Bhogini Dandaka

Dandaka is a metre and the poems written in that metre are also called by the same name. Nannaya, the first poet in Telugu, wrote a Dandaka, when Arjuna praised Shiva in the story of Kiratarjuniya. Errana also wrote one in the fifth canto of Nrisimhapurana. There are Dandakas in ‘Naishadha’ and ‘Kashikhanda’ of Shrinatha. All these Dandakas are parts of those poems and are not independent ones. Bhogini Dandaka is the first Dandaka in Telugu literature which contains a story and which is considered as an independent poem and many such Dandakas were written afterwards. No other literature in India contains as many Dandakas as Telugu.

Sarvagna Singabhupala and a courtesan are the hero and the heroine, in Bhogini Dandaka. This Singabhupala is the same king who was contemporaneous to Pothana and Shrinatha. When once he was taking part in a festival celebrated in honour of God Gopala, a damsel saw him from the upper chamber of her palace, fell in love with him and persuaded her mother to bring him home. The mother told her that he was beyond their reach on account of his high position and advised her to desist from such a desire, but to no purpose. The mother was thus compelled to approach Singabhupala and humbly request him to pay a visit to their house, informing him of the great love that her daughter bore towards him. Singabhupala not only accepted her love, but also gave her the title ‘Bhogini’. The theme of the Dandaka is this in brief.

There is a verse at the end of the Dandaka which says that “Bammera Pothana who deserves the praise of scholars, composed Bhogini Dandaka that would last as long the moon, the sun, the kula mountains and the stars shine, in dedication to Ravu Singabhupala who was very charitable and who could dispel the arrogance of the enemy kings’. From this, it is clear that the Dandaka was written by Pothana and the Antyanuprasa in the verse bears testimony to that fact. But some critics doubt the authorship. holding that Pothana who is averse to serving and praising the kings and who is a great devotee of God would never stoop to compose a Dandaka that describes the meeting of a king with a courtesan. it is a fact that he became a great devotee by the time he composed the Bhagavatha but there is no need to think that he was having the same altitude even from his early life. He might have composed the Dandaka wishing to gain the favour of or receive some help from Singabhupala in his youth. Devout as he was Pothana was also human. Due to transformation of testes and ideals he might have become, In course of time, averse to worldly desires and serving the kings. Moreover, Bhakti and Shringara are not so antagonistic to each other as some people think. There are many instances in the Bhagavata itself to say that Pothana did not completely give up describing Shringara even after he became a devotee. The description of the damsels in the story of Dharmaraja’s Rajasuya Sacrifice in the latter part of the tenth skandha can be cited as an example. Therefore, the devotional attitude of Pothana in his later life cannot bar him from being the author of Bhogini Dandaka.

The style of Bhogini Dandaka, the choice of some words in it, the abundance of Sabdalankaras like Antyanuprasa, Muktapadagrastha, etc. remind us of the style of the Bhagavatha in every respect. There is some resemblance between them not only in style but also in ideas. Where Bhogini told her mother that her heart had been attracted by Singabhupala and would not come back on account of the influence of Cupid and that she could not Jove even Manmatha, Shiva, Brahma or anybody, however, great they might be, she used the same similes that Prahlada used in the famous sisa verse beginning with “Mandara makaranda madhuryamuna delu madhupambu vovune madanamulaku” (Does the bee that sucks the honey of the Mandara flower go to the Datura flowers? ). In the same way the following ideas, “Head I been born as a beautiful lotus, I would have been honoured by being taken by the hand of Singabhupala and had I been a garland of gems, I would have decorated the chest of that handsome king. Why was I born like this? ” expressed by Bhogini, when she pined on account of the pangs of separation after seeing Singabhupala, are similar to the ideas expressed by the damsels of Mathura, when they saw Shri Krishna. Being an independent Dandaka, instead of forming part of a big poem, and containing a theme and situations full of Shringara Rasa instead of expressing devotional praise, are the special characteristic features of Bhogini Dandaka.

The following verse found in the introduction of the printed Bhogini Dandaka is said to have been written by Pothana as a piece of friendly advice to Singabhupala when he hesitated to accept the love of Bhogini, thinking it would not be proper for men to yield to women. The meaning of the verse runs as follows: “O Singabhupala, handsome as Cupid, is it proper behaviour (the conduct of a bow) if sometimes a man of taste yields to women. Does not the bow yield to the string (women) with humility? ” We cannot say how far this story is true, as we do not have enough proof to show that Pothana had written that verse. If it is true, it can be cited as another strong proof to say that Bhogini Dandaka was written by Pothana.