Vararuchi

This Vararuchi is the father figure in the astronomical tradition of Kerala. He is also the father figure in the legend of the twelve clans born of the Pariah woman. The eldest son of this Vararuci, the establisher of the first of the twelve clans, was one Mezhattol Agnihotri and he is supposed to have lived between 343 and 378 CE. Based on this, Vararuci is supposed to have lived in the first half of the 4th century CE. The manuscript tradition of Kerala ascribes to Vararuci the authorship of Chandravākyās (moon sentences)[10][11] which is a set of 248 numbers for calculating the position of the sun and moon. This work is also known by the name Vararuci-Vākyās. Vararuci is also believed to be the originator of the Katapayadi notation of depicting numbers, which has been used in the formulation of Chandravākyās.

This astronomer is the author of the well-known Vākyakaraṇa, which is the source book of the Vākya Panchānga, popular in South India, .[12][13] This Vararuchi belonged to the Kerala region, as is clear from the introductory verses of the work. It has been shown that this treatise was originally produced around 1282 CE.[12] The treatise is also known as Vākyapañcādhyāyī and is based on the works of Haridatta (c. 650 CE) of Kerala. Sundararaja, an astronomer from Tamil Nadu contemporaneous with Nilakantha Somayaji, has composed a commentary on Vākyakarana and the commentary contains several references to Vararuci.[12] In five chapters Vākyakaraṇa deals with all aspects of astronomy required for the preparation of the Hindu almanac. Chapter I is concerned with the computation of the sun, the moon and the moon's nodes, Chapter II with that of the planets. Chapter III is devoted to problems involving time, position and direction and other preliminaries like the precession of the equinoxes. Chapter IV deals with the computation of the lunar and solar eclipses. Chapter V is devoted to computation of the conjunction of the planets and of the planets and stars.

Many texts have been ascribed to Vararuci, such as Kerala-Vararuchi-Vakya, Kerala-Vararuchi-proktha, Kerala-dvādaśa-bhāva-vākyāni, Vararuchi-Kerala, Bhārgava-pañcāṅga etc. The Vararuchi, who is the author of the above works on astrology might be identical to Vararuchi of Kerala, but it is not possible to assert that he is the same as the author of the Chandra-Vākyās.[14]

In ancient India, grammar was the first and most important of all sciences. When one had first studied grammar, he could go in for learning any other science.[15] This historical mindset justifies the great respect and prestige attributed to the ancient grammarians of India like Pāṇini and Patanjali. Pāṇini was an ancient Indian Sanskrit grammarian from Pushkalavati, Gandhara (fl. 4th century BCE). He is known for his Sanskrit grammar text known as Aṣṭādhyāyī (meaning 'eight chapters'). The Ashtadhyayi is one of the earliest known grammars of Sanskrit. After Pāṇini, the Mahābhāṣya ('great commentary') of Patañjali on the Ashtadhyayi is one of the three most famous works in Sanskrit grammar. It was with Patañjali that Indian linguistic science reached its definite form. Kātyāyana (c. 3rd century BCE) was a Sanskrit grammarian, mathematician and Vedic priest who lived in ancient India. He is known as the author of the Varttika, an elaboration on Pāṇini grammar. Along with the Mahābhāsya of Patañjali, this text became a core part of the vyākarana (grammar) canon. (A vārttika is defined as a single remark or a whole work attempting to present a detailed commentary.) In many accounts Katyayana has been referred to as Vararuci.[15] Kātyāyana's Vārtikās correct, supplement, eliminate as unnecessary, or justify the rules of Pāṇini.[16] [17] In his Vajasaneyi Pratisakhya, he subjected about 1500 sutras of Panini to critical observations.[18]

The term Prākṛt or Prakrit denotes a multitude of languages all originated from Sanskrit. They are all considered as derived from Sanskrit and developed by adopting deviations and by corruption.[19] There is no complete agreement on what languages are to be included in this group. Prakrit is also closely connected with the development of Buddhist and Jaina philosophical thought.

Vararuci is the name of the author of the oldest extant grammar of Prakrit, titled Prākṛt Prakāśa.[1] In this work Vararuci has considered four different dialects: Maharashtri, the older form of Marathi; Sauraseni, which evolved into the Braj language; Magadhi, the former form of Bihari; and Paisaci, a language no longer extant. The book is divided into twelve chapters. The first nine chapters containing a total of 424 rules are devoted to Maharashtri and of the remaining three chapters, one each is devoted to Paisaci with 14 rules, Māgadhi with 17 rules, and Sauraseni with 32 rules respectively.[19]

The author of Prakrita Prakasa was also known by the name Katyayana, perhaps the gotra name of Vararuci. This gotra name was given to him by the unknown author of a commentary of Prakrita Prakasa named Prakritamanjari. In Somadeva's Kathasaritsagara and Kshemendra's Brihatkathamanjari one can see that Katyayana was called Vararuci. The oldest commentator of Prakrita Prakasa was Bhamaha an inhabitant of Kashmir who was also a rhetorician as well as a poet.[19]

Though littérateur Vararuci is recorded to have composed several Kavyas, only one complete work is currently extant. This is a satirical monologue titled Ubhayabhisarika.[22] The work titled Ubhayabhisarika (The mutual elopement) appears in a collection of four monologues titled Chaturbhani, the other monologues in the collection being Padma-prabhritaka (The lotus gift) by Shudraka, Dhurta-vita-samvada (Rogue and pimp confer) by Isvaradatta and Padataditaka (The kick) by Shyamalika. The collection along with an English translation has been published in Clay Sanskrit Library under the title The Quartet of Causeries.[23] Ubhayabhisarika is set in Pataliputra and it is dated to somewhere between the 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE. It might be the earliest Indian play extant.[23] Some scholars are of the opinion that the work was composed in the 5th century CE.[23]

He is also said to have written two kavyas by names Kanthabharana (The necklace) and Charumati. There are several verses ascribed to Vararuci appearing in different literary works. Other works attributed to Vararuci are: Nitiratna, a book with didactic contents; Niruktasamuccaya, a commentary on the Nirukta of Yaska; Pushpasutra, a Pratishakhya of the Samaveda; a lexicon; and, an alamkara work.

