''Rāghava-yādavīya'' is a short Sanskrit poem (''laghukāvya'') of 30 stanzas, composed by
Veṅkaṭādhvarin in
Kanchi
Kanchipuram (IAST: '; ), also known as Kanjeevaram, is a stand alone city corporation, satellite nodal city of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the Tondaimandalam region, from Chennaithe capital of Tamil Nadu. Known as the ''Ci ...
around 1650 CE.
It is a "bidirectional" poem (''anuloma-pratiloma-akṣara-kāvya'') which narrates the story of
Rāma
Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda'' ...
when read forwards, and a story from
Krishna
Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...
's life (that of the Pārijāta tree) when each verse is read backwards.
For example, the second stanza, where both the narratives begin, describes the city where Rama was born:
[
]
साकेताख्या ज्यायामासीद्या विप्रादीप्तार्याधारा ।
पूराजीतादेवाद्याविश्वासाग्र्या सावाशारावा ॥
sāketākhyā jyāyām āsīd yā viprādīptāryādhārā /
pūr ājītādevādyāviśvāsāgryā sāvāśārāvā //
but when the syllables are read backwards, it describes Krishna's city:
वाराशावासाग्र्या साश्वा विद्यावादेताजीरा पू ।
राधार्याप्ता दीप्रा विद्यासीमा या ज्याख्याता के सा ॥
vārāśāv āsāgryā sāśvā vidyāvādetājīrā pūḥ ,
rādhāryāptā dīprā vidyāsīmā yā jyākhyātā ke sā , ,
It has been published several times[ In 1972, it was published from the Institut Français d’Indologie in ]Pondicherry
Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...
, with the Sanskrit text edited by M. S. Narasimhacharya and a study and translation by Marie-Claude Porcher.[
]
Author
The author Sri Venkatadhvari (17 century) was born at Arasanipalai near Kancheepuram and was a follower of Sri Vedanta Desikan. He had mastery in poetry and rhetoric. He had composed 14 works, the most important of them being Lakshmisahasram by composing which he got back his lost eyesight.
See also
* Rāmakṛṣṇavilomakāvyaṃ
Rāmakṛṣṇavilomakāvyaṃ (रामकृष्णविलोमाकाव्यं) is a short Sanskrit poem in 36 verses in the genre of ''vilomakāvya'' composed by Sūryadasa (born 1508), also known as Sūrya Daivajña or Sūrya Pa ...
References
External links
{{Wikisourcelang, sa, राघवयादवीयम्
Open Library
A 2020 edition
by Prakash Sharma, Satyajeet Kant, and Shivendra Nandan
17th-century Sanskrit literature