Madhavdeva

Madhavdeva is one of the greatest Vaishnava poets in Assamese literature. He was a devout follower of Sankaradeva. Seen in his works is a graceful flow and style which is both expressive and captivating. A genius poet who was highly intellectual and philosophical in his approach, he was an extremely austere devotee. He preached faith and proclaimed Bhakti regardless of failure or accomplishment in the right Bhagavata way.

Madhavdeva`s poetry some of the most beautiful works of Vaishnava literature. Namghosa, the Rajasuya Yajna, the Adikanda Ramayana, the Bhakti Ratnavali, the Janma Rahasya, the Nammalika, etc., are some of his noted poetical works. The Bhakti Ratnavali is like the Bible of Assamese Vaishnavism, a book that sharpened the edge of Ekasarana Dharma which means devotion to one God who is the "supreme power". In the Rajasuya Tajna, the supremacy of Lord Krishna is portrayed through the description of his domestic and social life. Though a translation from the Ramayana, the Adikanda breathes a certain measure of freedom that lends to it the character of an original work; the verse is graceful and vibrant.

The Namghosa, based on Vedanta philosophy, is one of his greatest works. It is steeped in religious philosophy containing the core and essence of Assamese Vaishnavism. In the Namghosa, Madhavdeva developed a most unique skill in the form of serious musical verse. The music in it deepens and organises as the rhythm undulates. Not only from the point of poetic qualities, but also from that of philosophical study of spiritual ideas, does the Namghosa stand supreme. The opening lines of the Namghosa are a rendering from a Sanksrit work composed by Vishnupuri Sannyasin. This too has been changed, in keeping with his literary style, into a beautiful and sombre piece. Madhavdeva was a deep-voiced musician who sang his own compositions with great joy. As he sang his Bargeetas, he invariably completely captivated and enchanted the audience with his voice. Bargeetas have attained a distinctive depth of spiritual passion. They constitute the principal body of devotional songs and poems in Assamese literature.

Madhavdeva was also deeply involved in the propagation of Vaishnava tenets and doctrines. He did this not only by way of the various musical messages such as the Bargeetas but also in the form of visual representation such as the Bhawana performance. His dramas like Cordhara, portraying the child-life of Krishna, are characterised by childlike beauty. Under Madhavdeva`s backing the eternal fascination of the child, joy and warmth, fond maternal caresses, etc., constitute a distinctive feature of Assamese Vaishnavism.

Vrajadham is the mytho-poetic land of Krishna`s leela. Among the grown-ups are the milkmaids and Yasodadevi. The atmosphere is conceived as an arcadia overflowing with the grace of childhood simplicity. Krishna with his symbolic flute is as a child with flute and trinkets. He is the only writer in Assamese Vaishnava literature who conceives Krishna as a child. Madhavdeva draws his inspiration for Krishna`s child-life from the Sanskrit Bhagavata Purana, Madhavdeva.

Madhavdeva`s genius is introspective, reminiscent and analytical; rhythmic climax and great intensity of feeling constitute the keynote of his poetical genius.

Works of Madhavedeva portray his genius, and his creative lineage that he borrowed as natural continuity from his master and guise Sankaradeva. Madhavadeva, the favourite disciple of Sankaradeva, blazed across the literary firmament of Assam. His physical body envisaged its budding in 1492 at Lete-kuphkhuri in Lakhimpur. Originally he was a Sakta, but as he came in contact with Sahkaradeva, the latter completely won him over to his cult. From then Madhavadeva became Sahkaradeva`s shadow, his most accomplished and faithful follower. The Vaisnavite movement gained a great impetus by his conversion, for in him was a remarkable force of intellect and strength of character, imperative requisites for a great social and religious-reformer. A master of the traditional learning of the time, he was also a mellifluous singer. Almost against the wishes of Sankaradeva Madhavadeva remained a celibate throughout his life, and his ideal brought into being a monastic order called Kewaliyas (Life-celibates). In fact Madhavadeva is regarded as the real founder of the Satra institution, for he placed it on a firmer footing and introduced a very rigorous and disciplined monastic code. Further, he advocated complete allegiance to his guru Sahkaradeva, and enjoined the vow of chastity and poverty. After Sahkaradeva`s death, when the apostolic mantle fell on him, the rigorous monastic life strictly enjoined by Madhavadeva on all Aryas and disciples became a cause of rift.

