The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c14.s3.16

v2.c14.s3.16

The rise of the Vīraśaiva sect in the latter half of the twelfth century gave a great impetus to Canarese literature; the Canarese works composed by its followers have been already mentioned in an earlier section. All the great Canarese poets of the thirteenth century like Janna, Mallikārjuna, Keśirāja, &c., flourished at the Hoysaḷa court. Canarese literature did not prosper under the Yādavas, as it did under the Rāṣṭrakūṭas and the Later Cāḷukyas. The cause is not far to seek. The Yādavas themselves spoke Marathi and their capital city was at Devagiri, which was in the heart of Mahārāṣṭra. The age of the Yādavas is therefore very important in the history of Marathi literature, for it originated at this time. The formal parts of inscriptions begin to appear in the Marathi language in some of the Yādava records. The earliest inscription of our period in which Marathi makes its appearance is the Parel Stone record of A.D. 1187 where the curse is written in the Marathi language: in the Pāṭana inscription of A.D. 1200 the concluding lines describing the voluntary contributions of citizens are also in Marathi. We may therefore fairly presume that Marathi had begun to be used as a vehicle of thought and literature during the twelfth and also eleventh centuries A.D., though we have no extant works as early as that period. Nevertheless the mature development of the language as a literary medium, which is to be seen in the works of Mukundarāya and Jñāneśvara, presupposes a literary activity of at least two centuries.