In these legends,[29] Vararuchi, a son of a Brahmin named Chandragupta and his Brahmin wife who was an astute astrologer, became king of Avanti and ruled until Vikramāditya, son of Chandragupta by his Kṣatriya wife came of age and the king abdicated in his favor. Once when he was resting under an aśvastha (ficus religiosa) tree he happened to overhear a conversation between two Gandharvās on the tree to the effect that he would marry a certain, just then born, paraiya girl. This he tried to prevent by arranging, with the help of the king, to have the girl enclosed in a box and floated down a river with a nail stuck into her head.

After floating down the river through a long distance, the box came into the hands of a Brāhman who was bathing in the river. Finding a beautiful and charming little girl inside the box and accepting it as a divine gift he adopted her as his own daughter and helped her groom up accordingly. Vararuci in his travels happened to pass by the house of this Brāhman and the Brāhman invited him to lunch with him. Vararuci accepted the invitation on condition that the Brāhman had to prepare eighteen curries and would give him what remained after feeding a hundred other Brāhmans. The host was puzzled. But his adopted daughter was unfazed. She placed a long plantain leaf in front of Vararuci and served a preparation using ginger (symbolically corresponding to eighteen curries) and some rice which had been used an offering at the Vaisvadeva ceremony (symbolically equivalent to feeding a hundred a Brāhmans). Knowing this to be the work of the host's daughter and fully convinced of her superior intellect Vararuci expressed his desire to marry her. The desire was acceded to by the Brāhman.

Days passed. One day while conversing with his wife about their past lives he accidentally saw a nail stuck in her head and he immediately knew her to be the girl whom he caused to be floated down a river. He realised the impossibility of altering one's fate and resolved to go on a pilgrimage with his wife bathing in rivers and worshiping at temples.

At the end of these pilgrimages they reached Kerala and while in Kerala the woman bore him twelve children. All these children, except one, were abandoned on the wayside and were picked up members of different castes and were brought up according to the customs and traditions of those castes. They were all remarkable for their wisdom, gifted with the power of performing miracles, and were all believed to incarnations of Viṣṇu. These children are known by the names:[30]

Statue of Nārānat Bhrāntan (The madman of Nārāṇatt), one of the twelve children of Vararuci of Kerala legends.

• Mezhathol Agnihotri (a Brāhman who had performed Yajñam or Yāgam ninety-nine times), Pākkanār (a Paraiya, bamboo basket maker by profession), Perumtaccan (a master carpenter and an expert in Vāsthu), Rajakan (a sage and a learned man raised by a washerman), Vallon (a Paraiya, sometimes identified with the Tamil saint Thiruvalluvar who composed Thirukkural), Vaduthala Nair (a Kshathriya, an expert in martial arts), Uppukootan (a Muslim, a trader in salt and cotton), Akavūr Cāttan (a Vysya, a manager of Akavur Mana), Kārakkal Amma (Kṣatriya woman, the only girl of the twelve children), Pānanār (a Pānan, a singer in Thiruvarangu), Nārānat Bhrāntan (a Brahman, the madman of Nārāṇatt), and Vāyillākunnilappan (not adopted by anybody, deified as the god of silence sanctified on the top of a hill).

There are several legends about these children of Vararuci. In one such legend, Pākkanār tries to dissuade a group of Brāhmans who had resolved to go to Benares from so doing, by telling them that the journey to the sacred city would not be of productive of salvation. To prove the fruitlessness of the journey, he plucked a lotus flower from a stagnant pool and gave it to the Brāhmans and instructed them to give it to a hand which would rise from the Ganges and to say that it was a present for Goddess Ganga from Pākkanār. They did as directed and returned with news of the miracle. Pākkanār then led them to a stagnant pool and said: "Please return the lotus flower, Oh! Ganga!". According to the legend, the same lotus flower instantly appeared in his hand.

There is another legend regarding the circumstances leading to Vararuci's arrival in Kerala.[30][31][32] In this legend, Vararuci appears as a very learned scholar in the court of Vikramaditya. Once King Vikramaditya asked Vararuci to tell him about the most important verses in the whole of Valmiki's Ramayana. Since Vararuci could not give an immediate answer, the King granted him 40 days to find out the same and to report back to the king. If he were unable to find the correct answer, he would be required to leave the court. Vararuci left the court in search of an answer and during his wanderings, on the last night of the stipulated period, Vararuci happened to rest under a tree. While half awake and half asleep Vararuci happened to overhear a conversation of the Vanadevatas resting on the tree regarding the fate of a newly born Paraiah infant girl and they were telling each other that the poor Brāhman who does not know that the verses beginning with "māṃ viddhi.." is the most important verse in Ramayana would marry her. Vararuci most pleased with his discovery returned to the court and told the king the surprising answer. The king was very pleased and Vararuci prevailed upon Vikramiditya to destroy all pariah infant girls recently born in a certain locality. The girl was not killed instead was floated down a river with a nail stuck through the heads. The rest of the legend is as described in the first version of the legend.