Compositions of Madhavedeva : First literary work of Madhavadeva as account speaks is the Janmarahasya, a poetry in visual movement versified on the creation and destruction of the world based on the Puranic theory. His next work is versification of the Bhakti-Ratnavali of Visnupuri Sanyasi. This important book on the Bhakti cult was rendered into Assamese verse by Madhavadeva at the direction of his master, Sankaradeva, and in his translation the author borrowed materials from the commentary Kantimala. Madhavadeva also rendered the Adi-kanda (Book I) of the Ramayana. One of his popular works is the Rajasuya yajna.-The subject-matter of the poem was borrowed from the Mahabharata episode of the Rajasuya sacrifice of the Pandavas. The book is written in a very popular style and incorporates many interesting episodes.

The poet here and there reveals his indebtedness to Magha and other classical Sanskrit poets. With the production of these works the genius of Madhavadeva came of age. His writings ranged from the simplest and sweetest works of poetry to most difficult writings on abstruse metaphysical subjects. He marshaled all his varied powers born of his penetrative intellect, comprehensive knowledge and deep erudition to establish Sankaradevas` system on a firm and secure foundation. Viewed from the point of Madhavadeva`s magnum opus, the supreme achievement of Assamese Vaisnavite hymnist rapture or the Nama-ghosa is known also as Hajari-ghosa (a book of thousand couplets).

Nama-Ghosa occupies a unique place in the philosophical literature of Assam, nay of India. It is not only widely read but memorized and freely quoted as scriptural text, and thus, without a doubt, is an enduring prop of Assamese Vaisnavism. The philosophy of Madhavadeva as revealed in Nama-ghosa divides itself into different sections, namely, Maya, its nature and effects; cosmology; the Brahman; means of self-realisation; psychology of the Jiva; the goal of human life. At the very outset, Nama-ghosa explains that just as a dreaming man believes in the dream world which is his own creation, the individual self under the influence of Maya forgets its true nature-the pure self, and takes the unreal world, a creation of Maya, as real. That is why Madhavadeva says, "Thy Avidya (illusion), Oh Hari, has so bewildered and bewitched me that I do not know Thee in Thy essence (or Reality)." He clearly says all that is seen and extended in forms is nothing but Maya, and as such all of it should be rooted out from the mind. According to Hinduism, the creation of the world is not out of nothing. The Bhagavata says that the world is created, made to stay and dissolved by Krishna. The Nama-ghosa solves the problem by saying that quite distinct from Purusa and Prakriti and yet the cause and upholder of the two is Paramesvara Narayana.

Madhavadeva thrives to be the unrivaled poet of the contemporary genre whose work have had showcased the beauty and poetic paraphernalia. What his contribution is to Assamese Literature can hardly be summed up in few lines. Rather it goes on and on echoing and re-echoing itself forever for the time to come.

Bargeetas of Madhavadeva are among the most beautiful part of the Vaishnava literary canon. Well-versed in music, Madhavdeva not popularised the Bargeetas, but also widened their scope and adjusted and modified them to change the different moods and moments of Lord Krishna`s multi-faceted life. Like Sankaradeva`s, their scope was not limited to a single passion, the passion of single-minded devotion and resignation to God. Madhavdeva`s Jaganar Geetas, tender and delicate as the emotions of a child, are in the nature of cradle-songs in beauty of child-life and maternal love. In fact, his absorption in the divine light of childhood as reflected in Krishna`s life expands the realms of spiritual absorption. Krishna shares the joys and sorrows of his cowherd companions; with a crown of peacock feathers on his head, he dances in the company of these "Vraja chawalas" (children of Vrajadham). The music of his flute draws the cows nearer him.

The following picture of Krishna in Madhavdeva`s Bargeeta (Raga Lalita) has the beauty and tenderness of a hymn:

Tasomati pakhite nay ana jurat.
Jagajana jivana bhakata parama dhana, hast hasi carana ghasai.

The childhood pictures of Krishna as unfolded in some of Madhavdeva`s Bargeetas vis-a-vis the picture of maternal tenderness are as fresh and inspiring as morning dew. This is how Krishna complains to his mother:

Phirilo bane bane dhenu bicari, trine katala sava sarira hamari. In the process of tending the cows in the forest, Krishna`s body is bruised by the sharp edges of grass;

This Bargeeta is in Raaga Zinnia.

The other type of Bargeetas that Madhavdeva wrote is songs of separation. Thus the perspective is changed. In one set of songs, Krishna lives a tangible life in the form of a child and in another he is missed, but lives all the same in the agonised heart of spiritual attachment. To the saint-poet, God is the abode of compassion: Dayar Thakur Yadumani.