The Padumawati (Padmavati) of Malik Muhammad Jaisi

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BIBLIOTHECA INDICA: COLLECTION OF ORIENTAL WORKS THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL. Nfw

Series No. 877.

THE PADUMAWATI OF

MALIK MUIJAMMAD

JAISI

EDITED, WITH A COMMENTARY, TEANSLATION, AND CRITICAL NOTES,

BY

G. A.

GRIERSON, AND

C.I.E., Ph.D.,

^

MAHAMAHOPADHYAYA SUDHAKARA

DVIVEDI,

F. A. U.

CALCDTTA: FEINTED AT THE BAPTIST MISSION PRESS,

AND PUBLISHED BY THE ASIATIC SOCIETY, 1896.

.57,

PARK STREET.

LIST OF BODIES FOR SALE AT THK LlBl'iART OF THE

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Asiatic No. 57,

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CotnpUt e copies nf .

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Fasciculi heivg out of stock.

BIBLIOTHECA INDICA. Sanskrit Series. Advaita Brahma Siddhi, (Text) Ease. 1-4 (w jQt each ... /6/ each »Agni Purana, (Text) Fasc. 2-U /6/ each Aitareya Aranyaka of the R;.? Veda, (Text) Ease. 1-5 lAitareya Brahmana, Vol. I, Ease. 1-5 and Vol. II, Ease. 1-5 Vol.

@

Ease.

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III,

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/6/ each (Text) Ease. 1-2 Aphorisms of Sandilya, (English) Ease. 1 /6/ each Astasiihasrika Prajnaparamita, (Text) Ease. 1-6 /6/ each AQvavaidyaka, (Texti Ease. 1-5 Avadiina Kalpalata, (Sans, and Tibetan) Vol. I, Ease. 1-5; Vol. II.

Anu Bhasyam,

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1

9

1-i (2> 1/ each •Bhamati, (Text) Ease. 2-8

@ /6/ each Brahma Sutra, (English) Ease. 1 Brhaddevatii (Text) Ease. 1-4 @ /6/ each Brhaddharma Purana, (Texti Ease. 1-5 @ l%l each Brhadaranyaka Upanisad (English) Ease. 2-3 @ /6/ each Caitanya-Chandrodaya Nataka, (Text) Ease. 2-3 @ /6/ each •Cankara Vijaya, (Text) Ease. 2 and 3 @ l&j each

...

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INTRODUCTION. {Temporary).

The following

is an attempt to give a correct text and translation Padumawati,! or Padmavati of Malik Muhammad of Jayas in Oudh. flourished under Sher Shah in the year 1540 A.D., and numerous MSS.

of the

He

poem are in existence. The value of the Padumawati consists chiefly in its age. Malik Muhammad is, we believe, the oldest vernacular poet of Hindustan of whom we have any uncontested remains. Cand Bar'dai was much older, but the of his great

genuineness of his Prithiraj Ray'sa is denied by many competent scholars. Vidyapati Thakur, who lived in the year 1400 A.D., has only left us a few songs which have come down to us through five centuries of oral transmission,

and which now cannot be

the form in which they were

in

sung.

The preservation of the Padumawati is due mainly to the happy accident of Malik Muhammad's religious reputation. Although profoundly affected by the teaching of Kablr, and familiarly acquainted with Hindu lore, and with the Hindii Toga philosophy, he was from the first revered as a saint by

Muhammadan co-religionists. He s\Tote his poem in what was

his

time, tinged slightly

evidently the actual vernacular of his with an admixture of a few Persian words and idioms

due to his Musalman predilections. originally wrote it in the Persian

due to his religion that he and hence discarded all the favourite devices of pandits, who tried to make their language correct by spelling (while they did not pronounce) vernacular words in the Sanskrit He had no temptation to do this. The Persian character did not fashion. lend itself to any such false antiquarianism. He spelled each word rigorously His work is hence a valuable witness to the actual as it was pronounced. condition of the vernacular language of Northern India in the 16th century. It is, so far as it goes, and with the exception of a few hints in Alberuni's Indica, the only trustworthy witness which we have. It is trustworthy, however, only to a certain extent, for it often merely gives the consonantal frame work of the words, the vowels, as is usual in Persian MSS., being generally omitted.

It

also

is

character,

Fortunately,

correctly with the help of a few

the vowels can generally be inserted Devanagari MSS. of the poem which are in

our possession. Besides its interest as a key to a philological puzzle, the Padumawati also deserves notice for its contents. In itself it is a fine poetical work, and one of the few original ones, not dealing with either Rama or Krishna, with which we are acquainted in any Indian language. It is also remarkable for

the vein of tolerance which runs through

worthy

of

KabTr or 1

of Tul'si Das.

