The Dharmamangal () is an important subgenre of
mangalkavya, with narratives of local deities of rural Bengal, the most significant genre of medieval
Bengali literature
Bengali literature () denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time and dynastic patronization or non-patronization. Bengali h ...
. The texts belonging to this subgenre eulogize
Dharmathakur
Dharmathakur (also called, Dharmaraj or simply Dharma) is a Hindu deities, Hindu deity of death and justice, worshipped by villagers in the traditional Rarh region in the present day Indian state of West Bengal as one of their special village go ...
, a folk deity worshipped in the
Rarh region
''Rarh region'' () is a toponym for an area in the Indian subcontinent that lies between the Chota Nagpur Plateau on the West and the Ganges Delta on the East. Although the boundaries of the region have been defined differently according to vari ...
of
Bengal
Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...
. According to tradition, the earliest poet of ''Dharmamangal'' was Mayura Bhatta.
The Dharmamangal texts were meant for singing during the twelve-day ritual ceremony, known as ''
Gajan''. These texts are part of a larger group of texts associated with the worship of Dharma. In addition to the ''Dharmamangal'' texts, this larger group includes a number of works known as the ''Dharmapuran''s, which narrate the story of creation and the liturgical works known as the ''Samjatpaddhati''s.
[Sen, Sukumar (1991, reprint 2007). ''Bangala Sahityer Itihas'', Vol.II, , Kolkata: Ananda Publishers, , pp.110-79]
''Dharmamangal''
The texts of the ''Dharmamangal'' comprise two narratives,
* the narrative of the Puranic king
Harishchandra
Harishchandra () is a legendary king of the Solar dynasty, who appears in several legends in texts such as the ''Aitareya Brahmana'', ''Mahabharata'', the ''Markandeya Purana'', and the ''Devi-Bhagavata Purana, Devi Bhagavata Purana''. The most ...
, his queen Madana and son Luichandra. With the grace of god Dharmathakur, Harishchandra was blessed with a son Luichandra, with the condition that the son would be given away to the cult of Dharmathakur. Harishchandra forgot about the condition. Later Dharmathakur showed up as a
Brahmin
Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...
, and asked for the cooked flesh of Luichandra. Harishchandra and Madana killed Luichandra and served his flesh. Luichandra was later restored to life after the king and the queen accepted the Dharmathakur cult.
* the narrative of exploits of a folk hero of Bengal,
Lausen
Lausen is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Liestal (district), Liestal in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland.
History
Lausen is first mentioned in 1275 as ''in villa et banno Langen ...
.
Most significant poets of ''Dharmamangal'' were
Rupram Chakrabarty (17th century) and
Ghanaram Chakrabarty (17th-18th century). Other poets of Dharmamangal include
Khelaram Chakrabarty, Shrishyam Pandit, Dharmadas, Ramdas Adak, Sitaram Das, Yadunath or Yadavram Pandit, Maniklal Ganguli, Ramchandra Bandyopadhyaya, Narasimha Basu, Prabhuram Mukhopadhyaya, Hridayram Sau, Shankar Chakrabarty, Ramnarayan and Ramkanta Ray.
''Dharmapuran''
The texts of ''Dharmapuran'' begin with narrative of creation. The other narratives included in these texts are the narrative about
Shiva
Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ÉɦaËd̪eËÊ‹Éh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...
, the hagiographies of
Minanatha and
Gorakshanatha, the narrative of
Ganga
The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary riv ...
, the narrative of Sada Dom and Ramai Pandit, the description of the atrocities of Dharma in
Jajpur
Jajpur (also known as Jajapur) () is a town and a municipality in Jajpur district in the Indian state of Odisha. It was the capital of the Kesari dynasty, later supplanted by Cuttack. It is the headquarter of Jajpur district.
Etymology a ...
and the narrative of king Harishcahndra. The significant poets of ''Dhramapuran'' or ''Anilpuran'' were Ramai Pandit and Sahadeb Chakrabarty.
Liturgical works
The most significant liturgical work is the ''Dharmapujavidhan'', ascribed to
Ramai Pandit
Ramai Pandit ( ''Ramai Ponđit'', Ramai the Wise) was a medieval Bengali poet from the Rarh region of Bengal. The exact date of his birth is not known, but some scholars believe that he was born in the later half of the 10th century and also live ...
as well as to Raghunandan. Another liturgical text, the ''Yatrasiddharayer Paddhati'' is a recent work.
[Dasgupta, Sashibhusan (1995). ''Obscure Religious Cults'', Calcutta: Firma K.L.M., , pp.295, 400-1]
See also
*
Mangalkavya
References
{{Dharmamangal Topics
Bengali-language literature