Oriya Literature - Age of Charya Literature

Age of Charya Literature

The beginnings of Oriya poetry coincide with the development of Charyapada or Caryagiti, a literature started by Vajrayana Buddhist poets. This literature was written with a certain metaphor called “Sandhya Bhasha”, and some of its poets like Luipa and Kanhupa came from the territory of Orissa. The language of Charya was considered to be Prakrita. In one of his poem, Kanhupa wrote:

Your hut stands outside the city
Oh, untouchable maid
The bald Brahmin passes sneaking close by
Oh, my maid, I would make you my companion
Kanha is a kapali, a yogi
He is naked and has no disgust
There is a lotus with sixty-four petals
Upon that the maid will climb with this poor self and dance.

In this poem shakti is replaced by the image of the "untouchable maid". The description of its location outside the city corresponds to being outside the ordinary consciousness. Although she is untouchable the bald Brahmin, or in other words so-called wise man, has a secret hankering for her. But only a kapali or an extreme tantric can be a fit companion for her, because he is also an outcas. The kapali is naked because he does not have any social identity or artifice. After the union with the shakti, the shakti and the kapali will climb on the 64-petalled lotus Sahasrara Chakra and dance there.

This poet used images and symbols from the existing social milieu or collective psychology so that the idea of a deep realization could be easily grasped by the readers. This kind of poetry, full of the mystery of tantra, spread throughout the northeastern part of India from the 10th to the 14th century, and its style of expression was revived by the Oriya poets of the 16th to the 19th century.