The

it,

— a tolerance

story of the

The author himself invariably

in every

poem has been a

spells the

word

thus.

way

favourite

INTRODUCTION.

2

one with eastern authors. Husain Ghaznawi wrote a Persian poem on the Rai Gobind Munshi in 16.52 A.D. wrote subject, entitled Qisiae Padmawat. a version in Persian prose, called (after the chronogram of its date) Tukfatu-lKulilb. Asain Mir Ziyau-d-din 'Ibrat, and Ghulatn 'Ali 'Lshrat wrote a joint versiou in Urdii verse in 1796 A.D. Malik Muhammad's poem was written

A.D. Concerning the author little is known. He tells us himself that he was the disciple of Sayyad Muhiud-d-in. He studied. Sanskrit Prosody and Rhetoric from Hindii Pandits at Jayas. He belonged to the Cistiyd Nizdmiya, that is to say, he was the eleventh disciple in descent from the well-known Nizamu-d-din, who died in 1.325 A.D. Muhlu-d-din's teacher was Shaikh in 1540

Burhan, who resided at Kalpi in Bundel'khand, and who is said to have died The poet was patronized at the age of a hundred years in A.D. 1662-63.

by Sher Shah. The only other fact which we know for certain is that he was blind of one eye. I have collected the following traditions about him. One of Sher died 1673 A.D.), Shah's allies was Jagat Dev, (enthroned 1527 A.D. Mahariij of Ghazipur and Bhoj'pur. He was present at the battle of Bagh'sar (Buxar) in which Sher Shah defeated Humayiin. Malik Muhammad is said :

Two of Malik Muhammad's four friends, whom he mentions in his poem (22) were also patronised by Jagat Dev. These were YCisuf Malik and Salone Sirjgh (whom Malik Muhammad calls MiyS It is said that another attendant at Jagat Dev's as if he was a Musalman). to have attended his court.

court was a Katthak, singing.

Itlalik

named Gandharv

Muhammad was

Raj,

who was skilled in the art of him and gave him his

greatly attached to

blessing, prophesying that skill in song

would always remain in his family,

and, at the same time, begging him to take, as a sign of of Malik.

Ever

since,

Gandharv

Riij's

afi'ection,

his title

descendants have called themselves

Malik, and members of the family still live in Taluka Raipui-a and at Haldi in Baliya District, and are renowned singers.

Raja of Amethi was childless, but was granted a son, Malik Muhammad. When the poet died, Amethi, and his tomb is still shown, and worshipped

It is said that the

in consequence of the prayers of

he was buried

at

Malik Muhammad's two friends, Malik Yiisuf and Salone, died Malik in what is now the district of Gorakh'pui-, from a surfeit of mangoes. Muhammad was with them at the time, and himself narrowly escaped. The mangoes are said to have been infested by poisonous insects. The text of the Padumawati, being in the thSth Hindi language, and written in the Persian character, is very difficult both to read and to understand. It has been frequently transliterated into the Nagari character, but

by

believers.

the transcriptions, whether MS. or printed, are full of mistakes, generally guesses to make the meaning clear. The best transliterated edition is that

by

Pai.idit

Ram

Jasan of Banaras

;

but even in his case (putting instances

of sanskritization out of sight) hardly a lino

printed editions in the Persian character,

is

correct.

There are several

but they too are

all

incorrect.

Wo

have been fortunate enough to become possessed of several old MSS. of the poem in the Persian character, and by diligent comparison we have endeavoured to reproduce, in the Nagari character, the actual words written

by the

poet.

the task.

A glance at the

critical notes

will

show the labour involved

in

—

—

.

INTRODUCTION.

3

For the purposes of these specimens, we have used the following A. MSS. in Persian character (marked collectively as P).

(2)

(la).

Ditto

No. 1975.

written.

Dated 1109

Vowel mai-ks

= 1697

Hij.

freely used.

A.D.

Correctly

(lb).

Vowel points inserted in red ink by a Hi j = 1 702 A.D. Ic Library, Urdu Catalogue, No. 3130. Pew vowel

No. 1819.

Ditto

(3)

:

Dated 1107 Hij. =1695

(1) India Office Library, Pers. Cat. 1018.

A.D.

MSS.

later hand.

(4) India Office

Dated

1 11 4

(

.

No

In two different handwritings.

points.

All these Persian !MSS. are very fairly correct.

