336 M. M. Chakravarti— Language and literature of Orissa. [No. 4, 
The existing songs begin with those of Upendra Bhahja. Many of 
the later songs are now being compiled and printed. About four 
hundred such songs have now been published referrable to some 70 or 80 
authors. Among them the most prominent authors are Upendra Bhanja, 
Sadananda Kavisuryyabrahma, Makunda Deva, Banamali Dasa, Raja 
Jagadeva, Gopalakrsna and an unnamed chief calling himself Asta- 
durganatha (or owner of eight forts). The first two. authors will be 
separately noticed in Part IV. Makunda Deva appears to be the king 
of Khorda who was imprisoned by the British for the Khorda rebellion 
of 1804. Raja Jagaddeva was of Par] a Khemdi, District Gan jam; but his 
name I do not find in Mr. Sewell’s list of Khemdi kings. 1 BanamaK 
Dasa and Gopalakrsna were two Brahmins who appeared from their 
songs to have been devout Vaisnavas. 
Excluding from consideration the recent ones, the Oriya songs are 
mostly Cautisds , that is in four or more couplets. Occasionally they are 
either Glidndas (like the ordinary poems) 8 or Chamois (in six couplets), 
or Bolis . s As a rule, the songs deal with incidents of Radha and 
Kjsna. Loves of human lovers and mistresses are rarely treated, and 
then the author is most likely of a royal family like Upendra Bhanja. 
This exclusiveness in the treatment of the subject-matter originated in 
the paramount influence of Vaisnavism and is noticeable not simply in 
songs but also in the other classes of poetry as I will point out later on. 
The songs while mostly devoted to Radha and Krsna, deal not with 
their pleasures but with their pains and describe either the pangs of new¬ 
born love or the pangs of separation from the beloved. Radha and Krsna 
have been reduced to human level, and even of this anthropomorphised 
love, not the spiritual but the physical aspect, is generally dwelt upon. 
Several of these songs are composed in the true lyric vein, but as they 
generally contain descriptions of acts and feelings which would not be 
and Uttarii Ka. 39th Ch.; Urdhaba Cautisa Larjka Ka. 4th Ch.; 
“ Kota-i Gundica ” JTf : ^^5 , ^T ,, ) Larjka Ka. 6th and 40th Ch.; Nandaba-i 
Cautisa j Laqka Ka. 18th and 64th Ch., etc., etc. 
1 Sewell’s sketch of the dynasties of S. India, pp. 45-6. 
3 Chanda songs are referred to in Mathura Maggala. 
i 
JI^TII 23rd Stanza 14th Ch. 
“ Some lady, with face handsome as the moon, was singing the Chanda song. 
(Seeing Krsna) she missed a line, and ran, leaving singing and dropping her 
glances (in surprise).” 
S Bicitra Ramayana, Jadu Boli (^ aftfej) Larjka Kanda, 34th Ch.; Dadhi- 
mauthana Boli (^fg HSIR Ttfo3) Do. 41st Ch. 
