Kappe Arabhatta - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Kappe Arabhatta was a Chalukya warrior of the 8th century who is known from a Kannada

Kannada language

Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...

verse inscription, dated to c. 700 CE, and carved on a cliff overlooking the northeast end of the artificial lake in Badami

Badami

Badami , formerly known as Vatapi, is a town and headquarters of a taluk by the same name, in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It was the regal capital of the Badami Chalukyas from 540 to 757 AD. It is famous for rock cut and other structural temples...

, Karnataka

Karnataka

Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

, India. The inscription consists of five stanzas written out in ten lines in the Kannada script. Stanza 2 (Lines 3 and 4) consists of a Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

śloka
Shloka
A ' is a category of verse line developed from the Vedic Anuṣṭubh. It is the basis for Indian Epic verse, and may be considered the Indian verse form par excellence, occurring, as it does, far more frequently than any other meter in classical Sanskrit poetry. The Mahabharata and Ramayana, for...

. Of the remaining stanzas, all except the first are in the tripadi
Tripadi
Tripadi is a metre in the Kannada language dating back to c. 700 CE.-Definition:...

, a Kannada verse metre

Meter (poetry)

In poetry, metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study of metres and forms of versification is known as prosody...

.

Stanza 3 (lines 5 and 6), which consists of twelve words of which nine are Sanskrit loan-words in Kannada, is well-known in a condensed version, and is sometimes cited as the earliest example of the tripadi metre in Kannada. However, neither stanza 3 nor stanza 4 strictly conform to the precise rules of the tripadi metre; they each have more than 18 mora

Mora (linguistics)

Mora is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. As with many technical linguistic terms, the definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D...

s in line two, in excess of the allowed 17.

Location

According to , the Kappe Arabhatta inscription overlooks the artificial lake (on the south-east corner) of Badami town, and:

Kappe Arabhatta inscription text

The following is the text of the five lines written out in ten lines in the inscription. The meanings of the words are provided in the footnotes below the text. Lines 3 and 4 consist of a Sanskrit

Sanskrit

sloka, and is not translated. Here | denotes the end of each line of the tripadi
Tripadi
Tripadi is a metre in the Kannada language dating back to c. 700 CE.-Definition:...

metre

Meter (poetry)

and || , the end of the stanza:

Dictionary for the inscription

(Slw. stands for Sanskrit

Sanskrit

loan-word):

1a "Kappe," Kannada, "a frog; that which hops" and has cognates in related languages: Telugu

Telugu language

Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...

"kappa - a frog;" Tulu

Tulu language

The Tulu language |?]]]) is a Dravidian language spoken by 1.95 million native speakers mainly in the southwest part of Indian state Karnataka known as Tulu Nadu. In India, 1.72 million people speak it as their mother tongue , increased by 10 percent over the 1991 census...

"kappe - a frog, probably from 'kuppu' - to hop, or 'kappu' - to cover;" 1b "Ara" and "bhaṭṭa" are both Prakrit

Prakrit

Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...

words: the former means "virtue," the latter, itself derives from Sanskrit

Sanskrit

"bhartā." 1c Śiṣṭajana priyan: Beloved of the good people. Slw. priya,

2a kaṣṭajanavarjitan: avoided by evil people, adj. s. m. sg. nom. qualifying Kappe-Arabhattan. Slw. kaṣṭa, jana, varjita; 2b kaliyugaviparita: an exceptional man in the kaliyuga. Sanskrit

Sanskrit

loan-word (Slw.), viparita adj. s. m. sg. nom qualifying Kappe-Arabhattan;

5a sadhuge: to the good people. Sanskrit

Sanskrit

loan word (Slw.) sadhu, s. n.; 5b sadhu: Good, kind, person. Slw. s. m.; 5c madhuryamge: to the sweet. s. m. sg. dat Slw. madhurya-; 5d madhuryam: sweetness. s. m. sg. nom. Sanskrit

Sanskrit

loan-word (Slw.); 5e bādhippa: causing distress, fut. p. of badhisu - to cause distress, from Sanskrit

Sanskrit

bādh - to harass.