We

)

date, (Id).

have taken

lb. as

the basis throughout.

B.

MSS.

in the Devanagari character

(marked

ficent copy, profusely illustrated.

of Mirzapur.

We

No

me by the late Kaviraj Syamal Das, belonging to the library of the Maharaj of Udaipur. Spelling not so Sanskritized. Dated Sambat 1895 = 1838 well written copy kindly lent

A.D. C.

MSS. (1)

to the authorities of the India Office

MSS.

Library, for the loan of the above

A

(U).

in the Kaithi character.

A

clearly

With very

written copy.

many important

variations in the

Sambat 1812 = 1755 A.D. (2)

A magniWritten by Thana Kayath

Spelling highly Sanskritized (Is).

date.

must here express our thanks (2)

collectively as N).

Sanskrit Catalogue, No. 2471.

(1) India Office Library,

A well

irregular spelling:

and

Written in

readings.

(K).

written correct copy, but incomplete.

The commence-

ment, and several portions in the middle are missing.

It also

Written in Sambat 1758 (A.D. 1701), at Vaitala-gadha, by Jaya-krsna Dube, the son

contains several

of Hai-i-riim.

A fairly

interpolations.

The

last

doha

is

numbered

739.

(K^).

Complete. Contains several interpolaCommenced in Sambat 1879 (A.D. 1822). Writer's tions. name not mentioned. (K^). These thi-ee books are full of various readings, and owing to the use of the Kaithi character, the spelling is very irregular. All the readings of K* and K^, have not been inserted, but only those which illuminate doubtful (3)

correct copy.

points in the text.

As might be expected in a work sometimes written in the Persian, and sometimes in the Deva-nagari character, the spelling of the MSS. is very capricious. In editing the text, we have adopted a system of spelling, and of representing grammatical forms, which, we believe, represents as nearly as possible the practice of the best copies. In a critical edition, a uniform system of spelling is absolutely essential, and as no single manuscript follows any rules on the subject we have allowed ourselves some latitude. The principal points are as follows

Spelling

:

:

— Praki-it words are spelt as in the Persian

Persian copies give vowels, those vowels are adopted. are given,

we have used our judgment

Devanagari and Kaithi

copies.

in

copies.

When

When no

the vowels

adopting the vowels given in the

— INTRODUCTION.

4

similar reasons, we have generally adopted the spelling of Ai-abic and Persian words which is best vouched for by the Devanagari and Kaithi copies. Such words are phonetically spelt in

On

the other hand,

precisely

for

that alphabet.

U

and

K uniformly write

the

plui'al

f% or

^

as

We

»[.

have not followed them in

*«J nh,

is

^

Unless the context showed that Even in the best Persian

f%.

this.

capable of being read as equivalent to either oblique tei'mination *?, or to the singular oblique termination

The termination

we have

required,

is

MSS. the

literated it f%.

nasal

is

trans-

inserted so

that it is at least doubtful whether it should be used in the and we have accordingly followed the best Devanagari MSS., in

capriciously,

singular,

it, in this case, throughout. In Tadbhava words, a Sanskrit or Prakrit medial Hema-candra's Prakrit Grammar, IV. 397). Thus the

omitting

*I

becomes ^

(Cf.

representative of

^W^^

is ^i^^ (not ^^^), and of ^Ttipj, ^^TT. This ^, at becomes 5?, thus MV^ (not IT^), a name. When »? or anusvdra, however, forms the first member of a compound, the preceiHng vowel is nasalized. Thus ^t^ (for Prakrit ^"f), a mango, ^^T^, (for ^'^TT'jfil), he arranges. In the preposition ^^, the ^ becomes ^3. Thus, ^^JIT^, for ^^JTlf^, having bathed. In other cases after ^, ^, or 5. medial ^ remains unchangThus '?W«f, wind, «^«f, a house, ^^TT, a savage. Af+er any other vowel, ed. medial ^ is dropped. Thus ^^sf (for ^pT), earth, f^^sn (for fsij^^r), life.

the

Sanskrit

the end of a word

A

^^

Thus

g always becomes ^.

final

e.g.

^^),

(for

Similarly for V,

life.

tfV^.

Scheme of transliteration adopted

^

^

a,

a,

and so

X

t

i,

^

^3 «.

'i

«',

P e, ^ e,

work :—

in this

^ ^ 0,

"

0.

