Telugu Literature

TUB

TELUGU

( ANOtiRA

Dr. B. R. AMBEDKAR OPEN UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Accession No.

* all No, \
\uthor ;

We ;

This book should 7 be returned on or before tne date
ast marked below.

Copyright
The P. E. N. All-India Centre

1944

Printed by Kishansingh Chavda at Sadhana Press, Raopura,

Baroda (India) and published for the P. E. N. All-India Centre

by the International Book House, Ltd., Bombay. Nov. 1944.

THE P. E. N. BOOKS

The Indian Literatures No. XV
Edited by Sophia Wadia

for
The P. E. N. All-India Centre

TELUGU LITERATURE

( Andhra Literature )
Bv

Prof. P. T. RAJU, M. A,, PH.
of the Andhra Universit

Published for

The P. E. N. All-India Cen
Aryasangha, Malabar Hill, Bombay

by

The International Book House, Ltd.,
Ash Lane, Fort, Bombay

EDITOR'S FOREWORD

India is no exception in a world swayed by politics
in an extraordinary measure. Her ruling passion is for
freedom from foreign domination ; in other countries
politics revolves round other ideas and ideals, other
hopes aud aspirations. India has greater justification
for being preoccupied with politics, for her servitude
affects her indigenous culture on every plane. This has
compelled even a mystic like Gandhiji to experiment
with truth in the field of politics.

Mainly because of this preoccupation Indians have
undervalued the literary unfoldment of the last few
years in the different linguistic areas ; if properly co-or-
dinated and helped, this would develop into a renais-
sance of the first order. Visions of literary creators
enshrined in books of today are likely to become ob-
jective realities of tomorrow. Moreover, the mystical
intimations of the poet, the psychological analyses of
the novelist, the philosophical expositions of the es-
sayist, the tendency portrayals and the character
delineations of the dramatist these are related to the
very problems which engage the whole consciousness of
the politician, the economist and the sociologist. India
cannot afford to be neglectful of her literary movement
of today.

India's many languages are not a curse, however
much her enemies may call them so or her political and
other reformers may wish for a lingua franca. Ideas

unite people and rule the world ; not words. Europe is
not suffering because it has many languages, but because
conflicting ideas and competing ideas have confused
issues and have created chaos. Our many languages are
channels of cultural enrichment. Many educated Indians
are not familiar with the literary wealth of any Indian
language other than their own. How many Bengalis
know the beauties of Malayalam literature ? How
many Tamilians are familiar with the literary efforts of
old and modern Assam ? And so on. Again, India
suffers grievously in the Occident, which is ignorant
of the present-day literary achievements in the
different Indian languages. No systematic attempt has
been made to popularise the story of the Indian
literatures or to present gems from their masterpieces to
the general public in English translation. This is now
being attempted by the Centre for India of the Inter-
national P. E. N.

The plan of this series of books is a simple one. A
volume is devoted to each of the main Indian languages.
Each book is divided into three parts ; (i) The history
of the literature dealt with ; (2) Modern developments ;
and (3) An anthology. There will be about sixteen
volumes in all, and they were to have been published in
alphabetical order. Our effort to adhere to that arrange-
ment occasioned too much delay, however, and so it has
now been decided to publish the remaining MSS. in the
order of their receipt by the Editorial Office. A list
of these publications will be found elsewhere in this
volume.

In editing each MS. I have kept to the translitera-

Ill

tion of words from the Sanskrit, Arabic and Indian
languages selected by the author.

I must thank my colleagues of the P. E. N. Movement
and several other friends who have helped with advice
and valuable suggestions. And, of course, the P. E. N.
All-India Centre and myself are greatly indebted to the
friends who have undertaken to write the books which
make up this series. Without their co-operation we
could not have ventured on the project.

For me this is a labour of love. But time, energy
and other contributions made bring their own recom-
pense as all are offered on the altar of the Motherland,
whose service of humanity will be greatly aided by the
literary creations of her sons and daughters.

SOPHIA WADIA

INTRODUCTION

Dr. P. T. Raju, M.A., PH.D., Sastri, the author of this
brochure on Telugu literature is a scholar and thinker of
merit. The honour of being first in this field belongs to
Messrs, Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, whose book on
Telugu literature in the Heritage of India Series, with a
Preface by me, was published quite a number of years
ago. But there are points in Dr. Raju's book which
distinguish it from the earlier publication and give it
special value. Though he has called it " Telugu Litera-
ture, " the book is wider in its scope and is indeed a
treatise on the Andhra contribution to the culture of
India. Needless to add, that Andhra contribution is
wider than Telugu literature, because it includes the
contributions of the great savants in Sanscrit and Pali
and religious teachers of the stature of Nagarjuna,
Kumarila Bhatta and Basava and poets like Hala.
Dr. Raju touches on these and on the works in Sanscrit
of Mallinatha, King Katayavema, Vidyanatha, Pandita-
raya Jagannatha and quite a number of other national
heroes of philosophy and literature.

Eminent archaeologists have held that the world-
famous paintings of the Ajanta caves are the creation of
Andhra artistic genius. The Amaravati and other
sculptures are amongst the world's masterpieces.

The Andhras played an important part in the devel-
opment of Kannada literature also. There are hardly

VI

any other people in India who have played so various
and illustrious a part in the political and in the cultural
development of India; and Dr. Raju has presented this
encyclopaedic background in a few bold touches. If
Hala and Bhavabhuti also are Andhras by birth, the
magnificence of the Andhra record would appear to be
among the most shining of any in this land of ancient
but perennial culture.

A fascinating but perplexing problem is "Who were
the original Andhras? Are they the same as the
Telugus ? Or are they to be regarded as a conquering
race, who subjugated the Telugu country in addition to
Magadha and other lands north and west of the Desa
now called Andhra after them, but later on became
confined to these lands and merged in the Telugus as the
Normans were dissolved in the Anglo-Saxons ? " Dr. Raju
has dealt with this problem pertaining to the Andhra-
Telugu relationship with much acumen and ability. It is
difficult to believe that the Andhras mentioned in the
Aiter ey a Brahmana are the same as the Telugus with
whose literature this book is mainly concerned.

There are at least three hypotheses regarding the
Andhra-Telugu relationship. According to one of them,
the Andhras were a North Indian tribe referred to in
the Aitereya Brahmana contemptuously as eaters of
dog's flesh. Were these Andhras racially Aryan or non-
Aryan ? One hypothesis holds that they were Aryans
by race who had become non-Aryan by deviating from
their culture and adopting the ways of the non-Aryan
tribes amongst whom they lived. The following quest-
ions arise If they had been Aryans by race, they

VII

would have lived amongst the non- Aryans as conquerors.
Would they have had any motive then to adopt the
culture of their subjects? Is there much historical
probability in the idea that in those remote times, when
tribes were small and closely knit, small clans would
have broken off and mingled with folk obviously regard-
ed as inferior ? Is it not more probable for the inferior
to adopt the culture of the superior, especially when the
inferior are not equally or highly civilized ? If the
Andhras were racially Aryan, why were they bracketed
with the Kiratas, Pulindas and other non-Aryan tribes ?
It seems to me that the probability is that the Andhras
were a non-Aryan race who, starting low, gradually
worked up the scale of Aryan culture until they finally
became Aryanised.

What was the language of these Andhras of the
Aiter ey a Brahmana? There seems to be no clear evi-
dence or indication ; but it is a fact that in later times
Paisachi, a Prakritic language, was in use amongst the
Andhras and indeed became the language of their
Aryan affiliation. Race and language do not always go
together. And from the fact that the Andhras spoke
Paisachi at a later stage, one cannot infer an Aryan
origin conclusively, though an Aryan adoption and
assimilation are probable.

At a later, and what may be called, relatively speak-
ing, a more historical stage, the Andhras were found to
be in occupation of the Vindhya regions with Paisachi
as their language, certainly their written language and
probably their spoken. From this Vindhyan centre they
seem to have radiated in three directions towards the

in its scope the lands and islands east and south of
Burma right up to the Philippines, The main portion
of the population of the Philippine Islands is known as
Tegalogs, a variation of either the name Telaga or of
Telugu. A large number of Telugu words are current
in the Filipine language. A Jesuit Father has compiled
a dictionary of the Telugu and Sanscrit terms found
in the language of the Filipinos. I had that book once
in my possession ; but it is now not to be found in my
library !

As regards the resume of Telugu literature presented
in this book, Dr. Raju's work, though naturally brief, is
eminently accurate and comprehensive. His explana-
tions and evaluations are of commanding significance.

Special praise must be given to the Anthology which
he has appended as Part III and in which he has given
interesting translations of some of the finest pieces in
Telugu literature, ballads and folk-songs, which will
convey to the foreign reader an impressive idea of
the literary heritage of the Telugus and their genius.

I have no hesitation in pronouncing this book one
of the most valuable ever produced on the subject of
Telugu literature set against the background of general
Andhra culture and history. The author deserves to
be warmly congratulated on so masterly a publication.

Padma-Prabhasa, C. R. REDDY

Chittoor,

i8th September, 1943.

AUTHOR'S FOREWORD

No correct estimation of any provincial literature is
possible without taking into consideration the contribu-
tion which that province has made to Sanscrit literature
also, which is really the background and source of
modern Indian literatures. The only exception may
be Urdu ; but I imagine that the entire Urdu literature
is not exempt from Sanscrit influence. However, in the
other languages the earliest poems must have been
written by poets well-versed in Sanscrit. So far as
Telugu literature is concerned, all its authors, especially
in the beginning, were Sanscrit scholars. And we read
of a heated discussion on poetics between Srinatha, a
Telugu, and Dindima Bhat, a Sanscrit poet, in which
the latter was defeated. Hence between the poetry of
the provincial language and that of Sanscrit the only
difference must be that of language but not of theme
and spirit. And so far as it is influenced by Sanscrit,
the poetry of the whole of India will look alike.

Still, there is poetry of a purely indigenous growth,
particularly folk-songs, heroic ballads, cradle songs,
songs of benediction and so forth. Their metres too
are different. But their authors are not generally
known and their dates cannot be fixed. The authors of
the indigenous poems too adopted the Sanscrit poetic
traditions, like comparing a beautiful face to the moon
and the lotus and a woman's braid to a black cobra.
But they have some usages of their own. For example,

xii

a pretty face is compared by the Andhra poets to a
parrot, which is rare in Sanscrit. It would be interest-
ing if collections of these usages were made. These
usages as well as the metres of indigenous poems have
crept into the works of the classical poets also, who are
mainly influenced by Sanscrit.

We may say that every province has three main lines
of literary development the purely Sanscrit, the purely
local and indigenous and a combination of the two
which may be called the classical poetry in the pro-
vincial language. Sometimes a few of the so-called
classical poets may choose, like Gaurana, a purely
indigenous metre but write in a grammatically and
idiomatically correct literary language. And, as is
now happening, a poet may use spoken and ungrammat-
ical language but an old Sanscrit metre. Or, as was
done by the Telugu classical poets themselves, Sanscrit
and indigenous metres may be used together, just as
they adopted both the Sanscrit and indigenous poetic
usages. Thus many combinations are possible and are
actually found. A comprehensive history of Telugu
literature must take into account fully and in detail all
the three lines of development and their further
crossings.

