Kappe Arabhatta

1880s photograph of cliff overlooking the Bhutanatha temple on the eastern end of the artificial lake in Badami. The Kappe Arabhatta inscription is carved on a cliff overlooking the northeast end. 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 (Lines 3 and 4) consists of a Sanskrit śloka. Of the remaining stanzas, all except the first are in the tripadi, a Kannada verse metre.

Stanza 3 (lines 5 and 6), which consists of twelve words of which nine are Sanskrit 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. 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 Translation of 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." 2a kaṣṭajanavarjitan: avoided by evil people, adj. s. m. sg. nom. qualifying Kappe-Arabhattan. Sanskrit. kaṣṭa, jana, varjita; 2b kaliyugaviparita: an exceptional man in the kaliyuga. Sanskrit, viparita adj. s. m. sg. nom qualifying Kappe-Arabhattan; 5a sadhuge: to the good people. Sanskrit sadhu, s. n.; 5b sadhu: Good, kind, person. Sanskrit. s. m.; 5d madhuryam: sweetness. s. m. sg. nom. Sanskrit; 6a kalige: to the kali age. s. m. sg. dat. Sanskrit . kali-; kali - hero.; 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 (to be fit); Tamil al, alla-: no, not; Malayalam alla: no, not. 7a oḷḷitta: what is good (adj. s. n.); 7b keyvōr: those who do; 7c ār: who (inter. pron.); 7d polladum: The evil also. adj. s. n. sg. nom. + um (NK holladu, hole)—Tamil: pol—to agree with, negative of this is pollā. Tamil: pollā, pollāda: bad, vicious (neg. of pon: to shine), Malayalam: pollā - to be bad, evil; pollu - hollow, vain, useless; Telugu: pollu - useless; Tulu: polle - slander, backbiting. 7e adaramte - like that (adv.) (adara stem. pron.) amte: adv. p. of an: to speak.; 7f ballittu: Strong adj. s. n.; 8a: purākṛtam: the ancient karma (Fleet); the deeds done in the past. Sanskrit; 8b illi: here. 8c: samdhikkum: 8d adu - it (pron); 10e avicāram: without foresight. (Fleet translates as "without doubt.") Sanskrit. avicāra.

Literal translation 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

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

and in the English poetic rendering:

"Kind man to the kind, Who's sweet to the sweet, Very cruel to the cruel He was not unlike Lord Vishnu in this regard"