Celebrating Janmashtami the Persian Way: Sānval Singh and the Bhāgavat Purāṇa in Persian MS 961

Written by Pranav Prakash, a Junior Research Fellow and the Director of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies at Christ Church, University of Oxford, UK.

The Janmashtami of Krishna

The Hindu festival of Janmashtami (Janmāṣṭamī in Sanskrit) is around the corner. Krishna (Kṛṣṇa in Sanskrit), one of the incarnations of the god Vishnu (Viṣṇu in Sanskrit), is believed to be born on Janmashtami, which is, to be precise, the eighth day (aṣṭamī) of the new moon phase (kṛṣna pakṣa) of the sixth month (Bhādra) of the Hindu calendar Vikrama Saṃvat. That day happens to be August 16^th this year. Portraits and idols of Krishna have already filled flea markets, pilgrimage routes, local temples and home altars. Devotees perform religious rituals, chant mantras and sing hymns to seek blessings from Krishna. On the day of Janmashtami, some choose to fast until sunset, others recite a selection of verses (ślokas) from the Bhagavad Gītā and the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.

The message of the Bhagavad Gītā

The Gītā elucidates Krishna’s message to Arjuna, a key character in the epic poem Mahābhārata. The epic depicts a protracted war of succession between the five sons of Pāṇḍu, Arjuna’s father, and the hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Pāṇḍu’s elder half-brother, over the kingdom of Kuru. Called upon to fight an army of his cousins, relatives, mentors and acquaintances, Arjuna questions the legitimacy of the impending war and refuses to enter the battlefield at Kurukshetra. In response to Arjuna, Krishna instructs on the Hindu view of dharma, the rightful ways in which each sentient being must conduct themselves in order to uphold the cosmic order. Arguing for the pursuit of action over inaction, justice over injustice, and knowledge over illusion, Krishna elaborates upon the diverse ways of knowing the self, of unravelling the reality and of fathoming the truth. Reminding Arjuna of his dharma as a warrior, Krishna advises, ‘Your duty is to act without any attachment to the outcome of your action.’

The popularity of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa

Whereas the Gītā synthesizes diverse strands of Hindu thought to convey the divine message of Krishna to Arjuna, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa expounds upon the mythological narratives of different incarnations of Vishnu whilst grappling with a broad array of theological, philosophical and religious concerns. Compiled over several centuries and comprising over 14,000 verses, the Bhāgavata seems to have acquired a canonical status by the end of the first millennium. For much of the second millennium, Sanskrit literacy dwindled among a readership that was, by and large, restricted to dominant caste communities. Yet the Bhāgavata, an encyclopaedic work in Sanskrit, remained one of the most popular religious works in Hindu societies. A variety of historical factors contributed to its popularity over the longue durée—most notably, the mass mobilization of Vaishnava devotional communities and their affirmation of the Bhāgavata as the foundational scriptural work, the steady growth of vernacular translations and commentaries of the Bhāgavata, and the adaptation of its narratives in book arts, performative traditions and oral cultures.

The Persian translations of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa

The Bhāgavata is one of the many purāṇas that were composed and circulated in premodern India. The purāṇas are arguably the most expansive and dynamic genre of religious literature in Hindu societies. Of all the Persian renditions of Sanskrit purāṇas, the Bhāgavata stands out as the most frequently translated and illustrated work of that genre. Persian translators of the Bhāgavata unanimously report that many found it quite challenging to read and appreciate the purāṇas in Sanskrit proper. Persian, in contrast, was far more accessible to the lay devotees of Krishna, and a Persian rendition would attract greater readership, patronage and appreciation in their respective communities.

While spelling out their rationale for translating the Bhāgavata into Persian, most translators neglect to reflect upon the status of their work vis-à-vis other regional languages. Translations, retellings and commentaries of Bhāgavata concurrently emerge in several Indian languages, including Braj, Awadhi and other older dialects of Hindi. These vernacular Bhāgavata traditions would have benefitted any polyglot translator trying to grasp the key themes of this purāṇa. Compared to the Sanskrit manuscripts of the Bhāgavata, which were at times owned and instructed by conservative casteist communities, the vernacular traditions were more readily accessible to Vaishnava devotees and translators. Most Persian translators, however, do not discuss their experience with the regional narrative and hermeneutical traditions of the Bhāgavata. Fortunately, Persian Ms 961, held at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, appears to be the only manuscript known so far, whose translator, Sānval Singh, records his reading of a ‘Hindi manuscript’ (pūthī-yi Hindī) of the Bhāgavata.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa of Sānval Singh