The Andhra country has made a very valuable con*
tribution to Sanscrit, a full account of which it is not
possible to give here. The names of many Andhras are
familiar to the world of Sanscrit scholars. Qfallinatha,
the commentator on Kalidasa's poems, is known to
all Sanscrit students. The best and the most popular
commentator on Kalidasa's dramas is King Kataya

Xlll

Vema. Singa Bhupala was a learned and powerful
ruler, during whose time Srinatha and Potana flourished.
He was so renowned a scholar that for the final test of
learning every pandit of tlie time made it a point to
visit his court and undergo his personal examination.
He is the author of several Sanscrit works and his
Rasdrnavasudhdkara is a well-known work on Sanscrit
drama. Vidyanatha's Pratdparudnyam and Jagannatha
Pandita's Rasagangddhara are famous treatises on
Sanscrit poetics. The latter work has never been
superseded. Bhavabhuti, who went to Kashmir from
Vidarbha, is claimed here to be an Andhra, for Vidarbha
which borders on Telingana was part of the Andhra.
Krishnadeva Raya, in his introduction to Amuktama-
lyadd, tells us that he is the author of half a dozen
Sanscrit works. Gunadhya was a minister to a Sata-
vahana emperor and the author of Brhatkathd. There
are several less famous writers of whom Vamana
Bhattabana, Sivalinga Bhupati, and Lolla Lakshmi-
dhara may be mentioned. Hala's contribution to Prakrit
is quite well known?}

In Sanscrit philosophy the Andhra can justly be
proud of having produced some of the greatest men.
To Buddhism the country has supplied Nagarjuna,
Arya Deva and Dignaga. Tney may not have been
born in the country between the Godavari and the
Krishna ; but that the Andhra was the place of their
activities none can doubt, and who their parents were
it is difficult to establish. Besides, the Andhras spread
right from the Vindhyas in the North to the Kaveri in
the South. [The belief is strong that Kumarila, Vidya-

XIV

ranya, Sayana and Sayana-Madhava were Andhras.
Annam Bhatta and Dharmaraja Adhvarindra are well
known to all students of Indian philosophy. Nimbarka
and Vallabha were famous achdryas who, strangely
enough, could not get followers in their own country.
Sripati's commentary on the Brahma-Sutras, called
Sri-karabhdshya, written from the Virasaiva point of
view, has recently been published. The author hailed
from the Guntur District. Chitsukha belonged to the
Vizagapatam District. There are others also whom the
Andhras claim as their

Of the people who made contributions to other
indigenous literatures Pampa and Ponna may be men-
tioned. Basava, the founder of Virasaivism, was an
Andhra, but he could not obtain a following in this
country. He and his religion made good contributions
to Kannada literature. The Lingdyats of the Andhra
are Brahmins who call themselves Arddhyabrdhmins.
Their philosophy is the same as that of Virasaivism.
The Saivism of the Arddhyabrdhmins possesses extensive
literature in Telugu. The Ramanujiya Vaishnavas too
have corresponding literature; but for them Tamil is
the sacred language, which is undoubtedly a sign of the
non- Aryan origin of the religion. Saivisrn too is non-
Aryan in origin ; but the Arddhyabrdhmins of the Andhra
do not so much revere the Dravidian Saiva Agamas.

The traditional Sanscrit education was conducted in
two kinds of institutions called Ghatikdsdlas and
Vidydpithas. The kind of instruction given in both
was the same. But the former were situated in capitals
and were under the direct supervision of the king's

XV

officials. The latter were established in agrahdrams or
villages granted to great scholars, living on the income
of which they were to impart their learning to the
students. Of course the students too were to be main-
tained by the pandits who received the grant. No
soldier might enter those agraharams and the king's
officials had very little power over the Vtdyapilkas.
Telugu scholars too were trained similarly.

As a general rule at the capitals of empires, probably
because of their cosmopolitan nature, Sanscrit was
patronised, while in the principalities of tributary
princes and smaller kingdoms Telugu literature flour-
ished. There are indeed exceptions. The Chalukya King
Rajaraja Narendra was the patron of Nannaya, who
began the translation of the Mahdbharata. But his
successors did not seem even to care for its completion.
Tikkana and Yerrapreggada lived at the courts of far less
powerful kings. There is no instance of the Kakatiyas
encouraging any great Telugu poet at their own court,
though they had high respect for these poets, as proved
by Ganapati Deva's lending an army to Tikkana.
Of the Satavahanas, Hala, the Emperor, himself took
interest in the indigenous language, which at that time
may have been Prakrit. Rao Singana, also called
Singa Bhupala, wrote several Sanscrit works, though he
patronised many Telugu poets. There are many other
Velama and Reddi Kings who ruled over small kingdoms
at Kondavidu, Rachakonda, Bezwada (Vijayavatika),
Nellore ( Simhapuri ) and Rajahmundry and encouraged
mainly Telugu. The Satavahana Kings, in the remote
past, were patrons of Buddhism and Sanscrit Buddhist

XVI

literature is indebted to the munificence of Dhanyakata-
ka and Amaravati. The Ganga Kings of Kalinga were
patrons of Sanscrit and not of Telugu. At Madura,
Mysore, Puddukotta and Tanjore mainly Telugu litera-
ture flourished. Some Andhra Sanscrit poets like Lolla
Lakshmidhara were patronised by the Gajapatis of
Cuttack also.

In the present volume the whole of the Andhra
literature is divided into two periods, the ancient
and the modern, according to the instructions of the
General Editor of the Series. But the ancient period is
so wide that it itself contains nearly three distinct
periods. The first is generally called the Puranic Period
and the Age of Translation, the second the Prabandha
Period or the Age of the Mahakavyas and the third the
Sataka Period or the Age of the Satakas. In the modern
period all types of literary activity are found and to
divide the period according to literary types would be
impossible; The types in which the modern Andhra
literature has reached a fairly high level are the novel,
the drama and the lyric or bhavakavitvam.

Sometimes the literary periods are divided on the
basis of the ruling religions. But the Telugu literary
critic is in general opposed to such procedure. For
religious poems intended to teach directly this or that
religion do not have a high literary value. The teach-
ing has to be done indirectly through some literary
mode, in which case it is literature as literature that is
of chief interest and the religious themes come to have
only secondary importance. Further, in the Andhra,
except for the Brahmanic revival which drove away

XV11

Buddhism and Jainistn and strengthened itself to fight
Islam, there are no strong and violent religious upheav-
als. Basava could not find followers in his own
country for his militant Virasaivism. The Andhra
Kings did not allow any serious conflict between Saivism
and Vaishnavism and the cult of Harihara, in which the
ideas of Vishnu and Siva were blended into a unity, was
the most admired. Tikkana, for instance, dedicated his
Mahabhdratam to the god Harihara Natha. The Andhras
generally showed no religious fanaticism. Again, Telugu
sectarian literature, though extensive, is not given a
high place by the literati here. From the beginning
the Andhra Kings did not generally patronise such
poets. Their poems have always been a by-product,
not occupying any high place in the main line of
development. The Andhra Bhagavatam, though a
Vaishnava work, was never treated as such by the
Andhras ; and it should be noted that Potana, its author,
was a Saivite.

It cannot but be said that Western criticism has
missed the literary value of the Puranas. While speak-
ing of Indian poetry very rarely are they taken into
account. But in the Andhra literature they occupy so
high a place that no true understanding of our literature
is possible without knowing their actual nature. R. W.
Frazer writes:

India has sent forth work stamped with all the peculiar
impress of its own genius. . .which will ever demand a place in
the very first ranks of the world's literature ; but this place
would never be claimed for the two great Herculean labours of
Brahmanism the construction of the two Indian so-called epics,
the Mahabharata and the Ram ay an a. 1

1 A Literary History of India, p. 210.

XV111

There cannot be a more biased and wrong judgment
than this. All Indian poets, even the Sanscrit,
acknowledge Vyasa as the source of their inspiration.
They regard Valmiki as the first poet, but treat Vyasa
as a greater one. It might be that not one Vyasa
but many wrote the Mahabhdrata and the Purdnas.
Still the opinion current among the Sanscrit poets, that
" anything in the three worlds is a crumb from Vyasa's
dish" ( Vydsocchishtam jagattrayam), that is, that there
can be no really new theme for a poem not handled by
Vyasa, shows in what esteem he is held as a poet. If
Vyasa is a fictitious person the credit goes to the Mahd-
bhdrafa and the Purdnas.

One who is to undertake a significant history of
Indian literature must give deep consideration to the
philosophical principles underlying the growth of literary
art as expounded by Indian rhetoricians. It may be
that these rhetoricians are sometimes incorrect. Yet a
total disregard of their views and a wholesale and
unmodified application of the principles as expounded
by Western theorists will lead to no other conclusion
than that what our ancients regarded as the highest
literature is nothing but a bundle of imperfections.
Our ancients conceived of poetry as what induces one
to do the right. Thus Purdnas like the Bhdgavata,
Itihdsas like the Mahabhdrata and Kdvyas like the
Rdmdyana were grand poetry that were meant to prej-
udice people in favour of the Vedic or Bhdrata dharma.
That is why the Purdnas are regarded as an updnga or
secondary accessory to the Vedas. For the same reason
they are also called Smrtis or, as Ren6 Gu6non would

XIX

say, the traditional knowledge of the Sruti. When
commenting on the Brahmasutras almost all comm-
entators quote from these Purdnas and say, " Thus says
the Sntfti. " Treating the Purdnas as great poems as
well as an updnga of the Vedas shows that for our
ancients too the task of both the poet and the philos-
opher was the same. Like grammar etc., the Purdnas
were not meant merely to help us in understanding the
Vedas, but also to create a bias for leading the moral
life implied by them.

Macdonell's statement, for instance, in A History
of Sanskrit Literature is only a half-hearted admission of
what is contended above. He writes :

In turning from the Vedic to the Sanskrit period, we are
confronted with a literature which is essentially different from
that of the earlier age in matter, spirit, and form. Vedic litera-
ture is essentially religious ; Sanskrit literature, abundantly
developed in every other direction, is profane. But, doubtless
as a result of the speculative tendencies of the Upanishads, a
moralising spirit at the same time breathes through it as a
whole, (p. 277.)

But really the two periods are not so distinct as the
Western scholars suppose them to be. Some of the
literature subsequent to the Purdnas may be totally
profane. But the Purdnas as an upanga of the Vedas
are religious also. Even the layman will not accept
that iheMahdbhdrata, theRdmdyana and the Bhdgavata
are profane works. They are read on holy and auspi-
cious days and people are supposed to obtain special
itoerit for reading and hearing them then. If the Sruti
is revealed literature then Smrti is traditional literature,
both intended to impart the same knowledge. Western

XX

critics here see difference while there is growth.

