Saptakanda Ramayana

Saptakanda Ramayana is the 14th century Assamese version of the Ramayana attributed to the poet Madhava Kandali. It is considered to be the first translation from the Sanskrit to a modern regional Indo-Aryan language. This work is also considered one of the earliest written examples of the Assamese language.

A particular feature of this work is the non-heroic portrayal of Rama, Sita, and other characters, as explicitly stated by Madhav Kandali himself, which rendered the work unsuitable for religious purposes. This feature disturbed a later poet, Ananta Kandali, who was moved enough to comment on it. The first (Adikanda) and the last (Uttarakanda) cantos of the Madhava Kandali's work was lost, and were later inserted by Madhavdeva and Sankardeva respectively in the 16th century. This work has been translated into the English language.

The Ramayana was written upon the request of the Kachari king Mahamanikya (Mahamanikpha, 1330-1370). At that time, his kingdom centered on present-day Nagaon. Kandali writes:

kavirāj kandali ye āmākese buliwāyā
kariloho sarvajana bodhe.
ramayana supa yara, shri mahamanike ye,
baraha rajar anurudhe.
sat kanda ramayana padabandhe nibandhilo
lambha parihari sarodhrite.
mahamanikyoro bolo kavyarasa kicho dilon
dugdhak mathilo yena ghrite
pandit lokar yebe asantosa upajaya
hat yore bolon shudha bak
pustak bichari yebe taite katha napawaha
tebe sabe nindiba amak.

The poetic work uses various metres for different moods and situations. Some of the metres used are pada (fourteen syllables, four lines of verses), jhumura (four lines, with eight syllables each), dulari (three charana, first and second has six syllables each and the third has eight syllables), and chhavi (like dulari, but with different syllabilic structure). The pada metre became very popular in later Assamese compositions.

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