Persian writers habitually use ‘Hindi’ as a catch-all term for any and all South Asian languages, but Sānval quite specifically infers the Hindi language that was then prevalent in much of the north and east Gangetic plains. His reference becomes clearer when he discusses the primary sources of his translation. The tenth book (skandha) of Bhāgavata, Sānval relates, was first narrated by Veda Vyāsa in Sanskrit. Drawing upon Vyāsa’s narrative, a ruler named Parīkṣit rendered it in ‘a language spoken by herders’ (zabān-i chūpānī) and in a poetic form comprising of dūhrah couplets. A dūhrah couplet consists of 24 syllables such that the ceasura alternates after the thirteenth and the eleventh syllables. Dūhrah poems were quite popular in Braj, Awadhi and other older dialects of Hindi.

Consequently, when Sānval encountered a large manuscript of 299 folios, which rendered the tenth book of the Bhāgavata in the dūhrah meter, he identified it as a ‘Hindi manuscript’. As much as he enjoyed reading the Bhāgavata in the dūhrah meter, Sānval realized that only specialist readers of old Hindi literature could benefit from such a manuscript. So, to make the Bhāgavata more accessible to the wider public, Sānval decided to prepare a ‘summary translation’ (khulāṣah-i tarjumah) of its tenth book in Persian. At the end of his translation, he writes, ‘Anyone who does not know Hindi can acquire the knowledge and blessings of Krishna by perusing these folios.’

Sānval and his family lived in the Benipura mohalla of the Chetganj area of Benaras. His father, Lālā Sōhar Khān, had been a resident of the city for 54 years. They hailed from the Śrīvāstava subcaste of the Kāyastha caste. The Kāyasthas primarily worked within chancelleries, judiciaries, revenue departments and other administrative offices, which continued the use of Persian throughout the nineteenth century. After the great revolts of 1857, however, the status of Persian gradually declined as the colonialist British government reinforced the official use of English in most state institutions.

In his manuscript, Sānval twice records the year in which he completed his manuscript: once on the folio 88b, and again on the folio 90b. In both instances, he mentions the year 1243 of the Mughal-era Faṣlī calendar as equivalent to the year 1893 of the Gregorian calendar. That Faṣlī year, however, does not truly correspond to 1893. Since Sānval was likely more conversant with Persian than English, his Faslī date seems more trustworthy than his Gregorian equivalent. If that is the case, then, he finished his translation in 1836–37 CE.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa in colonial India

The nineteenth century witnessed the rise of several Hindu reformers, thinkers and publishers, who were critical of the purāṇas in general and the Bhāgavata in particular. They all believed that the purāṇas corrupted the true essence of Hinduism. Dayānanda Sarasvatī (1824–1883) of Ārya Samāj, Devendranath Tagore (1817–1905) of the Brahmo Samāj and Durgā Prasād of Virajānand Press (fl. 1880s–1910s), among others, denounced the purāṇas. Despite its fair share of critics, the Bhāgavata continued to have a considerable following during and after the colonial period. Devout followers of Krishna, like Sānval, would have played their modest part in sustaining the popular interest in the Bhāgavata.

At the end of his translation, Sānval shares his personal convictions and confidently declares, ‘Krishna is the real Creator (khāliq-i ḥaqīqī).’ In his reckoning, the tenth book of the Bhāgavata is rife with miracles (karāmāt) and Krishna bestows his blessings on anyone who reads or listens to this book. Addressing his prospective readers, he avows that anyone who looks at or listens to his summary translation would acquire the true knowledge of Krishna and receive Krishna’s blessings in their lives. For the Vaishnava devotees, who preferred a lucid Persian prose to an archaic Hindi meter, Sānval’s summary translation would have been a real blessing. On the eve of Janmashtami, then, Sānval would have recommended a reading of his Persian translation of the Bhāgavata. But times have changed, and so have the ways of worshipping Krishna.

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Pranav Prakash is a Junior Research Fellow and the Director of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies at Christ Church, University of Oxford, UK. Additionally, he is a Senior Fellow of the Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography, Rare Book School (RBS), University of Virginia, and a Trustee of the American Printing History Association (APHA), New York, US. He specializes in the comparative study of book arts, literary cultures and religions in South Asian and Persian societies. His articles have appeared in Asian Ethnology, Journal of Persianate Studies, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Perso-Indica and Printing History.