Another feeling among them is that the poetry part
of these grand epics is different from the rest.
Winternitz, for example, writes :

The more the heroic songs grew in favour and the more
popular they became the greatei the anxiety of the Brahmans to
take possession of this epic poetry also ; and they had the art of
compounding this poetry which was essentially and purely
secular in origin, with their own religious poems and the whole
stock-in-trade of their theological and priestly knowledge. Then
it happens that legends of gods, mythological narratives of
brahmanical origin, and to a great extent even didactic sections
referring to brahmanical philosophy and ethics and brahmanical
law, were received into the Mahxbharata. *

And he treats the ascetics as a distinct class who also
tried by similar means to popularise their own doctrines.

We shall not be able to establish that the Mahabha-
rata, for instance, has no interpolations. But we shall
not admit that everything of the epic except the simple
story is an interpolation. Did not the heroes of the
Mahabharata act according to some ethical ideal?
Where did they get it except from the Vedas? Did
the Brahmins of the Vedic Age belong to a different
race and community from that of the Kshatriyas who
are the heroes of the Mahabharato, so that the fornagfc
felt it a necessity to introduce surreptitiously their owtr
ideas into the heroic songs about the latter ? If there
is a lengthy presentation of an ethical ideal, must it
necessarily be an interpolation ? Did not some of the
Kshatriyas themselves become ascetics? If the poem
contains anything about asceticism, must it be an

* A History of Indian Literature, pp. 318-19.

XXI

extraneous addition? Further, the Mahdbhdrata and
the Ramayana are not songs, though poems. It may be
that their stories were at first sung by some bards,
though we have no definite evidence for or against. It
may be that the themes were later taken up by some
poet and expanded in his own way. But if the expan-
sion is made so as to suggest indirectly a particular
ideal of life, the poem does not thereby become a collec-
tion of interpolations.

We may admit that the present recensions of the
epics contain later accretions. An itihdsa is defined as
a story of what once happened which is interwoven
with advice about dharma, artha, kdma and moksha.
( Dharmdrthakdma mokshandm upadetasamanvitam
purvavfttakathdyuktam itihdsah prachakshyate. ) This
definition must have allowed a number of later addi-
tions. But we do not think that because the Mahdbhd-
rata preaches a particular ideal of life, a particular type
of morality, gives some views about the nature of heav-
en or reality and introduces stories within stories to
illustrate its ideas, therefore all that it says about these
things are spurious additions. It must have been meant
to contain much of these. Otherwise, it would not have
been called the fifth Veda or a Smrti. Whatever it
might have been as a folk-song, which we have little
chance of knowing, the Sanscrit epic is a grand epic
poem executed with a definite aim. It might have
grown in bulk through the years ; and such growth is
not denied even in the case of Homer's poems. Yet that
its growth was not in accord with its original aims there
is little evidence to show. It was because the epic was

XXII

written with such high aim that the Andhra poets first
thought of that work and made it so exquisite that
people still view it with greatest admiration. And its
influence on them is so great that even now none is
regarded in this province as a great poet unless he
writes a beautiful epic.

In the Mahdbharata the story is narrated by Suta
to Saunaka and other rshis. Similarly every Telugu
epic, whether it be puranic, historical or merely fictitious,
is narrated by the poet to some king, noble or guru to
whom he generally dedicates the work. By some poets
the work is dedicated to a god but narrated to his patron.
The practice shows that evidently the Andhra poets at
first intended their poems mainly for the spread of
Bhdratadharma by influencing their patron kings. And
every king to whom a poem was dedicated was
supposed to be like Parikshit. He and his nobles were
particularly to be initiated into the Bhdratadharma.
Later the custom may have been followed as a mere
Kavisampraddya or poetic tradition. Kalidasa, for in-
stance, never dedicates his poems to his patron and
does not begin, " Hear, Your Majesty. " But Peddana
and other Andhra poets begin, " My Lord, listen. " In
the dedicatory verses we get useful information about^
the dynasties and exploits of kings and the genealogies"
of nobles and poets.

The Telugu alphabet has more letters than the
Sanscrit ; but I thought that it would be unnecessary in
this little book to introduce new diacritical marks for
the extra vowels and consonants. In a bigger work
their omission should not be forgiven.

XX111

The word Andhra is being used indiscriminately, some-
times with the article " the " and sometimes without it,
to denote the people, the country and the language.
As regards Bengal, for instance, we have " Bengal' 1 for
the country, " Bengali " for the language, and " the
Bengali " for the man. Indeed, the original word is
Vanga, not Bengal ; but somehow the latter has come
into use and even in Bengali the word "Bangalades"
frequently occurs. But " Andhra " has no such modifica-
tions. I discussed this point with some of my colleagues
and we came to the following conclusion : " The
Andhra " should mean the country and the man, and
"Andhra" the language only. Accordingly the word
is used in this book.

It is impossible to give in this brochure even a list
of all the poets and their works, both ancient and
modern, much less an idea of them. Of the ancient
authors I have given only those who are generally re-
garded as outstanding. The Telugu literary output was
so large that Tippu Sultan, it is said, ordered the use of
the palmyra manuscripts in the libraries of the palaces
that fell to him, as fuel for boiling gram for his horses.
We do not know what rare gems were thereby destroyed.
Telugu literature up to the beginning of the present
century is said to be larger than even the Hindi.
Even the available literature, however, is quite vast,
though we may not find all authors equally interesting.
Similarly modern poets and authors too are many. For
want of space I have to omit the names of several and
the works of more. A larger volume including all is a
real need.

XXIV

In the end I cannot adequately thank Sir C. R. Reddy
for the Introduction which he has very kindly written
to this book.

P, T. RAJU
The Andhra University,
Guntur,
5th October, 1944.

DEDICATED

to
MY FATHER

P. LAKSHM1 NARASIMHAN

in
LOVE AND RESPECT

CONTENTS

Page

Editor's Foreword i-iii

Introduction by Sir C. R. Reddy v-x

Author's Foreword xi-xxiv

I. Old Andhra Literature 1-51

Chapter I. The Beginnings 3

Chapter II. The Mahdbharata Poets and

Nannichoda. 12
Chapter III. The Rdmayana Poets and

Srinatha and Potana 23

Chapter IV. The Prabandha Poets 30
Chapter V. The Satakas and the Age

of Despair 44
II. New Andhra Literature 53-87
Chapter I. The Beginnings 55
Chapter II. Bhdvakavitvam 59
Chapter III. The Liberals 67
Chapter IV. The Drama 70
Chapter V. Novels, Short Stones, Essays 77
Chapter VI. Literary Histories and Sci-
entific and Philosophical
Works 81
Chapter VII. Academical Organs, Lexi-
cography, Journalism 85
III. Anthology 89-152
i. Ancient Poetry 91
ii. Modern Poetry 125
iii. Drama 138
iv. Prose 146
IV. Suggested Reading List 153

OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

( Up to about 1875 )

Chapter I
THE BEGINNINGS

In no other country in the world was the poet more
honoured than in the Andhra. Peddana mourns the
death of his patron, the Emperor Krishnadeva Ray a
of Vizianagar, who as a mark of recognition put a gold
anklet (Kavtgandapenderamu) with his own hands
round the poet's ankle and who on the road lifted him
up to a seat in his houdah. Srinatha before him was
bathed in gold in the Pearl Palace of Praudhadeva Raya.
Tikkana got an army from the Emperor Ganapatideva
of Warrangal for restoring the dominions of his king,
Manumasiddhi, who had been deprived of them by a
neighbouring ruler. Poetry was so much valued that
verses were actually purchased. There is a tradition
that Mohanangi, Krishnadeva's daughter, purchased a
verse from a starving poet who was hawking it. It was
a fashion with the kings to get works dedicated to them,
while there were poets like Potana who were so pious
that they thought it a sacrilege to dedicate their works
to them and enjoy the luxuries of court life. As a
result some kings tried to use force for obtaining
dedication when temptations in land and money failed.
Not to get a dedication reflected on their culture.

OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

The Andhra kings from the earliest times seem to be
patrons of indigenous literature. To mention a few :
Hala wrote his $dlivahana Saptaiati in Prakrit. Rajaraja
got the Mahabharata translated into Telugu. King
Nannichoda wrote Kumarasambhavam. And Krishnadeva
Raya, the greatest of the Vizianagar emperors, wrote
Amuktamdlyadd. Yet, in spite of this proud tradition,
no Telugu literature before Nannaya, i. e. t the eleventh
century A. D., is now available. An Andhra grammar
is said to have been written by a Kanva king, who
must have ruled before the Satavahanas. It is therefore
inconceivable that not a single Telugu work was written
before Nannaya. Yuan Chuang who visited the Andhra
country in the seventh century A. D. wrote that the lan-
guage of the Andhras was different from that of the
North though they were using the same script. Most
scholars are agreed that the modern Telugu script is
derived, through the Sanscrit, from the Brahmi. We
have to accept therefore Yuan Chuang's assertion that
the ancient Andhras were using the Nagari script.
Now it is difficult to understand how a race which had
a language and knew how to write did not produce a
single work from the seventh to the eleventh century
A. D.

Recently part of a work on prosody called Jana&aya-
chhandas has been discovered. Its language is Sanscrit
and its author is not known. But it is a work that
deals with all the metres used in Telugu, including those
not at all found in works on Sanscrit prosody.
Evidently it is a work on Telugu prosody written in
Sanscrit, as was the practice of the times. Janasraya,
in whose name the work was written, was the title of a

THE BEGINNINGS

king called Madhavavarman of the Vishnu Kundin
Dynasty which ruled in the sixth century A. D. The
work therefore shows that Telugu had poetry in the
sixth century A. D. even before Yuan Chuang visited
the Andhra. Buddhaghosha in his commentary on the
Buddhist Pitakas refers to the Arthakathas of the
Andhras. Yerrapreggada in his Nrsimhapurdnam praises
Nannaya and Tikkana for their having explained the
truth of Vyasa's work to the Andhras, who formerly
were reading nonsense and "digging gathas." The
nonsense and gdthas may be some Buddhist and Jaina
writings, which were contemptuously treated by the
upholders of Brahmanism. And in some of the inscrip-
tions of Gunakavijiaditya, who belongs to the ninth
century A. D., we find Telugu verses. Thus there is
now definite evidence to show that before Nannaya
up to at least the sixth century A. D. Telugu verses
were being written. But where are the works in which
this versification was used ?

