SRI JAYADEVANKA BAAISI PAHACHA

About the book:
Sri Jaya Dev of the 12th Century Orissa, erroneously depicted as Sri Jayadev or Jayadeva, was not a Baishnav as he is being projected; he was a social revolutionary and proponent of Sahajajana sect of Buddhism. He had authored his love lyrics to provide a supportive literature to this cult which was essential in his time to check spread of Brahminic aparthied in his motherland Orissa.

The lyrics having immense Sahajia impact and being matchlessly popular, different agents of Brahminism, in course of time, had tried to transform them into Brahminic literature through interpolations and by editing them in a style conducive to their own cult and by captioning the interpolated compilation as Gita-Govinda when, in fact, the poet was so much against the cult of Govinda that he had never used that name even for once in his lyrics. His lyrics supporting the female factor in consonance with Sahajayana were so much threatening to patriarchal political system that they were banned from the temple of Lord Jagannath by the great patron of Brahminism in Orissa, Emporer Purushottam Dev. The Emperor had replaced the lyrics of Jaya Dev with a book captioned as Abhinav Gita-Govinda of which he had claimed to be the author; but which was allegedly authored by a Brahmin namely Dibakara Mishra wherein attempts were tactfully made to transform Sri Jagannath from Buddha of Orissa to Krishna of Dwaraka in order to terminate the Buddhist flow of philosophy till then active in his abode, Sri Mandira.

People of Orissa had revolted against this conspiracy and had compelled the said Emporer to withdraw his own order and work and to restore recital of the lyrics of Sri Jaya Dev before the Lord as before. Purusottam Dev withdrew his work but the selected Brahminic interpolations continued in the guise of orders of the Lord in dreams. Agitation of the public could somehow be managed with his son and successor Emporer Prataprudradev promulgating an ordinance to the effect that no other song than that of Sri Jaya Dev would ever be recited in the temple. Unable to write off the Buddhist impacts of this revolutionary poet, Brahminism in Orissa has interpolated 72 verses on his original works and given it a misleading title called Gita Govinda, editing the same in a style to usurp him for Brahminic Vaishnavism. The Bengalis, without knowing the truth on Jaya Dev, have joined the bandwagon of claiming him for Vaishnavism as well as for their homeland. In the process, the immortal love lyricist has been buried under baseless legends.

Sri Pattanayak has freed him from the labyrinth of legends and set him as history permits. He has shown how both the segments, the chauvinist section of the Bengalis and the agents of Brahminism are wrong in their claim over Sri Jaya Dev. He has done a unique work. He has completely dismantled the fort of Bengali claims over Sri Jaya Dev. He has, for the first time, exposed how the Central Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi has been misused by Bengali chauvinists in the matter of Sri Jaya Dev. He has, for the first time, freed Sri Jaya Dev from legends on the basis of historic perspectives. He has brought to records all the relevant but missing episodes of Orissan history for the first time through interpretative research.He has shown how Radha, now a Hindu Vaishnav deity, was created by Sri Jaya Dev as Nayika of Buddhist Sahajayan. He has shown how Orissa is the place where Buddha was born. He has shown how Buddha became Sri Jagannatha. He has shown how Sri Jagannatha is in reality the female factor. He has opened up new avenues for research on the now extinct Mahodadhi Civilisation of Orissa. He has opened up new vistas for research on extinguishment of Buddhism in the soil of its origin, Orissa, vis-a-vis the the role of Asoka. Over and above the most perspicacious discussion on Sri Jaya Dev and his times, this book contains the Oriya translation of his lyrics in poetic form with the most measured meticulousness typical of the acclaimed wordsmith Subhas Chandra Pattanayak.

Originally published in 1998, his translations are regarded as the best in the category so far. A better book than this in the subject so far is not available.

Smt. Sabitarani Kanungo,
Former Professor in Sansrit and President,
State Selection Board, Govt. of Orissa





About the author:
Sri Subhas Chandra Pattanayak, a Journalist of four decades standing, known for his incisive investigations,has been contributing to the media many original and interpretive articles on Orissan culture and scriptures, Presently Representative-In-Chief of www.orissamatters.com, he is the first officially accredited online journalist of India.

In this book, he has tried to free Sri Jaya Dev from legends and cultural onslaughts by taking the Brahminic wrap off his real creed and has put him in the historic perspective while proving that he was a social scientist, a philosopher and propounder of Sahajayan sect of Buddhism that he had wanted to strengthen with a popular literature for which he had authored his love-lyrics,which are now available under the caption: Gitagovinda, a title wrongfully and deliberately concocted by agents of Brahminism.

For people of Orissa to understand the immortal poet of their soil in his real creed, Pattanayak has translated all the twenty-two lyrics of Sri Jaya Dev in matchlessly lucid and poetic form in Oriya. In his discussion on Sri Jaya Dev, he has established, on the basis of facts, the fakeness of Bengali claim over him. But more importantly, he has exposed the mens rea behind such false claim. In this endeavor, he has, interalia, brought to light how Orissa is the birthplace of Buddha and why He is worshiped as Sri Jagannath in Orissa.

For the first time, in this book, he has given a new but unrefutable interpretation to history by pointing out at the antagonism of Asoka towards Buddhism, which was the only reason of his attack on Orissa, the place being the birthplace of Buddha and therefore, the fountainhead of Buddhism. A master wordsmith, he has created magic in the pages of this book where quest is melted into creativity, hunch is matched with historiocity, comprehension is tested on the matrix of reality, reality has metamorphosed into a lucid- in- languagebut-strong-in-tenor pattern, uniquely ecstatic, that has revived Sri Jaya Dev in his entirity. This is a must reading for everybody who loves Sri Jaya Dev and loves Orissa and her rich ancient culture and to whom, reality is important than the legends.