Kānhapā, Kanha or Kanhapada or Krishnacharya ( c 10th century AD) was one of the main

poets A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

of ''

Charyapada The Charyapada is a collection of mystical poems, songs of realization in the Vajrayāna tradition of Buddhism from the tāntric tradition in Assam, Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. It was compiled between the 8th and 12th centuries in late Apabhra ...

'', the earliest known example of Assamese,

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, Maithili,

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

, and Odia literature. He was a

tantric Buddhist ''Vajrayāna'' (; 'vajra vehicle'), also known as Mantrayāna ('mantra vehicle'), Guhyamantrayāna ('secret mantra vehicle'), Tantrayāna ('tantra vehicle'), Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition that emp ...

and a disciplle of Jalandha
Page21
Kanhapada is also a prominent siddhacharya to

Nath Natha, also called Nath (), are a Shaivism, Shaiva sub-tradition within Hinduism in India and Nepal. A medieval movement, it combined ideas from Buddhism, Shaivism, Tantra and Yoga traditions of the Indian subcontinent.

Sampradaya ''Sampradaya'' (/ səmpɾəd̪ɑjə/,; ), in Indian-origin religions, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, can be translated as 'tradition', 'spiritual lineage', 'sect', or 'religious system'. To ensure continuity and transmissi ...

after

Matsyendranatha Matsyendranātha, also known as Matsyendra, Macchindranāth, Mīnanātha and Minapa (early 10th century) was a saint and yogi in a number of Buddhism, Buddhist and Hinduism, Hindu traditions. He is considered the revivalist of hatha yoga as we ...

and

Gorakhnath Gorakhnath (also known as Gorakshanath (Sanskrit: ''Gorakṣanātha'') (Devanagari : गोरक्षनाथ / गोरखनाथ), c. early 11th century) was a Hindu yogi, mahasiddha and saint who was the founder of the Nath Hindu monas ...

. His poems in Charjyapad are written in a code, whereby every poem has a descriptive or narrative surface meaning but also encodes tantric Buddhist teachings. Some experts believe this was to conceal sacred knowledge from the uninitiated, while others hold that it was to avoid religious persecution. In one of his poems, Kanhupa wrote: The language of Kanhupa's poetry bears a very strong resemblance to modern Bangla and Odia. For example, Padama (Padma:Lotus), Chausatthi (64), Pakhudi (petals) Tahin (there, in that), Charhi (climb/rise), nachai (dances), Dombi (a Bengali or Odia woman belonging to the scheduled caste, Domi/Domni), Bapuri (a Bangla and Odia word for 'poor fellow'; ‘বাপুর, বাপুড়া’) Somewhat modern poetic Bangla would be, “একশো পদ্মে/পদমে চৌষট্টি পাকড়ি/পাখুড়ি। তাহে চড়িয়া/চড়ি নাচে ডোমি বাপুড়ি/বেচারি॥” or The above verse hardly requires any translation to be understood in present-day

or Odia. Modern poetic Bengali version of it will be “হ্যাঁ লো ডোমনি/ডোমি, তোকে/তোয় পুঁছি/জিজ্ঞাসি/শুধাই সদ্ভাবে। আসিস-যাস ডোমি/ডোমনি কাহারে নায়/নাওয়ে”.

References

Bengali male poets Indian Buddhists Mahasiddhas Buddhist yogis Indian male poets Vajrayana Poets of Charyapada {{india-poet-stub