Chandimangal: Difference between revisions

The second narrative begins with the birth of Ratnamala, a dancer in the court of [[Indra]] in heaven as Khullana, a cousin of Lahana, who was later married to Dhanapati. Dhanapati was a wealthy merchant, and a devout worshipper of Shiva. Attracted by the beauty of his sister-in-law, Khullana, he marries her. Soon after their marriage, he sets forth on his travels to [[Gaur, West Bengal|Gaur]], leaving Khullana in the care of his first wife Lahana. Meanwhile, back home, Lahana, incited by her maid, Dubala, starts torturing Khullana. She was ordered to take their goats for grazing every morning. One day, one of her goats was lost. Khullana was frightened of its consequences. At this moment, Chandi sent eight ''Vidyadhari''s to teach Khullana her worship. Khullana worshipped Chandi and received her blessings. As a result, Lahana stopped torturing her and Dhanapati also came back. Dhanapati again set forth on a journey, this time to [[Sinhala peopel|Sinhala]], leaving Khullana at home. Before the journey, he made a grave mistake of opposing Chandi worship by Khullana. During his journey Dhanapati meets with misfortune and is imprisoned by the king of Sinhala. Meanwhile, Khullana gave birth to a son whom she names Sripati (or Srimanta). When Sripati grew up, he went to Sinhala. He was also imprisoned and received capital punishment from the king of Sinhala. But by the grace of Chandi, he was saved and he rescued his father from the prison of Sinhala. Sripati married Sushila, the princess of Sinhala. Dhanapati was finally forced to acknowledge that Chandi and Shiva are the same and started worshipping her.<ref>Sen, Sukumar (1991, reprint 2007). ''Bangala Sahityer Itihas'', Vol.I, {{Bn icon}}, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers, ISBN 81-7066-966-9, pp.435-45</ref>

The Chandimangalkavya's earliest poet was Manik Datta, who probably hailed from [[Maldaha]] and pre-dated [[Chaitanya Mahaprabhu]]. A copy of his work, dated 1785 has been found. Other poets of the Chandimangalkavya include Dvija Madhab (or Madhabananda) and ''Kabikankan'' Mukundaram, both belonging to the 16th century and both influenced by Vaishnava philosophy popularised by Chaitanya. Dvija Madhab's work, dated 1501 [[Saka era]] (1579), gave definite shape to the narrratives of Chandimangal. A number of small lyrics on the pattern of Vaishnava ''pada''s have also been inserted into the text. All the manuscripts of his work are found from [[Noakhali]] and [[Chittagong]] region. Mukundaram is considered by a number of modern scholars as the most celebrated poet of the [[mangalkavya]]s. His work, known as the ''Abhayamangal'' is dated 1466 [[Saka era]] (1544).<ref name=s1/> He excelled in portraying the joys and sorrows of human life especially in his narrative of Kalketu. His characters are full of life even as he imparted to them a sense of universality and humanity.