvadeva (1210 C.E) was one of the important books written on music. The specialty of the book was that it was written from critic’s point of view. The use of terminologies in music was written in Bhandir language (local language) that gave a regional touch to the book.

      Use of music in kindling religious fervor amongst common people also existed during Yadav dynasty. The Oovis, and Abhangas sung by   Namdeo in raga Sangeet helped in organizing the common people to form Varkari sampraday.

      The Mahanubhav sect of worship had forbidden music for entertainment but allowed Mahadaisa to sing Dhavle (wedding songs) of Krishna and Choupadi (quadruplets) to Damodar Pandit. Chakradhar Swami was a knowledgeable person of music. According to Leelacharitra, the artists used to be grateful by his presence in the performances.

       Though the Tribhang posture of dance can be seen in sculptures of temples in Yadav dynasty, one can find very few evidences regarding the dance forms .Uddhav Geeta, a revered book of Mahanubhav’s has given an account of 13 varieties of postures (Angbhang) and 36 varieties of ‘Look’ (Drishti). The local words used for terminologies and dance forms like Gopuchha Gati, Bagad. Righavani, Kolhatik marks the existence of dance. Other art forms like Rangavali, cloth painting, embroidery on Paithani sari, were practiced largely in the region. They were appreciated, and noted down by many foreign travelers like Ibn Batuta. There has been a detail description of Rangavalis in Mhaimbhat’s Leelacharitra.

       The rule of Yadav dynasty laid a strong foundation of Maharashtrian culture for nearly 140 years (1173C.E to 1318 C.E). This culture has survived through all kinds of invasions over the years. The seeds of broad mindedness, patience and acceptance capacity sown by the Yadav Kings have reaped a good harvest of regional integrity. Yadav dynasty became a stepping stone in building the image of Maharashtra as a Broadminded, developed, and cultured state of India.