Two hypotheses are current to explain their absence.
Some maintain that Nannaya was the first man to
write a Telugu grammar; for Nannichoda, a royal
poet, says in his Kumdrasambhavam that the Chalukyas
inaugurated the desi or indigenous literature as distinct
from the mdrgi or Sanscrit literature. If this is
true, there could not have been any Telugu literature
before Nannaya. But some maintain that Nannichoda
might be only voicing the tradition which may not
be historically true. Besides, Satyasr^ya, the Chalukya
king referred to as the inaugurator, is the title of
Pulikesin II, who was a contemporary of Harsha
and so must have lived towards the end of the sixth

OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

century A. D. But it is unimaginable that the
inaugurator could not have got a single work written
in Telugu. Indigenous literature before the eleventh
century is available in Tamil and even in Kannada,
which is closely allied to Telugu. In fact, two of
the greatest and earliest Kannada poets, Pampa
and Ponna, were Andhras ; and at that time there
was very little difference between Telugu and Kannada.
Even as late as the fourteenth century A. D. Srinatha
said that he was a poet of Karndtabhdshd ( Kannada
language ), which means that he made no distinction
between Telugu and Kannada. Hence, alongside the
Kannada the Andhra literature also must have been
flourishing. But the Andhras before the eleventh
century were Buddhists and Jains. That the
Satavahanas were great patrons of Buddhism is a
well-established fact. Nagarjuna lived in their
kingdom, and Dhanyakataka and Amaravati were
great centres of Buddhistic learning. It is said that
the Prajnaparamitas were first known to the Andhra
(Andhaka) Buddhists in Prakrit. Hala's Sapta&ati,
which gives a most vivid and beautiful picture of
country life of the time, was written in Prakrit. And
among the founders of the Andhra language is
mentioned the name of Ravana along with those of
Brihaspati, Kanva, Pushpadanta and Adharvana.
Perhaps this Ravana is the same as the Ravana of the
Lankdvatdrasfitra, who is represented as a saintly
king, and who, during the Brahmanic revival, might
have been identified with the wicked Ravana of the
Rdmdyana. If the latter did not really belong to
Ceylon but to some place in Central India as modern

THE BEGINNINGS 7

criticism tries to make out, then the suggestion that
the Ravana of the Lankdvatarasutra may someliow
be identical with the Ravana who is one of the
founders of the Andhra language cannot be regarded
as fantastic. Even if this suggestion is false, the
mention of Ravana among the founders of Telugu
is proof of the non-Vaidic influence, either Buddhist or
Jaina or both, in shaping the language. For no King
who followed Brahmanism would have liked to be
called Ravana, who is represented as so many vices
personified, in the Ramayana. There is a tradition
that as late as in the thirteenth century A. D. Tikkana
defeated a large number of Jainas at the court of
Ganapatideva of Warrangal, who consequently expelled
them from the kingdom, and that the Jainas swearing
vengeance on the country later instigated Allauddin
to invade Trilinga and gave him the necessary secrets.
It is also said that the Jainas cursed the Andhras that
they should not have any literature left by the Jainas,
thinking that thereby the Andhras would be turned
into uncultured barbarians. But probably the upholders
of Brahmanism felt it a boon, as the disappearance of
Jaina literature would make the propagation of their
ideas the easier. The eleventh century marks the
revival of Brahmanic literature in Tamil and Kannada
as well as in Telugu. And the inference is that the
Andhra country, where at that time the kings were the
most powerful in the whole of the Deccan, the destruc-
tion of Buddhism and Jainism was so thorough that
not a single work sponsored by them was allowed to
survive. But there are no records of any blood being
shed in the Andhra as in the Karnataka, where the

8 - OLD AMDHRA LITERATURE

Virasaivas massacred the Jains. The destruction here,
though thorough, seems to be of culture but not of life.

Whichever hypothesis is true, no literature before
Nannaya is so far available. Nannaya is believed by the
pandits to be the first grammarian and systematiser of
the Telugu language. He holds the view that Telugu is
a vikrti ( modification ) of Prakrit, a view which agrees
with the belief that Hala wrote his Saptaiati in
the spoken language of the time. But this is not
accepted by Caldwell, who in his Comparative Grammar
of the Dravidian Languages maintains that Telugu
as a Dravidian language has nothing to do with
Prakrit. His thesis is based mainly on a consideration
of the syntactical and declensional peculiarities. But
a recent scholar, Dr. C. Narayana Rao, has shown with
a fair amount of success that these peculiarities are
found in the North Indian languages also, which are
not classed as Dravidian. And some of the conjuga-
tional forms like arambhinche of Telugu and arambh
hoyeche of Bengali, both meaning " has begun, " are so
alike, the former being a nasalised form of the latter,
that we cannot but think that Caldwell's theory is at
least one-sided. A true theory must include both.
Had Caldwell known Prakrit, and compared both
Sanscrit and Prakrit with Teluga, his view would have
been considerably different.

Besides, the original Andhras were not the inhabitants
of only the small stretch of land between the deltas of
the Godavari and the Krishna as is generally supposed.
Even now about three crores in number, they occupy
the northern part of the Madras Presidency right from
the south of Madras to Orissa, the Ceded Districts, the

THE BEGINNINGS 9

eastern half of Hyderabad, and parts of the Central
Provinces, Orissa and Mysore. Some have settled down
in Tamilnad. Even now we find the Andhra Valley
near Bombay, though the people living near-by are not
called Andhras. Many coins of the Andhra Satavahana
kings are found in the Bombay Presidency near Nasik
and other places. These facts show that the Andhras
at one time or another occupied almost the whole of the
Deccan from the Vindhyas to the Kaveri. Parts of the
modern Berars were at one time included in Telengana
or the land of the Telugus. It cannot be proved that
the modern Telugu was spoken in those parts during
the time of the early Satavahanas. It could not have
existed in any part in the remote past. But it is not
unreasonable to say that Prakrit and some of its forms
were spoken by the ancient Andhras and that their
dialects gradually changed and became the modern
Telugu. The direction of this change might have been
determined by the languages of the people who occupied
the lowest strata of the society of the time. But the
languages of these classes too must have been influenced,
in their turn, by those of the higher classes. The
Sabaras of the Vizagapatam District, for instance, even
now speak a language which is more akin to Hindi
than to Telugu. It can be shown that Telugu has syn-
tactical and inflexional affinities with both the North
Indian and South Indian languages. And curiously
enough there are no non-Sanscritic words in Telugu for
many objects, for example, God. It would be absurd
to say that the ancient Andhras had no idea of God.
They must have been using the Prakrit or Sanscrit
word, which supports the view that the ancient Andhra

IO OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

language was Prakrit or a form of it. Modern Telugu
consists of nearly three-fourths Sanscrit. It includes
all the Sanscrit letters besides a few of its own. It
is the sweetest language in India and its words generally
end in nasals and vowels. It uses fewer gutterals and
aspirates. Its movement is smooth like the waves of
the deep sea ; Hindi and Urdu sound, when compared
with it, like breakers beating against rocks. Telugu
sounds sweet ; Hindi and Urdu sound grand. It is so
smooth that when we read a Telugu verse we are often
unconsciously carried forward by its soft, rolling, gliding
and nasal sounds and miss the meaning. It is called
the Italian of the East, and even non-Telugu South
Indians take pleasure in singing Telugu songs though
they understand little of their meaning.

It seems therefore that the ancient grammarians and
Caldwell must be more systematically reconciled ; and
the task of reconciliation must be left to future
scholarship. As regards the derivation of the words
Andhra and Telugu, too, there are widely differing
opinions. The Andhras are mentioned in the Itereya
Brahmana of the Vedas, but it is not known what
language they were speaking. The word is said to mean
inhabitants of a dark country ( just as Africa was called
the Dark Continent, the land south of the Vindhyas
might have been called the Daik Country) or a dark
people or people who do not fly from the battle-field or
those who speak a language that removes the darkness
of ignorance. The pur&nas give eloquent descriptions of
Andhra kings. But in them also the language of the
Andhras is not given. The words Tenugu and Telugu do
not seem to be of so ancient an origin. Tine in Telugu

THE BEGINNINGS II

means honey ; and it is said that Tenugu is that
language which is sweet like honey. Tennu means way ;
and it is thought that Tenugu is that country which
is the way for the Aryans of the North proceeding to
the South. But the most widely accepted view is that
Telugu is a corrupt form of Trilinga or the country of
the three lingas of Siva, namely, Srisaila, Kalesvaraand
Daksharama, and the / of Telugu is nasalised into the n
of Tenugu. To the present author too this view seems
to be more plausible ; for it is more reasonable to derive
Tenugu from Telugu than vice versa. The tendency in
torrid zones is to nasalize a consonant or semi-vowel and
not the opposite. And it is easy to derive Telugu from
Trilinga. Even now some Andhras in the Maharashtra
are called Telangs, and in the United Provinces all are
called Trilingis and Tailangis. The Andhras must have
been called and identified with Tailangis after they
settled down in the land of the three lingas.

Chapter II

THE "MAHABHARATA" POETS
AND NANNICHODA

The work that is generally accepted to be the first in
Telugu is Nannaya's Mahdbhdratam or that part of it
which is written by him. And in no other language
was the first book written with a higher aim than the
Mahdbhdratam in Telugu. By the poets of this country
the Bhdgavala is treated as a purdna, the Mahdbhdrata
as an itihasa and the Ram ay ana as a kavya. A kavya
is poetry, an itihdsa is history and a purdna is history
and mythology mixed. The characteristic of the last
as described in Sanscrit poetics is that it contains
accounts of creation, dissolution, dynasty, history of
the dynasty and the ages of the Manus who are fourteen
in number, the age of each being 4,320,000 years. We
may say that a purdna is a history of the world as
understood by our ancients. But the Andhra poets
deliberately made no distinction between the three and
treated all as kdvyas or groups of kdvyas in their
Telugu writings. This agrees with the European classifi-
cation of the Rdmdyana and the Mahdbhdrata as epics.
Tikkana openly calls the Mahdbhdrata a group of
prabandhas or prabandamandali, a prabhandha being a

THE " MAHABHARATA " POETS AND NANNICHODA 13

kdvya like Kalidasa's Raghuvamfa. This idea probably
gave birth to such works in Telugu as Srinatha's
Haravildsamu which is also a group of stories but fewer
in number. Works of the kind are called in Telugu
kathdprabandhas. These contain a small number of
practically independent stories somehow connected with
the life of the same god or person. For instance,
Haravilasamu contains four stories concerning Siva,
the story of Chirutondanambi, a devotee of Siva, the
story of Siva's marriage with Gauri, the story of the
hdldhala poison swallowed by Siva, and the story of the
incident with Arjuna who was presented by Siva with
the pdsupata weapon. Even if one or two stories are
removed from the book the rest do not suffer. These
works do not contain stories within stories or plots
within plots but several different stories or plots. It is
for a similar reason that Hegel could not see unity
running through the plots of the Rdmdyana and the
Mahdbhdrata. He writes :

The unity of the particular parts is of an extremely unstable
kind ; and layers upon layers of episodal matter, consisting of
the tales of Gods, narratives of ascetic penances, and the powers
they create, tediously long expositions of philosophical doctrines
and systems, so entirely impair the collective unity that we are
forced to regard many of them as later accretions. 1

Evidently he is judging the Rdmdyana and the
Mahdbhdrata from the standard supplied by the Greek
epics. If we search for the so-called unities, we shall
never find them in the Indian epics. Or, in Hegel's
words, we shall find only the underlying unity of

i The Philosophy of Fins Art, Vol. IV, p. 175.