~ thus ,

^

(7,

^f

a,

m. The following vowels occur only in a few Sanskrit words, ^ ai, In Tadbhava words ^ and do not occur. ^?; is transliterated •wt ait. In Nagari j\ISS. when ^ and ai and ^"3 an. occur, they are plainly stenographic signs for ^i; and ^i?. This is frequently shown by the metre. f

?,

^

f,

on.

-=-

*

^

?•,

^

^i;, ^^, and ^, ^, for they appear in ^^, ^^, are alwaj-s in Tadbhava words, or in corrupted Tatsama words, ^ and occur only in words lifted bodily from

There

is

no danger of confusing

distinct classes of words,

^

Sanski'it

:

^ ^ Z

Jl

A:,

^

f,

^

ch, 51

3

th, «r

rf,

^

(7,

?,

Icli,

IT

rl ~'

kaha

til-h'i,

'

one alone, only thou.'

cry

is

piwpiu,

where

is

my

Its '

Roxb.

'

varius, Tahl) is not a

beloved, beloved.'

beloved.'

It is

the

'

sparrow-hawk as the

The ordinary

native tradition

is

Brain-fever bird' of Anglo-Indians.

II The Bhrrijaka or Racket-tailed Drongo (Dissemtirus paradiscus, L.), is not a sparrowhawk, as the dictionaries say. It is a sort of king-crow, it is an excellent talking-bird. 12 The maharl is said to be a bird like the mahokhd (ciiculus costancus, Roxb.), but smaller. Its cry is dahi, dahi, tyre, tyre,' and hence it is also known as gwaliul or ahirini '

i.e.

milkmaid. 13

The cry

of thehdril or green pigeon (crocopus phcenicoptcrus,

Latham)

is

ha hdrigai

never to rest on the ground. When it descends to drink, it sucks up water, from a short distance aloft, through a straw. When it dies, it falls to the ground with its feet in the air, rather than allow them to touch earth. 1* A bdwari is a largo masonry well with steps leading down to the water. '

alas I

16

have

Many

the Eindds.

lost.'

It lives in

the various

fig trees

of the sects mentioned iu this

The Commentary

list

of India.

are described

It is said

in

Wilson's Religious Sects of Sannydsins (W. p 32)

also gives a full account of them.

consider themselves dead to the world and go through a funeral ceremony in their life

•^0-31]

17

PADUMAWATI.

Jarigamas, Tatins, Tvorshippers of the left-hand and of

tlie

right-liand Devi.

There are Biahmacarins, and there are Digambaras to whoni it seemeth good to go naked. There are Sautas, Siddhas, Togins, and Pessimists seated on the path of hopelessness. Sevaras, and the like, Vana-prasthas, Siddhi-sadhakas, are ail seated there, mortifying their earthly frames.

What can be compared

31.

the sea and as unfathomless ?

From

scented with camphor. lazuli,!

and with

They

time.

it

to the -water of the

Manasarodaka

lake, full as

water clear as spotless pearls, like ambrosia the isle of Laqka have they brought the lapis

Its

On

built the landing stages.

lay aside the brahmanioal cord

and carry a

each side have been

staff

made

(danda) which they never lay

upon the ground, and which they consider as a witness of all their actions. They are hence also called Dandins (W. 143, 191). Bama-yatins are Taisnava mendicants, who worship Kama, like the Vairagins of Ayodhya. Masa-vasins, are those who abide for a month in one place, and then wander on. ilahecvaras are mendicants who cover themselves with ashes, and adopt the traditional appearance of (^iva, whom they worship. Jamamas (W. 219) are ever on the move. They usually worship Vira-bhadra, who destroyed Daksa's famous sacrifice. This legend is a favourite subject of sculpture at Elephanta and Ellora. As regards Tatiiis see W. 317., They are Jains who have taken orders. Devi is the object of worship of the vdma, or left-hand Cakfas, and Sati of the daksina or right hand ones. See W. 240, 254, 230. A Brahmacarin is a religious student, living under the supervision of his spiritual preceptor (W. 237). Digamharas are naked vagrants, such as Faramahamsas, Nagas and the like. Some Vaisnava sects call themselves Digambaras, but wear white clothes. Jainas are divided into Digambaras (naked) and Pi-etdintoros (white-dressed)

who have

are Togins

(W.

Sa« fas are merely religious people generally.

p. 276).

arrived at supreme perfection (adepts).

Siddhaf:

They have eight supernatural

powers {siddhi), viz., anima, the power of becoming infinitely small, mahimu, that of becoming infinitely great, laghima, of becoming infinitely light, garimd, of becoming infinitely heavy, prdpti of reaching infinitely far, prdhdmya, of obtaining at once whatever is

desired,

i