Kappe Arabhatta


Kappe Arabhatta was a Chalukya warrior of the 8th century who is known from a Kannada verse inscription, dated to c. 700 CE, and carved on a cliff overlooking the northeast end of the artificial lake in Badami, Karnataka, India. The inscription consists of five stanzas written out in ten lines in the Kannada script. Stanza 2 consists of a Sanskrit śloka. Of the remaining stanzas, all except the first are in the tripadi, a Kannada verse metre.
Stanza 3, which consists of twelve words of which nine are Sanskrit loan-words in Kannada, is well known in a condensed version, and is sometimes cited as the earliest example of the tripadi metre in Kannada. However, neither stanza 3 nor stanza 4 strictly conform to the precise rules of the tripadi metre; they each have more than 18 moras in line two, in excess of the allowed 17.

Location

According to, the Kappe Arabhatta inscription overlooks the artificial lake of Badami town, and:

Kappe Arabhatta inscription text

The following is the text of the five lines written out in ten lines in the inscription. The meanings of the words are provided in the footnotes below the text. Lines 3 and 4 consist of a Sanskrit sloka, and is not translated. Here | denotes the end of each line of the tripadi metre and || , the end of the stanza:

Dictionary for the inscription

:
1a "Kappe," Kannada, "a frog; that which hops" and has cognates in related languages: Telugu "kappa - a frog;" Tulu "kappe - a frog, probably from 'kuppu' - to hop, or 'kappu' - to cover;" 1b "Ara" and "bhaṭṭa" are both Prakrit words: the former means "virtue," the latter, itself derives from Sanskrit "bhartā." 1c Śiṣṭajana priyan: Beloved of the good people. Slw. priya,
2a kaṣṭajanavarjitan: avoided by evil people, adj. s. m. sg. nom. qualifying Kappe-Arabhattan. Slw. kaṣṭa, jana, varjita; 2b kaliyugaviparita: an exceptional man in the kaliyuga. Sanskrit loan-word, viparita adj. s. m. sg. nom qualifying Kappe-Arabhattan;
5a sadhuge: to the good people. Sanskrit loan word sadhu, s. n.; 5b sadhu: Good, kind, person. Slw. s. m.; 5c madhuryamge: to the sweet. s. m. sg. dat Slw. madhurya-; 5d madhuryam: sweetness. s. m. sg. nom. Sanskrit loan-word ; 5e bādhippa: causing distress, fut. p. of badhisu - to cause distress, from Sanskrit bādh - to harass.
6a kalige: to the kali age. s. m. sg. dat. Sanskrit loan word . kali-; kali - hero.; 6b: Madhavan: Visnu, Slw. Madhava - s. m. sg. nom.; 6c: ītan: this man, dem. pron. m. Telugu: ītadu - probably i + tān - this self or ī + tan - this of mine; 6d: peran: another. From pera - outer place; the outside. MK hera; NK hora; Tamil: piran - a stranger; Malayalam: piran - another; Telugu: pera - another; 6e alla: is not, neg. pr. of intr. al ; Tamil al, alla-: no, not; Malayalam alla: no, not.
7a oḷḷitta: what is good ; 7b keyvōr: those who do; 7c ār: who ; 7d polladum: The evil also. adj. s. n. sg. nom. + um —Tamil: pol—to agree with, negative of this is pollā. Tamil: pollā, pollāda: bad, vicious, Malayalam: pollā - to be bad, evil; pollu - hollow, vain, useless; Telugu: pollu - useless; Tulu: polle - slander, backbiting. 7e adaramte - like that amte: adv. p. of an: to speak.; 7f ballittu: Strong adj. s. n.;
8a: purākṛtam: the ancient karma ; the deeds done in the past. Sanskrit loan-word; 8b illi: here. 8c: samdhikkum: 8d adu - it ; 8e bamdu - having come 9e biṭṭavōl: in the same way as releasing. adj.;
10a ahitarkkaḷ: the enemies ; 10b keṭṭar : were ruined; 10c mēṇ: and mēṇ and mēṇu: what is above, from mēl: above. Malayalam: mēṇ: what is above; superiority; menavan—a superior śudra, replaced by mattu in Modern Kannada. 10d sattar: died; past pl. of sā - to die. Tamil cā - to die, past. Sattān. Malayalam cā - to die; Telugu - caccu - to die; pp. caccina. Tulu sāy, sāi - to die, pp. satta-; 10e avicāram: without foresight. Slw. avicāra.

Literal translation

1 Kappe1a Arabhata,1b beloved of the good people1c
2 avoided by evil people,2a an exceptional man in Kaliyuga2b
5 To the good people,5a good;5b to the sweet,5c sweetness;5d | causing distress5e
6 to the kali age,6a an exceptional man in Kaliyuga,2b | Madhava,6b this man6c another6d is not6e ||
7 What is good7a those who do7b who7c the evil7d like that7e | strong7f
8 exception to 2b the ancient karma8a | here8b samdhikkum8c it8d having come8e ||
9 Bound9a the lion9b harmful thing9c what9d | in the same way as releasing9e
10 exception to or opposite2b the enemies10a | were ruined10b and10c died10d without foresight 10e ||

Popular version of Stanza 3 in Kannada script

A condensed version of Stanza 3 seems to be well known, both in the Kannada script:
ಸಾಧುಗೆ ಸಾಧು

ಮಾಧುರ್ಯಂಗೆ ಮಾಧುರ್ಯಂ

ಬಾಧಿಪ್ಪ ಕಲಿಗೆ ಕಲಿಯುಗ ವಿಪರೀತನ್

ಮಾಧವನೀತಂ ಪೆರನಲ್ಲ!
and in the English poetic rendering:

"Kind man to the kind,

Who's sweet to the sweet,

Very cruel to the cruel

He was nothing but God Vishnu in this regard"