16 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

through injunction as the moral codes did. Nannaya,
who began the work, says in his Andhraiabdachintamani
that poetry is for the good of the world. Vidyanatha,
the court poet of Prataparudra II of Warrangal, says in
his Prataparudriyam that the Vedas like kings make
men carry out their injunctions by word of command ;
the Puranas like friends influence our actions through
words of praise and blame; but a poem like a sweet-
heart gets its wishes done through love and charm. In
this the ethical conception of poetry is evident. It was
not as yet felt that poetry was mainly to please. The
latter conception we come across in the Rasagangddhara
of Jagannatha, another Andhra who holds that poetry
is an utterance that produces a peculiar pleasure, a
conception which fits, both the lyric and the epic.
Jagannatha's was a time when the Andhras were not at
the zenith of their glory, and his conception of poetry
represents the mentality of a people who were driven
to seek satisfaction in creations of imagination as their
life in the concrete world was thwarted and checked.
For Nannaya and Vidyanatha, however, poetry was not
an utterance to soothe a disappointed heart in alien
surroundings. The people, especially the Andhras of
the time, had a strong epic sense. They had not yet
lost the hope that their ideal of life as represented
by the Bhdratadharma (the Hindu view of life) was
capable of realisation. They did not yet feel separation
from the concrete national world with its conditions,
modes of opinion, exploits and destiny. They still felt
the surroundings plastic to their touch; there was as
yet no division between their emotions and volitions.
The Telugu Mahfibharatam was written especially to

THE 'MAHABHARATA ' POETS AND NANNICHODA 17

popularise the Bhdratadharma. Rajaraja Narendra, the
Chalukya King who ruled at Rajahmundry, at whose
instance Nannaya began the work, lived at the time
when Mahmud of Ghazni was plundering in Northern
India. He felt the weakening and enervating effects
of Buddhism and Jainism on the Hindus, who lacked
the necessary energy of spirit to withstand the invader.
He strongly felt the need for an attempt to teach a
Hindu dharma which possessed the required vigour.
And that dharma was best depicted in the Mahdbhdrata,
the heroes of which belonged to the same race, namely,
the lunar, to which Rajaraja himself belonged. The
purdnas of the Jainas, which seem to have been popular
previously, had to be supplanted. This much seems
to be implied by Yerrapreggada's introduction to his
Nrsimhapuranam.

Nannaya did not complete the Mahdbharatam; he
wrote only two and half parvas or parts. Tikkana did
not complete the third but wrote the other fifteen. The
third was completed after Tikkana, by Yerrapreggada.
Nannaya lived in the eleventh, Tikkana in the thirteenth,
and Yerrapreggada in the fourteenth century. Of the
three Tikkana outshines the others as a personality.
He was not only a poet but a politician. In his time
one of the greatest bulwarks of Hinduism was the
Andhra Empire of Warrangal, and Tikkana wanted to
strengthen it by propagating the Bhdrata culture among
the Andhras. The Mahdbharatam afforded him a vast
field in which he could work out his ideal in fullest
detail. His work is thus an artistic symbol of the
times, the assertion of the Bhdratadharma in the Telugu
country. It is interesting to note that Tikkana lived

18 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

about forty years before Vidyaranya, the moving spirit
of the Vizianagar Empire in its inception, who realised
the desire of Tikkana by founding an empire on a
cultural basis.

The reason why the Mahdbhdratam was first written
and not the Rdmdyanam is that the life depicted in the
latter belonged to a far remoter age and afforded no
suitable example to follow in those times, whereas the
Mahdbhdratam with its constant conflict between good
and evil and with the brilliant diplomacy of Sri Krishna
offered numerous suitable examples. Almost all the
battles of the Rdmdyana are of pure might and magic,
but in the Mahdbhdrata diplomacy and statesmanship
play a great r61e. It not only served to destroy the
Buddhist and Jaina influence on the masses but pre-
pared them for the impending conflict with Islam by
infusing vigour into their life and faith.

The Telugu Mahdbhdratam is not an exact translation
of the Sanscrit original. It was already said that moral
and philosophical disquisitions are either summarised
or omitted. Diffuse narrations are abridged. Some-
times new descriptions are introduced, and events are
depicted in ways familiar to the Andhras.

The three poets, Nannaya, Tikkana and Yerrapreggada
are called the Kavitraya or the poet-trio in the Andhra.
The first is also called Vdganuiasana or the lawgiver
of the language, the second Kavtbrahma or the poet-
creator and the third PrabandhaparameSvara or the lord
of the prabandha. These three poets established a
poetical tradition in Telugu as Valmiki and Kalidasa
did in Sanscrit. For every usage their authority is the
necessary support. Credit must be given them for the

THE " MAHABHARATA " POETS AND NANNICHODA IQ

boldness they showed in rendering, in face of the strong
opposition of the margi or Sanscrit poets, the sacred
Sanscrit works into the popular language. They gave
the lie to the contention that the original ideas of
Sanscrit could not be expressed in Telugu. Mischievous
margi poets have been finding out silly mistakes in
Telugu works, for Nannichoda, who belongs to the same
age, calls them in his Kumarasambhavam by the name
Kukavis or rogue-poets. And in their desire to show
that the Mahabhdrata could be written in Telugu, the
three poets tried to make it more beautiful than the
original. Their main interest was in language and the
beauties of language. They more than realised their
aims and laid the whole Andhra country under eternal
gratitude.

It is not to deprive Vyasa of his due credit that it is
said that the Telugu work is more beautiful than the
original. The original work is superior so far as philo-
sophical depth is concerned; but the Telugu stands
higher as a kdvya or a prabandha. As has been said,
Vyasa 's work was turned into a kdvya in Telugu so
that unphilosophical laity might take interest in it. Yet
it is not an original work ; it is an improvement upon
the original.

Another poet of the time whose work, Kumarasam-
bhavam, has been recently unearthed and who should
be mentioned with the three is King Nannichoda, also
called Tenkanaditya. By some he is placed in the
beginning of the tenth century, in which case his work
has to be regarded as the earliest of all available
Telugu literature, and by others in the twelfth, that is,
between Nannaya and Tikkana. His work is not a

20 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

translation of Kalidasa's Kumdrasambhava, though
Nannichoda draws his inspiration from him as well as
from Udbhata and some other stories current in the
Saivaite literature of the time. He dedicates his work
to his religious guru, Mallikarjuna, whom he identifies
with the Siva of his Kumdrasambhavam. The work
evinces great poetical talent. There are some who
regard it as the best poetical work in Telugu. Really
the credit of having written the first prabandha in our
language should go to him. But unfortunately his
language violates the rules of grammar established by
Nannaya and accepted by the rest ; and he uses words
which are either too archaic or do not belong to Telugu.
It is possible his language is more ancient than
Nannaya's.

These four poets wrote other works also. Andhraiabda-
chintdmani, Lakshanasdramu, Indravijiamu, Chamundi-
vildsamu, and Rdghavdbhyudayamu are attributed to
Nannaya. Tikkana wrote Nirvachanottarardmdyanam>
an all-verse poem about Rama after his coronation. He
is said to have written Viziasenam and Kavivdgbandha-
nam also, but these two are not available. Yerra-
preggada composed Harivamiam and Nrsimhapurdnam.
His Ramdyanam has not been discovered so far.
Nannichoda is reputed to be the author of Kaldvildsam,
which also is lost.

Two mathematical works of the eleventh century,
Ganitasarasangrahamu and Prakirnaganitamu, written
by Pavuluri Mallana and Eluganti Peddana respectively,
are now available. These two are the first scientific
works in Telugu. Later several others were written
on philosophy, astrology, medicine and mathematics.

THE " MAHABHARATA " POETS AND NANNICHODA 21

But almost all of them are translations or adaptations
of Sanscrit works. They contain no original ideas as in
literature. It must be said that scientific literature in
Telugtf is very small when compared with poetry, the
reason being that the former was not for the general
reader and the specialist was expected to study the
originals in Sanscrit.

A great poet whose works are particularly popular
with the Virasaivas is Palkuriki Somanatha of the
twelfth century. He seems to be a prolific writer not
only in Telugu but also in Kannada and Sanscrit. Of
his Telugu works Pangitdradhyacharitramu, Basava-
purdnam and Anubhavasaram are important. His
Vrshddhipatiiatakam or the century of verses addressed
to Basava is the first iataka available and is one of the
most widely read.

A word has to be said here about iataka literature,
which seems to be peculiar to Telugu. A iataka is a
century of verses addressed to a god, a saint, a lover
or the beloved. They do not form a continuous story
or narrative ; each verse stands by itself. They are
lyrical outbursts. Some are written in moments of
great excitement, devotion, anger, love, distress, danger,
contempt and so forth. In Sanscrit too we find iatakas
like those of Bhartrihari. But they do not contain a
refrain as in Telugu. In Sanscrit there are not many ;
but in Telugu hundreds have been discovered; and
some of them are of such great charm in both idea and
sound that they are taught to lisping children and are
memorised by both the literate and the illiterate. The
devotional iatakas are repeated every morning and
night by the pious.

22 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

Though Somanatha is the earliest known author of a
iatdka, even before him verses were composed carrying
a refrain. Mallikarjuna, who is believed to be a
contemporary and guru of Nannichoda, wrote Sivatat-
tvasaram, in which all the verses end with the name of
Siva or its synonyms. But Sivatattvasaram is not a
century but several centuries. Nearly five hundred
are now available, but it is believed there must be a
thousand.

Chapter III

THE " RAMAYANA " POETS AND SRINATHA
AND POTANA

Now should be mentioned the authors of the
Rdmayanam. This seems to have been written by
Yerrapreggada also, but has not yet been discovered.
The earliest writers of the available works are
Ranganatha and the authors of Bhdskarardmdyanam,
namely, Hulakki Bhaskara, his son Mallikarjunabhatta,
his friend Ayyalarya and his disciple Rudradeva.
Ranganatha's Rdmayanam is written in dvipada metre
all through and can be recited as well as sung. Sir
C. R. Reddy tells us that it is very popular in the
Ceded Districts. It seems to have been really composed
by Buddharaju, a tributory prince under Prataparudra
II of Warrangal and dedicated to Ranganatha, who
might have been his guru. Buddharaju's son completed
this Rdmayanam by adding Uttarardmdyanam.

