On Suryadasa and the Invention of Bidirectional Poetry (vilomakavya)

Abstract

The subject of this communication is the small but well-known genre of bidirectional poetry in Sanskrit called vilomakavya, in which a poem is composed in such a way that it can be read meaningfully from left to right, and from right to left, and in which two different narratives are sustained in the two directions. Here I argue four points: (1) It is reasonable to suppose that this genre had a beginning; to suppose, that is, that someone invented it at some time. (2) When one considers the evidence of the extant vilomakdavya literature, it becomes clear that Siryadasa was the inventor of the genre. (3) For a Sanskrit literatus of his time, Siryadasa had an unusually detailed knowledge of the knowledge systems communicated in Persian and Arabic, and was active in a period when such interest was growing among Sanskrit authors. (4) Given that the Arabic and Persian scripts read from right to left, and given Suirya's predilection for ingenious forms of poetry, his invention of the full-length vilomakavya was motivated most proximately by his engagement with the knowledge systems of the mlecchas or foreigners.

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