Chand Bardai
| Chand Bardai | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 30, 1149 Rajasthan, India |
| Died | 1192 |
| Occupation | poet |
| Spouse | Kamla and Gauran |
Chand Bardai (चंदबरदाई, September 30, 1149 – c. 1200) was a Hindu Rao and the court poet of the Indian king Prithviraj III Chauhan, who ruled Ajmer and Delhi from 1165 to 1192. Chand Bardai composed the Prithviraj Raso, an epic poem in Hindi about the life of Prithviraj.
The Prithviraj Raso was embellished with time and quite a few authors added to it. Only parts of the original manuscript are still intact. There are many versions of Raso but scholars agree that a 1400 stanza poem is the real "Prithivraj Raso". In its longest form the poem comprises upwords of 10,000 stanzas.
The Prithviraj Raso is a source of information on the social and clan structure of the Kshatriya communities of northern India. The historicity of Prithviraj Raso was proved unreliable by historical writers like Buhler, Morrison, GH Ojha and Munshi Devi Prasad.[1]
Early Life
He was born in Lahor in a Barot family. The name of his father was Kaviraaj Mallha’, who was dependent as a poet in the state of Maharaj Someshwar, the emperor of Ajmer. Here Chand Bardai was educated with his child friend Prithviraj III Chauhan. After the death of Maharaj Someshwar, Prithiviraj was enthroned, and then he took Chand Bardai as his state-poet and faithful counceller in his court.
Career and work
The royal poet had mastery of grammar, literature, astrology, prosody and the Puranas. He was conversant with the Abhiri, Autkali, Chandali, Dravirhini, Shkari, Swali and Vijaitia dialects. One of his most famous work was Prithviraj Raso. He compiled it in the archaic form of Brajbhasa. It is a long poem consisting of nearly 100,000 stanzas elucidating a chronicle of his master’s achievements and the historical accounts. According to Colonel Tod, the poems of Chand Bardai have frequent indistinct references to fire arms, especially the malgola. Impressed by the classic elegance of the work, Colonel Tod translated about 30,000 stanzas into English. French scholar Garsa-de-Tasse certified and testified the authority of this compilation.
Chand Bardai was not only a court poet but was a member of the inner circle of the king. The poet accompanied the king during wars. In the second battle of Tarain (now Taraori, near Karnal in Haryana state — then Punjab) in 1192, Prithviraj lost and captured by Mohammad Ghori and Chand Bardai accompanied him.After the king was blinded at Ghori's court it was only with the help of Chand Bardai that Prithiviraj could kill Mohammad Ghori. This event is described by Chand Bardai in the couplet,
"चार बांस, चौबीस गज़, अंगुल अष्ठ प्रमाण, ता ऊपर सुलतान है, मत चूको चौहान"
"Chaar baans, chaubees gaj, angul ashta pramaan, ta upar sultaan hai, mat chuuko chauhan".
Translation: "Four bamboo measures above (the ground), twenty-four yards away, as measured with an eight-finger measurement,
on the throne is seated the Sultan. Do not miss him, Chauhan"
Although there are many other forms of this recital, this is the one mentioned in Prithviraj Raso. These events, as written by Bardai and later completed by his son are described in the article on Prithviraj Raso.
References
- ↑ Ayyappappanikkar; Sahitya Akademi (1 January 1997). Medieval Indian literature: an anthology. Sahitya Akademi. pp. 142–. ISBN 978-81-260-0365-5. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "article name needed". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
External links
- Chand Bardai at Kavita Kosh (Hindi)