Bhdskarardmdyanam is written after the Mahd-
bhdratam in Champu, that is, a mixture of prose and
verses of all metres. Here too the authors do not
merely translate the Sanscrit original, but introduce
descriptions and even incidents of their own. Not only
Valmiki but also other writers on the story of Rama

24, OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

seem to be sources of inspiration. Though the work
does not equal the Mahabhdratam in vigour, it too is
popular. Both the R&mayanams belong to the late
thirteenth and the early fourteenth centuries. Bhaskara,
who seems to have guided the others, dedicates his work
to Sahinimara, who is regarded by some as a son of
Buddharaju and by others as a Niyogi Brahmin who
was a commander of horse under Prataparudra II.

A great poet of the time about whom wonderful
stories are told is Vemulavada Bhimakavi. None of
his works are extant, but quotations from them are
given in some anthologies. Chenchiah and Bhujanga
Rao write :

Bhima Kavi flits across the stage like a strange shadow, the
centre of myth and miracle, never materialising into a concrete
figure of history. 1

There is much controversy about his date.

A name that is a favourite of the learned and the
layman, the beggar and the prince, the lover and the
pious, and the romanticist and the classicist, is that of
Srinatha. Like him no other poet could have
experienced the ups and downs of fortune. He ate
with kings on gold plate, was actually bathed in gold
by Praudhadeva Raya of Vizianagar, enjoyed life to the
full, spent like a prince and died like the poor. The
reason of his poverty seems to be the defeat of his
patron Reddi kings by the Gajapatis of Cuttack, who
had no love for the poet. His chains or stray verses
on miscellaneous subjects are so many and so popular
that there is not a single educated youth of the country

1 Tttlugu Literature, p. 59.

THE "RAMAYANA" POETS, SRINATHA AND POTANA 25

who does not know at least one of them. Srinatha is
respected by the pandits for his translation of Sriharsha's
Naishadha, and by the romanticist for his independent
work Krigdbhirdmam, which gives a nice picture of the
urban society of Warrangal. His Palnativiracharitramu,
which is a story of the heroes of Palnadu (now in
Guntur District ) is sung even by beggars. His Har a-
vildsamu is a kathdprabandha of four stories about Siva.
It is an original work, though Srinatha seems to have
borrowed some ideas from Kalidasa, Bharavi and some
Kannada work. He is a great devotee of Siva and
wrote Bhlmakhandam, Kdsikhandam, and Sivaratri-
mahatmyam. He says that be composed Marutrdt-
charitram while yet a boy and translated Salivdhana-
saptaiati in his teens. These two as well as his
Panditdrddhyacharitram are lost. Another work attri-
buted to him is Sfingdradipikd, though its authorship
is contested on behalf of Kumaragiri Reddi also.

Srinatha's Krlddbhiramam is called a vidhindtakam in
Telugu. In it one person narrates his experiences of
Warrangal to another who plays the part of only a
hearer.

Palndtiviracharitramu is the earliest available work
commemorating national heroes. Works of the kind
are called viragitams or songs of heroes. Later several
gitams were composed, for example, on Katamaraju of
some place near Nellore, Khadgatikkana who was a
general of Manumasiddhi, and Maharajah Ranga Rao of
Bobbili, who fought with the French General Bussey
in the eighteenth century.

Srinatha is one of the greatest poets of Telugu,
versatile, bold and graceful. None else seems to have

26 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

used the St'sfl-metre ( called iirshikd in Sanscrit though
no Sanscrit poet used it ) with ease and advantage
like him. Both as a personality and as a poet he is not
surpassed. The ease and charm of his expression, the
beauty of his imagery, the majesty of his style and the
brilliance of his wit are familiar to every one of his
readers. He defeated even the Sanscrit poet, Dindhima
Bhat, in controversy. As Keats speaks contemptuously
of philosophy, Srinatha administers a good rebuke to
the logicians (Tdrkikas) of Rajahmundry with whom he
might have entered into a discussion on poetics. He
belongs to the later half of the fourteenth and the
first half of the fifteenth century. There was practically
no great royal court in the Andhra of the time in which
he was not honoured.

A philosophical poet of the time who is known both
to the young and the old alike is Vemana. He is
known to people outside our country also and his verses
have been translated into many European languages.
The charm of simplicity both in language and idea is
patent in his verses which come under the iataka class
of poetry : He is placed by Vanguri Subbarao in the
first quarter of the fifteenth century.

The next great poet of the time is Bammera Potana,
the author of the Bhdgavatam. He is the brother-in-law
of Srinatha, though much younger. The Telugu BMga-
vatam unlike the Telugu Mahabharatam is much longer
than the original and this length is due to the
uncontrollable emotion of the poet, which made his
imagination fly higher and the descriptions longer than
in the original. It is more popular than the R&mdyanam
and the Mah&bharatam, and verses from it, particularly

THE "RAMAYANA" POETS, SRINATHA AND POTANA 27

those dealing with the liberation of Gajendra, the
marriage of Rukmini and the story of Prahlada, are
recited even by the illiterate. His language is so sweet
that the verses dealing with the liberation of Gajendra
are turned with little effort into song and sung in
early dawn in Ananda-bhairavi Raga by old people in
several houses. For devotional inspiration and emotional
intensity he cannot be beaten ; but when these became
unrestrainable he overlooked now and then certain
rules of grammar and rendered himself open to the
criticism of the pandit who cared less for poetry than for
grammar. Potana is the author of Virabhadravijayam
also. In his youth he was a favourite at the court of
Rao Singa, a great patron of letters, and composed
Bhdginidandakam on the king's concubine. But later
when he wrote the Bhagavatam he turned so pious that
he even refused to dedicate it to Rao Singa who gladly
asked for it, and who, as the tradition goes, persecuted
him for non-compliance. But Potana felt it a sacrilege
to dedicate so great a work to human beings and offered
it to Rama. The verses he wrote in this connection are
known to all.

As an example of his devotional intensity the following
story is told. When Gajendra was caught by a crocodile
and prayed to Vishnu in distress the latter heard him
and, as represented by Potana, descended to the earth
in a hurry without taking any weapon. Srinatha who
read this account asked Potana whether Vishnu went to
Gajendra only to weep with him. Potana did not
answer then; but when once Srinatha was taking his
food he hid the latter's son somewhere, threw a big
stone into a well nearby and informed Srinatha that the

28 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

boy fell into it. Srinatha then ran to the well wringing
his hands and began running round it without giving
any thought as to what he should do. Potana then
revealed the truth to him and told him that Vishnu
loved his devotee Gajendra as strongly as Srinatha his
son, and his anxiety for his devotee's life hurried him to
the latter's place without any thought about arms.

The earliest independent love dandaka available in
Telugu is the Bhdginidan$akam of Potana. A dandaka
is a rhapsody which uses the same gana or foot all
through. Its movement is rapid like the flow of a
mountain torrent, and when recited properly infuses
awe, wonder and horror, sounds grand and majestic,
and creates a thrill in the hearer and the reader. It
is used generally for praising deities, particularly
Hanuman, Narasimha, Siva and his consort Kali. Very
rarely is it used in the case of irngara or love. Several
are available and many are popular. They are recited
often for driving away ghosts. Much of their effect
will be lost if they are translated.

Another poet who is counted among the great is
Pillalamarri Pinavirabhadriah of the fifteenth century.
His Jaiminlbhdratam and $rngdra^dkuntalam are now
available. His Avasaradarpanam, Naradiyam, Mdgha-
mdhdtmyam, Purushdrthasudhdnidht and Mdnasdlldsa-
sdram are lost. As a scholar he is given a higher place
than Srinatha.

There are several other works of this period a list of
which will neither be possible to give in this book nor
be interesting to the reader. They contain many
purdnas, works on Telugu poetics, $atakas> kdvyas and
scientific works. But mention may be made of

THE "RAMAYANA" POETS, SRINATHA AND POTANA 29

Prataparudra I of WarrangaTs Nitisara, a treatise on
politics written in both Sanscrit and Telugu, Atharva-
na's TrilingaSabddnuidsanam ( the author is supposed
to be a Jaina), Bhadrabhupati's (Baddena's) S-
matUatakam and Nitisaramuktdvalt, Nachana Soma's
UUaraharivamiam (the poet lived in the court of
Bukka Raya of Vizianagar), Bhairavi Ravi's Ratnasdram
(a treatise on precious stones) and Manumanchi Bhatta's
Hayalakshanasdram ( a scientific work on horses ).

The age up to the end of the fifteenth century A. D.
is called the Period of Puranas and the Period of
Translation. But it is not merely either. Nannichoda's
Kumdrasambhavam, Srinatha's Haravildsam and Kridd-
bhirdmant, the tatakas and the dandakas are not
translations or purdnas. However, the major part of
the work of the period consists of translations of
Purdnas and a few other Sanscrit works. And that is
as it should have been. For the available Telugu
literature shows that it began for the spread and
propagation of Brahmanic religion and culture among
the masses, and it could not have begun except with
epics like the Mahdbhdrata and the Rdmdyana and the
Purdnas. These Purdnas are more or less world-histories
written to convey world-views ; the Rdmdyana and the
Mahdbhdrata too present grand pictures of the same
world-view. It is not for lack of originality but with a
definite aim that the poets of the time undertook the
renderings. It would have been strange had they done
otherwise.

Chapter IV
THE " PRABANDHA " POETS

The period from the beginning of the sixteenth to the
end of the nineteenth century is generally called the
Prabandha Period in Telugu literature. As already
pointed out, this nomenclature does not mean that there
were no prabandhas before. Yet the ambition of every
poet of this period in general was to write a prabandha,
which came to be fully identified with the mahdkavya
of Sanscrit poetics. That is, the prabandha should
contain descriptions of cities, rivers, mountains, seasons,
forests, lakes, sun, moon, wine, sex affairs, pinings,
marriage, birth, morals and politics, travels, battles,
gambling and kings. The attempt to follow this
definition too closely rendered some of the works of this
period very artificial. But still there are many which
can stand comparison with works of a similar kind in
Sanscrit. Ramarajabhushana's Vasucharitram had the
honour of being translated into Sanscrit. The earlier
poets of this period did not try to follow the above
definition too closely, and their works bear a freshness,
ease and naturalness that are absent in the later. They
incorporated only those descriptions which enhanced
the beauty of their poem. Still artificiality is not

THE "PRABANDHA" POETS 31

completely absent.

The poet's aim of the time is best described in a verse
in Vasucharitram in which Tirumala Raya, the brother
of Ramaraju, the last of the Vizianagar rulers, telling
the poet that stories which were complete inventions
were artificial stones whereas Purdnic stories were pure
but unpolished ones, invited him to take an incident
from a Pur ana and develop out of it a prabandha, which
would be both a pure and polished stone. From the
time of Krishnadeva Raya the practice came into vogue
of taking some Purdnic event and expanding it into a
complete prabandha. The Purdnic connection gave the
prabandha a religious background and touch while the
expansion gave the poet freedom of description and
plot-construction. But later, when the poet followed
too closely the rules of Sanscrit poetics which were
thoroughly systematised by that time, he was deprived
of even this freedom as he had to make the descriptions,
comparisons etc., according to rules which were once
for all fixed. Then we find staleness, insipidity and
absence of originality. Descriptions are repeated;
idioms are copied ; comparisons become far-fetched ; and
the poets vie with each other in hyperbole and word-
construction.

