Siribhoovalaya
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The ''Siribhoovalaya'' () is a work of multi-lingual
literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
written by Kumudendu Muni, a Jain
monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...
. The work is unique in that it employs not letters, but is composed entirely in
Kannada numerals The Kannada script (IAST: ''Kannaḍa lipi''; obsolete: Kanarese or Canarese script in English) is an abugida of the Brahmic scripts, Brahmic family, used to write Kannada, one of the Dravidian languages of South India especially in the state ...
. The ''Saangathya''
metre The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...
of Kannada poetry is employed in the work. It uses numerals 1 through 64 and employs various patterns or ''bandhas'' in a frame of 729 (27×27) squares to represent alphabets in nearly 18 scripts and over 700 languages.


Author

The work is attributed to Digambar Jain monk Kumudendu Muni. He claims that he was guru of Amoghavarsha of Manyakheta and a disciple of virasena and jinasena of Dhavala. However, not much is known about this monk. Scholars are divided about when he lived. Karlamangalam Srikantaiah, the editor of the first edition, claims that the work may have been composed around 800 AD. Dr Venkatachala Sastry, however, dates him and his work to the 15th century. He also claims that Kumudendu Muni belonged to a village called Yalavalli near Nandidurga in Chikkaballapura Taluk in Kolar district. He further dates the work to around the 1550-1600 period and suggests it might be even more recent.


Description

The work is said to have around 600,000 verses, nearly 6 times as big as the ancient Indian epic ''
Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...
''. In total, there are 26 chapters constituting a very large volume of text, of which only three have been decoded.


Coverage

The author expounds on many philosophies which existed in the Jain classics, which are eloquently and skillfully interpreted in the work. It is also believed to contain valuable information about various sciences including
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
,
chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
,
physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
,
astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
,
medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
,
history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
, etc. Karlamangalam Srikantaiah, the editor of the first edition, has claimed that the work contains instructions for travel in water and space travel. It is also said that the work contains information about the production of modern weapons. It is also claimed to consist of works in several languages including
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
,
Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...
, Telugu,
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
,
Prakrit Prakrit ( ) is a group of vernacular classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 5th century BCE to the 12th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of Middle Ind ...
, etc., apart from
Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...
. Different languages can be realised by assigning different alphabets to different numbers.


Codification

Some of the patterns used include the ''Chakrabandha'', ''Hamsabandha'', ''Varapadmabandha'', ''Sagarabandha'', ''Sarasabandha'', ''Kruanchabandha'', ''Mayurabandha'', ''Ramapadabandha'', ''Nakhabandha'', etc. As each of these patterns are identified and decoded, the contents can be read. Though written in Kannada, its numerical encipherment enables speakers of other languages to also comprehend it.


Challenges

There are 16,000 ''chakras'' in all. Out of which only 1,270 chakras are available. There are 9 ''khandas'' in all. The available 1,270 chakras belong to Prathama khanda, called Mangala Prabhruta. (This is only a syllabus of the Siri Bhoovalaya, which contains 59 chapters). The remaining 8 khandas of work not available. The number of letters (in the form of numerals) used are 14 lakhs (14,00,000). It has been claimed that it is possible to decipher 6 lakh Shlokas or verses. Since no contemporary
pandit A pandit (; ; also spelled pundit, pronounced ; abbreviated Pt. or Pdt.) is an individual with specialised knowledge or a teacher of any field of knowledge in Hinduism, particularly the Vedic scriptures, dharma, or Hindu philosophy; in colonial-e ...
is conversant with the esoteric metres employed in the work, the work of deciphering is being done with the help of computers. The whereabouts of remaining (16,000 - 1,270) = 14,730 chakras are not known.


Modern reception

Yelappa shastri, S. Srikanta Sastri, a respected name in the study of Indian history and culture, has commented on the work thus,


References


External links


"सिरि भूवलय" : वेब-साईट परियोजनाIntroduction to Siri BhoovalayaA project attempting to demonstrate Siri Bhoovalaya technique
{{Jainism topics Jain texts Eastern philosophical literature Kannada literature Indian poetics History of literature in India Epic poems Epic poems in Kannada S