6a kalige: to the kali age. s. m. sg. dat. Sanskrit

Sanskrit

loan word (Slw.) . kali-; kali - hero.; 6b: Madhavan: Visnu, Slw. Madhava - s. m. sg. nom.; 6c: ītan: this man, dem. pron. m. Telegu: ītadu - probably i + tān - this self (speaker) or ī + tan - this of mine; 6d: peran: another. From pera - outer place; the outside. MK hera; NK hora; Tamil: piran - a stranger; Malayalam: piran - another; Telugu: pera - another; 6e alla: is not, neg. pr. of intr. al (to be fit); Tamil

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

al, alla-: no, not; Malayalam alla: no, not.

7a oḷḷitta: what is good (adj. s. n.); 7b keyvōr: those who do; 7c ār: who (inter. pron.); 7d polladum: The evil also. adj. s. n. sg. nom. + um (NK holladu, hole)—Tamil: pol—to agree with, negative of this is pollā. Tamil: pollā, pollāda: bad, vicious (neg. of pon: to shine), Malayalam: pollā - to be bad, evil; pollu - hollow, vain, useless; Telegu: pollu - useless; Tulu: polle - slander, backbiting. 7e adaramte - like that (adv.) (adara stem. pron.) amte: adv. p. of an: to speak.; 7f ballittu: Strong adj. s. n.;

8a: purākṛtam: the ancient karma (Fleet); the deeds done in the past. Sanskrit

Sanskrit

loan-word; 8b illi: here. 8c: samdhikkum: 8d adu - it (pron); 8e bamdu - having come (adv. pp. of bar - to come. Tamil

Tamil language

vandu; Malayalam vandu; Telugu

Telugu language

vacci;

9a kaṭṭida - bound pp. of kattu - to bind; Tamil

Tamil language

: kaṭṭu, Malayalam: kaṭṭu; Tulu

Tulu language

: kaṭṭu - to bind; 9b simghaman The lion. Slw. simgha-, s. n. sg.; 9c keṭṭodē: harmful thing; 9d en what (intl pron.) 9e biṭṭavōl: in the same way as releasing. adj.;

10a ahitarkkaḷ: the enemies (Slw. ahita- ); 10b keṭṭar : were ruined; 10c mēṇ: and (conjunction, Middle Kannada (MK)

Kannada language

mēṇ and mēṇu: what is above, from mēl: above. Malayalam: mēṇ: what is abvove; superiority; menavan—a superior śudra (modern Malayalam mēnon), replaced by mattu in Modern Kannada. 10d sattar: died; past pl. of sā - to die. Tamil

Tamil language

cā - to die, past. Sattān. Malayalam cā - to die; Telugu

Telugu language

- caccu - to die; pp. caccina. Tulu

Tulu language

sāy, sāi - to die, pp. satta-; 10e avicāram: without foresight. (Fleet translates as "without doubt.") Slw. avicāra.

Literal translation

1 Kappe^1a Arabhata,^1b beloved of the good people^1c

2 avoided by evil people,^2a an exceptional man in Kaliyuga^2b

5 To the good people,^5a good;^5b to the sweet,^5c sweetness;^5d | causing distress^5e

6 to the kali age,^6a an exceptional man in Kaliyuga,^2b | Madhava

Madhava

Mādhava may be*a Sanskrit patronymic, "descendant of Madhu ".** especially of Krishna or Parashurama as incarnations of Vishnu, see Madhava *** an icon of Krishna...

(or Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

),^6b this man^6c another^6d is not^6e ||

7 What is good^7a those who do^7b who^7c the evil^7d like that^7e | strong^7f

8 exception to (or opposite)^2b the ancient karma^8a | here^8b samdhikkum^8c it^8d having come^8e ||

9 Bound^9a the lion^9b harmful thing^9c what^9d | in the same way as releasing^9e (Translated in , "In the same way as releasing the bound lion, saying 'What is the harm to us?'")

10 exception to or opposite^2b the enemies^10a | were ruined^10b and^10c died^10d without foresight (or without doubt)^10e || (Note: 10c, 10d, and 10e are translated in as "And they died undoubtedly (for want of foresight)")

Popular version of Stanza 3 in Kannada script

A condensed version of Stanza 3 seems to be well known, both in the Kannada script:

and in the English poetic rendering:

"Kind man to the kind,

Very cruel to the cruel

He was nothing but God Vishnu in this regard"

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