One point we have to notice, however, that the
people have still not lost the epic sense. It was thought
that the poet who did not write an epic could not be
classed with the first-rate. There were many poets who
wrote iatakas which make a fine appeal to our lyric
sense and which our modern taste would place higher
than the epic. But those poets did not command much
respect ; and those of them who did, thought that their

32 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

claim to the name of poet could not be fully justified
unless they wrote a prabandha. It was still felt that an
individual could systematically construct a world
according to his views and longings ; it was not thought
that if every individual did his bit, the world would
construct itself. And the construction was to be based
on Bhdr atadhar ma ; hence the need for a Purdnic
incident.

Of these prabandha poets the first place goes to
Allasani Peddana, the author of Svdrochishamanu-
sambhavam or simply Manucharitram. He flourished at
the court of Krishnadeva Raya of Vizianagar. The
work is the development of an episode in Mdrkandeya
Purdria relating to the birth of Svarochishamanu, who
is one of the fourteen Manus. A pious Brahmin youth
Pravara goes ,to the Himalayas with the help of a
charm given by a siddha. As he wanders on the snows
the charm melts and he is rendered incapable of
returning home. In that condition he comes across
Varudhini, a beautiful gandharva damsel, who falls in
love with him. But as a moralist he would have none
of her and returns home with the help of the fire-god.
Meanwhile, a gandharva youth who was in love with
that maiden but was rejected, comes to know of
Pravara and, assuming his form, succeeds in winning
her love. To them is born Svarochisha, the father of
Svarochishamanu. In interest the work resembles the
Kumarasambhava of Kalidasa. Just as in this work the
reader gets little pleasure in reading about Kumara,
but only about Siva and Parvati, in the Manucharitram
the Svarochishamanu is less interesting than Pravara
and Varudhini. Peddana is remembered mainly for

THE "PRABANDHA" POETS 33

creating these two characters. The work is dedicated
to Krishnadeva Raya, who regarded Peddana as the
greatest poet of the time. He is reputed to be the
author of Harikathdsaramu also, which is not extant.
Peddana's style is simple but dignified. As a favourite
of the emperor he saw and experienced much. Con-
sequently his poetry is highly appealing. For beauties
of sentiment and imagery he is unequalled by any other
poet of the time. The emperor's choice certainly fell
on the right man when he conferred on him the title
Andhrakavitapitamaha or Grandfather of Telugu Poetry.
Nandi Timmana, the author of Parijatapaharaiiam,
another court-poet of Krishnadeva Raya, is well known
for the creation of the character of Satya or Satya-
bhama, one of the wives of Sri Krishna. Though the
story is borrowed from HarivamSa, the familiarization
of the character of Satya is due to Timmana. Some
scholars are of the opinion that the creators of the
character of Radha were Andhras ; and it is significant
that the creator of Satya too was an Andhra. But as
the work is written in Telugu, the idea of Satya does
not seem to have spread to the other parts of India.
Radha is a selfless lover and does not suffer from
jealousy. There is something of the sublime and divine
in Rukmini ; she moves before our imagination like a
noble lady smiling at her husband's weaknesses and,
fully conscious of her divinity, interested in the welfare
of the world. But Satya is a jealous lover, anxious to
have her husband all for herself, egotistic and unable to
bear any sign of his loving another more than herself.
The story goes that once Krishna offered a parijdta
flower brought from Indra's heaven to Rukmini and

34 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

the information was brought to Satya by Narada.
Immediately began love's quarrel, and to please her
Krishna had to fall at her feet and promise her that he
would bring the pdrijdta tree itself and plant it in her
garden. This he did by fighting with Indra.

A story is current that a wife of Krishnadeva
incurred his displeasure by sleeping with her feet
towards his portrait. At her entreaty the poet wrote
the poem in order to indirectly teach the emperor that
in the Puranas gods even touched the feet of their
beloved. There is another story. Krishnadeva
questioned the possibility of Krishna falling at the feet
of his wife and did not attach much value to the work.
Then his wife dressed one of her maids in her own
clothes and told him that she was her cousin and would
attend on him. On some pretext she left the place only
to hide near-by. Then the emperor made advances to
the maid who cried according to previous arrangement
that she would report the matter to the empress.
Krishnadeva then fell at her feet and begged her to
keep quiet, during which act the empress made her
appearance and asked him whether Krishna's story
could not be true. There is no evidence for the truth
of either story.

However, the characterisation of Satya in the poem
is one of the most beautiful and is the archetype of
several bhagavatams or village dramatisations of the
story. Timmana's style is easy, sentiment delicate
and imagery refined. The work occupies a high place
in Telugu literature.

Dhurjati is another poet at Krishnadeva Raya's
court, who wrote Kalahastimdhatmyam and Kdlahasti-

THE "PRABANDHA" POETS 35

svaratatakam. Modern taste would give a higher place
to the latter than to the former. The style in both is
simple and elegant. Dhurjati seems to be very pious :
he dedicated his work not to his patron but to the god
of Kalahasti. His grandson Kumara Dhurjati composed
Krishitadevardyavijayam, a chronicle of the conquests
of Krishnadeva Raya.

Ayyalaraju Ramabhadriah lived at the same time.
He is the author of Sakalakathdsdrasangraham contain-
ing several purdnic stories and Rdmdbhyudayam* The
second work was written during Ramaraju's time.

Madiahgari Mallana, another court-poet of Krishna-
deva, wrote Rdja&kharacharitramu. He is not so well
known and popular as the above.

Krishnadeva Raya is reputed to have had at his court
eight great poets called Ashtadiggajas. Just as eight
elephants are believed, in Hindu mythology, to support
the world in eight directions, so these eight poets
were supposed to be the support of the world of letters.
These are Allasani Peddana, Nandi Timmana, Ayyala-
raju Ramabhadriah, Dhurjati, Madiahgari Mallana,
Pingali Surana, Ramarajabhushana and Tenali Rama
Krishna. But history tells us that the last three did
not live during the time of Krishnadeva. Popular
imagination grouped together some of the great poets
and placed them in the court of a great emperor.

But the emperor himself is no ordinary poet. His
poem Amuktamdlyadd or Vishnuchitttyam is ranked as
one of the five Mahdkdvyas in Telugu. In Sanscrit
the five mahdkdvyas are Kalidasa's Raghuvamta and
Kumarasambhava, Bharavi's Kirdtdrjuniya, Magha's
Sitvpdlavadha and Sriharsha's Naishadha. In Telugu

36 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

the five are Peddana's Svarochishamanusambhavam,
Krishnadeva Raya's Amuktamalyadd, Ramarajabhu-
shana's Vasucharttram, Srinatha's Srngdranaishadham
and Tenali Ramakrishna's Pdndurangamahdlmyam.
Some mention, in place of the last, Surana's Kalapur-
nodayam, others his Prabhavatipradyumnatn, and some
others Chamakura Venkata Kavi's Vijayavil&sam. Just
as in Sanscrit one cannot be a pandit unless one studies
the five great epics, in Telugu too one cannot lay claim
to that title without a study of the latter five. But as
a matter of fact, every great Telugu pandit must have
read all the ten, as without a good grounding in Sanscrit
one cannot be a Telugu scholar.

The authorship of Amuktamalyadd is sometimes
attributed to Peddana as in this work a few introductory
verses relating to the author's own conquests are
incorporated from Peddana's. But even a superficial
reader can observe that in every other respect the works
widely differ from each other. Krishnadeva's style is
involved and repelling, though dignified like Peddana's.
He uses uncommon words. His descriptions, however,
are natural and homely; the flow of his ideas is
constant ; and as an extraordinary man of the world he
shows deep insight into human nature. For a charming
description of customs, religious beliefs, the peaceful
villages and serene temples his work is unsurpassed.
On all these points Peddana's taste and observations
differ. There are few now who dispute the authorship
of Amuktamalyada.

Krishnadeva Raya tells us in his introduction that
he was commanded by Andhravishnu, also called
Andhranayaka, when he visited him during his invasion

THE "PRABANDHA" POETS 37

of Kalinga, to compose the work. The god is reported
to have said to him in a dream : " Hear what you should
write on. Speak of the marriage with me in Srirangam
of the girl who was giving the garland to decorate me.
Formerly I was accepting with disgust the flower garland
offered by a man. I am the lord of the Andhras, and
you of Karnataka. Remove this want through the story
of the acceptance of the garland enjoyed by my beloved.
( And ) why in Telugu ( hear ! ). The country is Telugu
and I am the Telugu lord. Telugu is the same. When
all kings pay you their respects, have you not talked
with them and found that of all the languages Telugu is
the best ? "

The temple of Andhravishnu is in Srikakola near
Bezwada, formerly called Viziavatika. Why the deity
there is called Andhravishnu is not definitely known.
We do not read of a Dravidavishnu or Ghurjaravishnu
or any other Vishnu identified with a nation or
nationality. Andhravishnu is also called Andhranayaka
'or the leader or lord of the Andhras. Even during the
time of the Empire of Warrangal this Andhravishnu
was being worshipped not only in Srikakola but also in
Warrangal. Special temples seem to have been built
for this Lord of the Andhras in all the cities of the
Andhra, and his worship seems to have been encouraged
in order to create and preserve in the minds of the
Andhras a feeling of unity, which we may now call
national feeling. And the present-day Bharatamata
worship is not an absolutely new invention. In
Srinatha's Krldabhiramam, which describes some city
scenes of Warrangal, we read not only of the worship
of the Andhranayaka but also of the heroes of Palnadu.

38 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

This Andhranayaka too, it is believed, must have been
an Andhra hero who saved the Andhras from the
calamity of some foreign invasion. In evidence stanzas
are quoted from Brahmdndapurana saying that a
king called Andhravishnu saved the Andhras by killing
a rdkshasa called Nisumbha and fixed as the boundaries
of his own kingdom Srisailam, Kalesvaram, Daksha-
ramam and the mountain Mahendragiri (in modern
Orissa). There is a tendency to identify this Andhra-
vishnu with the first Satavahana emperor, Simuka or
Srimuka. But this may be an injustice to him, as he
killed Vikramaditya of Ujjain and ruled up to Malva.
This Andhravishnu might be the emperor who was the
first ruler of Trilinga or the land of three lingas, which
the mention of the first three boundaries suggests.

Krishnadeva Raya lived during the time of the
Vaishnava revival, and he was himself a Vaishnava.
Amuktamalyada means the giver of a worn garland. It
is the name of a girl discovered by a pious celibate
priest of a Vaishnava temple in Villuputtur in the South.
This priest, Vishnuchitta, adopted her and employed
her in preparing garlands for the deity. But the girl
fell in love with the deity and used to wear the garlands
before presenting them to him. Once Vishnuchitta
discovered it and, thinking that a sacrilege was being
committed, did not decorate the deity that day with
the garland and fell into a disturbed sleep. The
deity appeared in a dream, told him that the girl was
in love with him and that he particularly liked the
worn garland, and asked him to take her to Srirangam
and marry her to him there. His command was obeyed.
The work is based on some Tamil Vaishnava tradition.

