By Prof. A.V. Narasimha Murthy, former Head, Department of Ancient History & Archaeology, University of Mysore.
In recent years the word Kalajnana has been made popular by the print and electronic media. The highly respected an admired Swamiji of the famous Kodi Mutt is always in the news for his accurate predictions, particularly with regard to politicians and some significant events. These predictions are supposed to have been based upon Kalajnana works.
Occult knowledge
Kalajnana is not astrology. It is an occult knowledge obtained through intuition. This is obtained not by reading vedas or religious literature, but by the divine revelation to such persons who have attained that power through a form of Yoga. Patanjali, the great Yoga saint of ancient India, attributes this to supernatural powers. According to him there are three characters for each object. They are dharma, lakshana and avasthe. Again there are three Yogangas dharana, dhyana and samadhi.
By concentrating through these Yogangas on the three characters mentioned above, the supernatural power of visualising the future events will be obtained. It is also believed that this power could be obtained generally during the third part (Java) of the night; may be around 2 am. These are technical matters. Our Kalajnanas may be compared to western works like that of Nostradamus.
Palm leaf manuscripts
Kalajnanas are handed down to us on palm leaves in the local language or in Sanskrit. Though the exact antiquity of Kalajnana literature can not be fixed, it is believed that it was very ancient, atleast as ancient as Patanjali's Maha-bhashya. Some scholars take its antiquity to Atharvaveda itself. The great Kannada scho-lar Narasimhachar (of Kavicharitre fame) thinks that this type of literature can be traced to about 1000 AD.
Virashaiva contribution
The Virashaiva saints are credited to be adept in Kalajnana literature. Basavanna, Channabasavanna, Prabhudeva, Nilamma, Nagamma etc. are credited with Kalajnana works. Their aim was to give a caution to the people upon the impending danger born out of social and moral degradation.
Normally these Kalajnanas are written in prose and poetry in the form of riddles which require intelligent interpretation. They usually use such comparisons like a rat swallowing a cat, stone hen making sound, rabbit attacking the dog etc.
Emme Basava
There are a large number of Kalajnana works related to Vijayanagar period. Virupaksha Pandita has given a good description of the destruction of the gopuras of Hampi and Matanga. Emme Basava was another Kalajnana writer. He has narrated the pathetic condition the Vijayanagar would face and cautioned the people. It is said that Kriahnadevaraya did not like these predictions and hence he ordered that Emme Basava be trampled under the legs of an elephant. The soldiers came forward to do this. But a miracle happened. The elephants took Basava by its trunk and paraded him in the streets of Hampi in appreciation of his Kalajnana. Later during the reign of Tirumalaraya I, he was honored and a jagir was given to him as per a stone record.
Emme Basava in his Kalajnana had predicted the bloodshed because of the invasion of the Muslims at Rakkasi (Rakkasa Tangadi), and vultures will have a good feast over the bodies of the soldiers. It also refers to the destruction of Matanga, Viru-paksha, Virabhadra, Hemakuta etc. Thus Emme Basava predicted the events which actually took place atleast a century later. Vidyaranya Kalajnana is another important work of this category.
Yogi Nareyana
Another significant Kalajnana work was written by Sri Yogi Nareyana (also called Thathayya) of Kaiwara in Kolar district. Actually he was a bangle-seller-turned-saint and lived during 1726-1836 AD and wrote Kalajnana in his 87th year in Telugu. He has referred to the British rule as monkey rule (Vanara Rajya) with great contempt. These foreigners will have to return to their country leaving India. Because of this wicked foreign rule, India becomes poor and the British will loot this country and take away all our wealth. He refers to bribery as a common trait.
He even refers to the division of our country. He portrays the pathetic state of our country after our independence. He states that the country will be ruled by bad people, most of whom would be thieves, dacoits and men without character. These highly selfish people set a bad example to citizens.
Present condition
Bribery becomes the main character of our life. He also refers to compulsory religious conversions. Another interesting fact is the part played by middle men, in all walks of life, who attain wealth very easily. He refers to middle men supplying young girls to brothels. Indirect reference to bombs is worth noting. He also refers to change of coinage and the use of base metals for that. He emphasises the practice of counterfeit coinage. He even refers to the performance of mass upanayanas and mass marriages which are taking place now. He has also alluded to the sale of food (hotel) and water which nobody could have imagined three hundred years ago.
According to Yogi Nareyana, the part played by politicians, officers, merchants and greedy men would be responsible for the degeneration of our society. His reference to mining and consequent bad effects on enviornment is also noteworthy.
Thus Nareyana Guru has given a good description of the Indian society by his yogic powers in his Kalajnana work (written in 1813). There are many Kalajnana works written by various saints and their complete study would be highly rewarding. Their truth or otherwise has to be analysed by scholars. Whether they are accidental or real is a matter of individual belief. After all, we live on belief.
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