Addahamāṇa
Prakrit writer from Multan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Addahamāṇa (the Apabhraṃśa form of the name ʿAbd ur-Raḥmān[1] or Abdul Rahman[2]), also spelt as Addahmāṇ, was the last major Apabhraṃśa poet or first major Punjabi writer based out of Multan (known as Mulasthana[3]).[a][2] He was a Muslim.[4] He authored the Sandeśarāsaka epic poem.[b] According to Bhardwaj (2016), he flourished in the 11th century,[2] Roberts (1999) dates him to the 12th century,[5] while as per Ollet (2017), he flourished in the 13th century.[1] Asif (2016) claims his Sandeśarāsaka was written in the late 12th century, being compiled near Jaisalmer and based upon Kalidasa's Meghasandesa.[3] According to Flood (2022), he wrote his romance poem in the early 13th century.[4] Addahamāṇa stated that his family originated from "the land of Muslims" (the western lands inhabited by mlecchas[3]) and that he was "the lotus of his family in Prakrit poetry".[1] He began his poem with a Quranic invocation (hamd) and his work contains geographical information about the surrounding environs of a route from Multan to Cambay.[3]