Bhattadeva is acknowledged as the vicar of Assamese prose whose donation went myriad into the province of the mapped Assamese literature. Assamese prose was truly born in the hands of another bright star of the Sankaradeva Movement, Vaikunthanatha Bhattacharyya or Bhattadeva as he is popularly known. Bhattadeva, also called Kaviratna Bhagavata, planted the seeds of form in writing by introducing prose. Bhattadeva was the last great Vaisnavite writer of genius whose contributions give him a unique place in the history of literature. True it is that Assamese prose began about a century before him (in the dramas of Sankaradeva). But he must be credited with using Assamese prose as a regular vehicle for essays and for making the vehicle popular enough for the use of his posterity.
Early Life of Bhattadeva
Vaikunthanatha Bhattadeva (1558-1638) was the second son of Kavi Saraswati and grandson of Candra Bharati (not to be confused with the illustrious poets having the same titles), who resided in the village Bhara of Barnagar. Little is known about the early life of Bhattadeva. According to the account of Ramacarana, Vaikunthanatha was at first a Tantric and anti-Vaishnavite, but was influenced by Sankaradeva`s personality and sought initiation from him. Sankaradeva sent him to Damodaradeva saying that there was little difference between himself and Damodara. So he came to be initiated by Damodaradeva
Contribution of Bhattadeva
Before assessing Bhattadeva`s works it is necessary to know why he discarded the traditional verse form in favour of prose. The guiding influence in his life was Damodaradeva at whose behest Bhattadeva undertook to render these texts, because of their didactic and monitory qualities, into Assamese prose for the benefit of women and the submerged stratum of society.
Bhattadeva was to an enormous extent crowned with success in his attempt. The spirit of the age, an intense and permeating attention in religious conviction, was with him. Even an untailored bookworm of Katha-Bhagavata and Katha-Gita can without demur cry that the author has succeeded in making these installations intelligible to the common people. By translating these two most sacrosanct and edifying Sanskrit texts into Assamese and by making his tongue an easy and eloquent van for abstract contemplation and profound philosophical background, Bhattadeva wins the reader`s applause.
Learned as he was and his attained scholarship made his style distinguished for dignity with a mouthful of poise. With unparalleled dexterity the instigator has engaged both Assamese and Sanskrit vocabularies plane by plane for exposition of deep spiritual thoughts. His style reveals an astonishing flexibility and variety according to the subject-matter. As one reads Katha-Bhagavata one feels as if he were in the heart of a religious congregation and the scholar-divine were explaining the text with comments on and answers to possible objections to his interpretations. On the other hand, none can fully appreciate the compositional skill of Katha-Gita without entering into the atmosphere of dialogue that prevails throughout.
Although Bhattadeva`s works were mainly translations, they have enough of freshness and novelty in them and make agreeable reading thanks to the author`s incomparable style. Further, these texts are not mere renderings from one language to another; the writer assimilated the inventive resources and interpreted them according to his standpoint. The author never failed to weave into the texts homely similes and familiar maxims from standard commentaries wherever they were considered illustrative of the arguments. From the standpoint of the art of translation, Katha-Bhagavata is a prominent landmark, overshadowing the other prose translations of mediaeval Assamese literature. Bhattadeva had a profound grasp of Sanskrit grammar and literature, which earned for him the title of Bhagavata Bhatta. carya (versed in the Bhagavata). Bhattadeva has several original Sanskrit works to his credit. Inevitably, therefore, Sanskrit influences, particularly that of Sanskrit syntax, tinged his Assamese writings. Besides, as these texts are translations from Sanskrit, tatsama words naturally creep into them; but the author is nowhere pompous because his works are not intended for the learned only. The judicious use of Sanskrit words has only invested these religious writings with dignity and grace. In syntactical structure also his writings are disciplined by Sanskrit grammar. In his Katha-Gita, however, the sentences hobble at places running to complex lengths due to the piling up of clause on clause for illustrating knotty points In spite of these occasional lapses, the syntax is regular, the verb is not dropped or shifted at will, the infinitive is not split, and clauses are not thrown in a higgledy-piggledy fashion with utter disregard of the principles of clarity and precision.
Bhattadeva`s works are a landmark in the evolution of an accomplished philosophical and narrative prose in Assamese literature. He created a sure-footed expository prose-style with an eye to grammatical perfection. His aim was to explain religious matters in a clear and logical manner. The conversational and argumentative prose style of Kaiha-Gita served as a model and pattern to the metaphysical Vaishnavite prose writers of later years, and the simple free light-sailing style of Katha-Bhagavata greatly influenced the writers of Garitputhis. Another very important type of literature that developed as an offshoot of the resurgence of the Vaishnava movement under the direct aegis of the Satra institutions was the Caritputhis, the biographies of Sankaradeva. Later this tradition continued in the biographies of many other Vaisnavite saints. Recitations from the biographies of saints as a source of religious inspiration to devotees are made after congregational prayers even to this day. According to Katha-Guru Carit (a prose biography of Srimanta Sahkaradeva and Madhavadeva), it was Madhavadeva who first introduced this practice. He was the first to undertake a daily recitation of his Guru`s biography.
