Saraha
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Saraha".

Saraha

Saraha or Sarahapa or Sarahapāda (c. 8th century CE), originally known as Rāhula or Rāhulbhadra, is considered to be the first poet of Hindi by Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan. His dohas (couplets) are compiled in Dohakosha. Padas (verses) 22, 32, 38 and 39 of Charyageetikosha (or Charyapada) are assigned to him.

In the opinion of Rahul Sankrityayan, Sarahapada was the earliest Siddha or Siddhacharya. According to him, Sarahapada was a student of Haribhadra, who was in turn a disciple of Shantarakshita, a noted buddhist scholar. As Haribhadra was a contemporary of Pala king Dharmapala (770 – 815 CE), Sarahapada must be flourished in 8th century CE1. From the colophone-page of a manuscript of Saraha’s Doha-kosha, copied in Nepali Samvat 221 (1101 CE) and found from Royal Durbar Library in Nepal (which is most probably the earliest Manuscript of Doha-kosha), we came to know that many dohas of Saraha were already extant by that time, and by the efforts of a scholar named Divakar Chanda, some of them could by preserved2.

He was born in Eastern India and studied at the Buddhist monastic university Nalanda. He is one of the Mahasiddhas, and is considered to be one of the founders of Buddhist Vajrayana. According to Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan and Dr. Dvijram Yadav, Saraha was born in Raggyee village of ancient Bhagalpur.

content

Contents

Works Attributed to Saraha in the Tibetan Tengyur3

There are a number of songs of realization attributed to the Indian Buddhist yogi Saraha in the Tengyur of the Tibetan Buddhist canon:

rgyud vol Ra.
104b-150a To. 1652 - Śrī Buddhakapālatantrapañjikā jñāna vatī nāma (trans: Gayadhara, Jo Zla ba'i 'od zer)
225b-229b To. 1655 - Śrī Buddhakapālasādhana nāma (trans: Gayadhara, Gyi jo Zla ba'i 'od zer)
229b-230b To. 1656 - Sarvabhūtabalividhi (trans: Gayadhara, Gyi jo Zla ba'i 'od zer)
230b-243b To. 1657 - Śrī Buddhakapālamaṇḍalavidhikrama pradyotana nāma (trans: Gayadhara, Gyi ja Zla ba'i 'od zer)

rgyud vol Wi.
70b-77a To. 2224 - Dohakoṣagīti - do ha mdzod kyi glu - "People Doha" (trans: ?)

  • colophon: rnal 'byor gyi dbang phyug chen po dpal sa ra ha chen po'i zhal snga nam mdzad pa do ha mdzod ces bya ba de kho na nyid rnal du mtshon pa don dam pa'i yi ge rdzogs so/

rgyud vol Zhi (Ui: Shi)
26b-28b To. 2263 - Dohakoṣa nāma caryāgīti - do ha mdzod ces bya ba spyod pa'i glu - "King Doha", "Royal Song" (trans: ?)

  • colophon: rnal 'byor gyi dbang phyug chen po dpal sa ra ha'i zhal snga nas mdzad pa/ do ha mdzod ces bya ba spyod pa'i glu rdzogs so/

28b-33b To. 2264 - Dohakoṣopadeśagīti nāma - mi zad pa'i gter mdzod man ngag gi glu zhes bya ba - "Queen Doha" (trans: Vajrapāṇi rev: Asu)

  • colophon: rnal 'byor gyi dbang phyug dpal sa ra ha pas mdzad pa rdzogs so// //rgya gar gyi mkhan po badzra pāṇi dang/ bla ma a sus zhus//

55b-57b To. 2266 - Kakhasyadoha nāma (Ui gives "Kakhadoha nama") (trans: Śrīvairocanavajra)
57b-65b To. 2267 - Kakhadohaṭippaṇa (trans: Śrīvairocanavajra)
106b-113a To. 2269 - Kāyakoṣāmṛtavajragīti (trans: ?)
113a-115b To. 2270 - Vākkoṣarucirasvaravajragīti (trans: Nag po pa)
115b-117a To. 2271 - Cittakoṣājavajragīti (trans: Nag po pa)
117a-122a To. 2272 - Kāyavākcittāmanasikāra nāma (trans: Nag po pa)
122a-124a To. 2273 - Dohakoṣa nāma mahāmudropadeśa (trans: Śrīvairocanarakṣita)
124a-125a To. 2274 - Dvādaśopadeśagāthā (trans: ?)
125a-126a To. 2275 - Svādhiṣṭhānakrama (trans: Śāntabhadra, rma ban chos 'bar)
126b-127b To. 2276 - Tattvopadeśaśikharadohagīti nāma (trans: Kṛṣṇa Paṇḍit)

rgyud vol Zi
3a-4a To. 2345 - Bhāvanādṛṣṭicaryāphaladohagītikā nāma (trans: ?)
5b-5b To. 2351 - Vasantatilakadohakoṣagītikā nāma (trans: ?)
55b-62a To. 2440 - Mahāmudropadeśavajraguhyagīti (trans: Kamalaśīla, ston pa seng ge rgyal po)

rgyud vol. Phu
182b-183a To. 3164 - Trailokavaśaṃkaralokeśvarasādana (trans: Abhaya, tshul khrims rgyal mtshan)
183a-184a To. 3165 - Trailokavaśaṃkaralokeśvarasādana (trans: Ratnākara, Tshul rgyal)

rgud vol. Mu
46b-47a To. 3371 - Trailokavaśaṃkaralokiteśvarasādana (trans: Don yod rdo rje, Ba ri)
88a-88b To. 3427 - Trailokavaśaṃkaralokeśvarasādana (trans: Grags pa rgyal mtshan)

See also

References

  1. ^ Dasgupta, Shashibhusan, Obscure Religious Cults, Firma KLM, Calcutta, 1995 CE, ISBN 81-7102-020-8, pp.8-9
  2. ^ Sen, Sukumar Charyageeti Padabali (in Bengali), Ananda Publishers, Kolkata, ISBN 81-7215-458-5, pp. 26
  3. ^ Ui, H. 1934 A Complete Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons Tohoku Imperial University, Sendai, Japan

Further reading

  • Guenther, Herbert V.; Ecstatic Spontaneity: Saraha’s Three Cycles of Doha Asian Humanities Press, 1993. ISBN 0895819333
  • Ray, Pranabesh Sinha. The Mystic Songs of Kanha and Saraha : The Doha-Kosa and the Carya. (translated into English from French) Kolkata, The Asiatic Society, 2007.
  • Schaeffer, Kurtis R. Dreaming the Great Brahmin: Tibetan Traditions of the Buddhist Poet-Saint Saraha. Oxford University Press, USA: 2005. ISBN 0195173732.

External links
© jGames.co.uk 2007 (some content from Wikipedia under GDL ) !-- ValueClick Media 468x60 and 728x90 Banner CODE for jgames.co.uk -->
Your Ad Here