Virūpākṣa-vasantotsava-campū of Ahobala or What Can Happen During the Hunting Festival

Abstract

Virūpākṣa-vasantotsava-campū describes the nine-night-long Spring Festival, vasantotsava, in the capital of the Vijayanagara kingdom. The text is quite ambiguous in many respects. It is probable that one of its protagonists, a certain Brahmin, a poet by profession, speaks here on behalf of the real author, Ahobala, who most probably lived in the 15th century CE. The present paper will be devoted to the episode connected with the mṛgayotsava or the Hunt Festival, which was a part of vasantotsava celebrations. What will be particularly stressed is the fact that Ahobala’s description of the mṛgayotsava, which takes place in the public sphere connected strongly to kingship, unexpectedly evolves into the experience belonging to a private sphere, namely concerning a personal meeting of a devotee with God. At the same time the poet evoked rich tradition of showing the forest as the place of encounters between representatives of different worlds.