Ramai Pandit
Ramai Pandit (Bengali: রামাই পণ্ডিত Ramai Ponđit) or Ramai the Wise was a medieval Bengali poet from the region of Bengal. The exact date of his birth is not known, but it is believed that he was born in the later half of the 10th century[1] and also lived in the 11th century AD, as he is a contemporary to Mayur Bhatt, the coart-poet of King Lausen.[2] He is famous as the author of Shunya Purana, the scripture of Dharma Puja Bidhan, written in the 11th century AD.[2]
American Sanskrit scholar Edward Washburn Hopkins wrote in his "Origin and Evolution of Religion" in 1923 that,
- Thus Ramai Pandit, who, in the Middle Ages, was an earthly expounder of the 19 great void I I doctrine (and was soon afterwards revered as a worker of miracles, a supernatural power), addresses this "form of the void," shunyamurti, as "sole lord of all the worlds " and begs it as " highest god" to confer boons. [3]
Upbringing
According to the story, Ramai was the son of an unpopular Brahman sage; after his father's death, Ramai was Rama-kathai or Ramavataram Ramapala-charita.[4]
According to the traditional accounts preserved by the Bengali Dom caste, as well as Mayur Bhatta's narrative, Ramai Pandit was born to either an unpopular Brahmin family and after having lost his parents at an early age he was brought up by devotees of Dharma Thakur.[5]
He was the priest of King Harishchandra.[6]
Devotional background
Ramai Pandit advocated the worship of God, whom he called Dharma and Shunya. His son, Dharmadas converted a king of Kalinga into the sect of Dharmathakur.[2]
"Shunya" mean void and Ramai Pandit, like many other Hindu philosophers in Bengal and Orissa in the time period advocated worshipping God as void and formless. Mahima Swami of the Mahima sect is another example of a Hindu philosopher popularizing worshiping God as formless (Alekh.)
Though Ramai Pandi was a devotee of Dharmathakur, in his Dharma Puja Bidhan he praises several other deities. He writes of Jagganath as Vishnu:
- In the ninth incarnation Hari dwelt on the sea-coast known by the name Jagannath.[2]
According to the Dharma-Mangala, written by Ghanarama, Ramai Pandit was the first great priest of the Dharma cult, and Dharma Thakura himself manifested during the reign of King Dharmapala's son.[7]
Though he promoted the worship of Dharma Thakur, historically he has been viewed by Dharma Thakur devotees as incarnation himself.[8]
Works
- Dharma Puja Bidhan
- Shunya Purana - Though Ramai Pandit was of the eleventh century and wrote the original Shunya Purana then, in the fourteenth century severe modifications were made to the original scripture, adding to it stories of Muslims in Bengal.
Notes
- ↑ P. 34 History of Bengali language and literature: (A series of lectures delivered as Reader to the Calcutta University) By Dinesh Chandra Sen (rai bahadur.), Dinesh Chandra Sen
- 1 2 3 4 P. 19 The history of medieval Vaishnavism in Orissa By Prabhat Mukherjee
- ↑ ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF RELIGION, E. Washburn Hopkins, 1923, CHAPTER XIX THE BUDDHISTIC TRINITY.
- ↑ P. 313 A Dictionary of Indian Literature, Volume 1 By Sujit Mukherjee
- ↑ P. 104 Journal of the Asiatic Society By Asiatic Society (Calcutta, India)
- ↑ P. 95 A Dictionary of Indian Literature, Volume 1 By Sujit Mukherjee
- ↑ P. 249 Studies in the Early History of Assam By Kanak Lal Barua
- ↑ P. 4087 Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot By Amaresh Datta, Sahitya Akademi
References
- Dinesh Chandra Sen, History of Bengali Language and Literature, pp. 30–37.
- B.K. Sarkar, Folklore Element in Hindu Culture, p. 192.
- Sir Charles Eliot, Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2, 1921.