Janna (c. 13th century CE) was a prominent Kannada poet in medieval Karnataka, India. He is widely regarded as one of the important Jain poets of the Hoysala period, known for his moral seriousness, philosophical depth, and refined literary style. He flourished under the patronage of the Hoysala king Narasimha I and possibly Veera Ballala II. Janna is best known for his classic Jain purana "Yashodhara Charite", as well as "Anantanatha Purana" and "Anubhava Mukhura".[Narasimhacharya, R. (1988). History of Kannada Literature. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. pp. 28–30.]
Early life and background
Little is known with certainty about Janna’s early life. He was a
Jain by faith and is believed to have belonged to a scholarly Jain family in Karnataka. He served as a court poet and minister (Dandanayaka) under the Hoysalas, which enabled him to compose his major works in a refined courtly style.
[Narasimhacharya, R. (1988). p. 29.]
Works
Janna’s most famous work is "Yashodhara Charite", a Jain purana in Kannada that narrates the story of King Yashodhara, exploring themes of desire, sin, karmic consequence, and spiritual redemption with vivid and sometimes shocking imagery. He is also credited with "Ananthanatha Purana", which narrates the life of
Anantanatha, the 14th Tirthankara of Jainism, and Anubhava Mukhura, which further showcases his poetic skill and moral depth.
[Narasimhacharya, R. (1988). pp. 29–30.]
Legacy
Janna is remembered as one of the great Jain poets in Kannada literature, alongside
adikavi Pampa,Ranna (Kannada poet), and Ponna (poet). His works reflect the strong Jain influence on medieval Karnataka’s literary culture, combining ornate poetic expression with serious moral and philosophical concerns.
[Sastri, K.A. Nilakanta (1955). A History of South India. Oxford University Press. p. 367.]
Magnum opus
Yashodhara Charite is a classic Kannada Jain poem by Janna, written during the 13th century when
Jainism was facing challenges in
Karnataka. It is an epic in the
kandapadya metre, consisting of around 310 verses with a unique set of stories that use extreme, often gruesome imagery of lust, violence, and sin as cautionary moral lessons on the consequences of unchecked desire.
[Sheldon Pollock (2003), The Language of the Gods in the World of Men. University of California Press, p. 377.][Narasimhacharya, R. (1988). History of Kannada Literature. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. pp. 29–30.]
The poem narrates the downfall and repentance of King Yashodhara, who under the sway of lust commits horrific sins including incest and cannibalism, but ultimately repents, illustrating the Jain doctrines of karma and spiritual liberation (moksha). Inspired in part by Sanskrit versions of the tale, Janna’s work emphasizes the moral seriousness and psychological complexity of the theme.[Sastri, K.A. Nilakanta (1955). A History of South India. Oxford University Press. p. 367.]
In one of the stories, the king intends to perform a ritual sacrifice of two young boys to a local deity but, taking pity, releases them and abandons human sacrifice.[E.P. Rice (1921). A History of Kannada Literature. Oxford University Press. pp. 43–44.] In another, he burns himself on the funeral pyre of a friend’s wife whom he abducted in desire and who dies of grief.[Sahitya Akademi (1988). A History of Indian Literature: 1100–1800. p. 181.] In yet another, the poem describes the queen Armutamati’s attraction to the ugly Mahout Ashtavakra. To expiate her sin, Yashodhara performs a symbolic cock sacrifice that becomes gruesome when the cock comes alive and crows at the time of death. He and his mother are reborn as animals, suffering for many rebirths before attaining redemption.[Sahitya Akademi (1992). p. 4629.]
Other writings
Janna's
Anubhava Mukhura is a treatise on erotics and the science of lovemaking, a topic that was well established as a genre of Kannada literature by his time.
[Nagaraj in Pollock (2003), p. 375]
Notes