THE "PRABANDHA" POETS 39

Krishnadeva Raya tells us in his introduction that he
is already the author of five Sanscrit works. They are
Maddlasacharita, Satyavadhuprinana, Sakalakathasdra-
sangraha, Jftdnachintdmani, and Rasamaftjari. But
unfortunately all are lost. He was called the Andhra
Bhoja.

Of the five Telugu Mahdkdvyas, V asucharitram
occupies, in difficulty of style, a place midway between
Manucharitram and Amuktamdlyadd. Its author, Rama-
rajabhushana, was a great poet and is held in high
esteem even now. The name, meaning the ornament
of R^naraja, suggests that it was a title conferred on
the poet by the last ruler Ramara ja of Vizianagar. The
original name of the poet is Bhattumurti. He is the
author of Harischandranalopdkhydnam, a poem meaning
both the stories of Harischandra and Nala, and
Narasabh&pdliyam, written in imitation of Vidyanatha's
Pratdparudriyam. But Ramara jabhushana is better
known for his Vasucharitram. The poet compares very
favourably in style, diction, command of language,
imagery and suggestiveness with many Sanscrit poets.
The plot of the poem is very simple. It is the marriage
of a Prince Vasu with a Princess Girika, the daughter
of the river Suktimati and the mountain Kolahala.
The poem describes how the lovers met accidentally and
were finally married. As was the practice of the times,
the poem is the development of an episode borrowed
from the Mahabhdrata.

Tenali Ramakrishna, also called Ramalinga or simply
Rama, is the author of Pdndurangamdhdtmyam and
flourished at the court of Venkatapati Raya, a
Vizianagar king who, after its fall, changed his capital

40 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

to Chandragiri. He wrote Lingapurdnam also. The
poet's name is familiar to all the people of South India,
not only the Andhras but also the Tamils, Kannadigas
and Malayalis, as the author not of either of the
above works but of innumerable pranks to which he
subjected both the emperor and his Vaishnava guru
TatachariL What Virbal is to the people of North
India, Tenali Rama is to the people of the South. It
is interesting to note that Virbal is believed to have
migrated to Delhi from some place near the Godavari.

Tenali Rama shows no signs of his fooling and
mischievous life in his Pdndurangamahatmyam. The
style is simple, the ideas are chaste and the sentiments
pure. The work gives a legend about the god Vishnu
called Panduranga of Pandharpur in Maharashtra. A
Brahmin named Nigamasarma led a vicious life, but
died in that holy place. Both the servants of Yama and
Vishnu wanted to take possession of the soul, the former
claiming it on the ground that Nigamasarma led a life
of dissipation and the latter for the reason that he died
in Pandharpur. Finally the soul was carried away to
the heaven of Vishnu.

A great poet whose name cannot be omitted is Pingali
Surana. He flourished at the court of Krishnaraja of
Nandyala ( Krishna District ), who was a contemporary
of Sadasiva Raya, the son of Krishnadeva Raya. He
is the author of three poems, Raghavapandaviyam, a
poem which means the stories of both Rama and the
Pandavas, Kaldp&rnodayam or the birth of Kalapurna,
and Prabhfivatlpradyumnam or the story of Prabhavati
and Pradyumna. As regards the first the poet's merit
lies in using words which easily give the double mean-

THE "PRABANDHA" POETS 41

ing. If we read the work with the story of Rama in
mind, the meaning comes naturally to us. And equally
naturally is obtained the meaning of the Pandavas if
we read the poem with their story in view. Kalapur-
nodayam is a novel in verse written independently of
any purdna or Sanscrit kdvya. Sir C. R. Reddy in his
Kavitvatattvavichdramu is inclined to regard it as the
best poem in Telugu. It is often compared to the
Comedy of Errors of Shakespeare, of whom the poet is
a contemporary. But the present writer feels that it
would be unfair to Surana to do so; for Kaldpurno-
dayam is a comedy of errors and so many other stories
intermixed that the work presents a very complex but
beautiful whole. It may be compared to Sana's
Kddambari. But the latter contains very lengthy
descriptions and a less complex plot. The temporal
coincidence of Shakespeare and Surana and their come-
dies of errors are often wondered at. Shakespeare is the
author not only of his Comedy of Errors but also of
several other dramas. And some of them put together
may show correspondence to the works of Surana.
Surana's Prabhdvatlpradyumnam is sometimes compared
to Romeo and Juliet. But these comparisons are not
happy and are misleading. The fact is that Surana
comes towards the close of the best part of the Praban-
dha Period, felt its shortcomings and wanted to strike
an independent path for himself. Except for the names
of Indra, Narada etc., Kaldp&rnodayam has no puranic
connection. The story is completely new ; but the poet,*
in order to satisfy the demands of poetics, introduced a
few artificial descriptions towards the end. But on the
whole the poem is very interesting, and is well worth

42 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

translating into English and the other Indian languages,
It is impossible to say anything more about it within
the limits prescribed for the present book.

Prabhavaiipradyumnatn is a story that ends with the
marriage of Prabhavati, the daughter of a Daitya king
called Vajranabha and Pradyumna, a son of Sri Krishna.
This is a story from Harivamia skilfully expanded by
the poet.

Of the other poets of the time Sankusala Nrsimha-
kavi, the author of Kavikarnarasdyanam deserves men-
tion. Kumari Molla was a woman poet and her
Rdmdyanam is read even by boys. Both of them lived
during Krishnadeva's reign.

There seem to be other women poets and women
interested in literature. We read that Krishnadeva's
daughter, Mohanangi, composed Marichiparinayam and
submitted it in the full court for judgment. But the
work is not available. Muddupalani of the eighteenth,
and Tarikonda Venkamma of the nineteenth century
deserve mention. The first wrote Rddhik&svdntatn and
the second Bhagavatam, Rajaydgasdram, and Venkatd-
chalamdhdtmyam.

Addanki Gangadhara's Tapatisamvaranam and Ponna-
kanti Telaganarya's Yayaticharitram were dedicated to
Ibrahim Mulk, a Nawab of Golconda (sixteenth cen-
tury ), a fact which shows that a few Mohammedan
rulers began patronising Telugu literature. Another
point of interest about the second work is that it is
written in pure Telugu without using any Sanscrit
word. By the ordinary Andhra pure Telugu cannot
be easily understood. Later some other works appeared
in pure Telugu. They have mainly a scholarly interest.

THE "PRABANDHA" POETS 43

There are other types of works which are only exer-
cises in versification and word construction. Maru-
ganti Sringaracharya's Dasaratharajanandanacharitram,
also called Nirliptaramdyanam, is a work eschewing all
labials. Word construction developed in this direction
so far that some poets used only one letter. And
metrical feats like bandhakavitvam and garbhakavitvam
were performed by poets of the sixteenth century also.
But this was carried to excess later. In bandhakavitvam
verses are fitted into figures. For instance, if a verse is
to be fitted into a circle with diagonals, at the centre a
letter should be used which would be common for
several feet. In garbhakavitvam one verse contains
another of a different type. All these have no poetical
value, and are mostly written during the close of the
seventeenth and during the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries.

Chapter V

THE SATAKAS AND THE AGE OF DESPAIR

After the fall of the Vizianagar Empire the glory of
the Andhras faded and their hopes were shattered.
They lost their self-confidence. The poetic vigour
continued till the middle of the seventeenth century,
but later it slackened and its constructive power prac-
tically ceased. From about the end of the seventeenth
up till now few important and interesting epics have
been written. The Modern Period begins from about
the third quarter of the nineteenth century. The time
from the middle of the seventeenth to the Modern Period
may be called the Age of Despair, and in support of the
fitness of this name we may point to several iatakas
like Bhadradrirdmasatakamu, Andhrandyakaiatakamu
andSinhddrinarasimhaSatakamu, all of the last quarter of
the seventeenth and the eighteenth century, written by
the despairing authors and addressed to the respective
deities rebuking them for their passiveness while the
Mohammedans were destroying their temples, devas-
tating the country, plundering towns and villages and
violating women. For some time the images were
removed from the temple of Bhadrachalam for fear of
desecration, and the temple of Andhravishnu was

THE SATAKAS AND THE AGE OF DESPAIR 45

neglected. Only after the reconquest of these places
by the kings of the modern Vizianagaram were the
images carried back to Bhadrachalam. The worship of
Andhravishnu was revived by Sri Ankinidu, a zamindar
of Devarakonda, on whose estate the temple was
situated, and who was so moved by the Satakam written
by his court poet that he immediately repaired the
temple and made arrangements for worship. It is said
that, while the Mohammedans were about to destroy
the temple at Simhachalam, a poet, Kurmanatha by
name, was so moved that he composed the whole century
standing before the deity on one leg and rebuking and
appealing to him to defend himself and the Hindus.
Tradition believes, and the satakam states that by the
time the sixty-seventh verse was completed a huge
swarm of bees started from the temple and attacked
the invaders, who fled. The Hindus then must have
pursued and driven them out of their kingdom. The
swarm, it is believed, disappeared into a hill near
Vizagapatam, which is still called the Bees' Hill
( Tummedala Metta ). These three satakas possess such
poetic vigour and beauty and charm of both ideas and
style that they deserve translation into all Indian
languages. They cannot but be pleasing and interesting
to all Indians.

During this period, however, the epic sense waned,
and the several epics that were written are stale and
insipid. But real poetry did not disappear ; it found
vent in the form of Satakas. Restricting the Prabandha
Period to the seventeenth century, the period from the
eighteenth to the third quarter of the nineteenth
century should be designated the Period of Satakas.

46 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

For in V. Subbarao's Satakak&vulacharitramu we find up
to the end of the seventeenth century only 35 iataka
poets, but from the eighteenth up to the end of the
nineteenth we find as many as 165. And it is possible
the list is not exhaustive. We may say the constructive
epic sense died and poetry now and then burst out as
iatakas.

Among the seventeenth-century poets Chamakura
Venkatakavi's name should be mentioned. He is the
author of two prdbandhas, Vijayavildsamu and Sdranga-
dhara. The first describes the adventures of Arjuna
during his exile when he married Ulupi, a Naga
princess, Chitrangada, the daughter of a Pandyan king,
and Subhadra, the sister of Sri Krishna. The second
gives the story of Sarangadhara, the son of a Malvan
king, Rajamahendra, also called Rajaraja Narendra.
The king had a concubine called Chitrangi, who fell in
love with the prince. But the prince was of too pure
a heart to requite her love. Chitrangi in vengeance
brought a false charge of immoral attack against him
to the king, who ordered in rage that the hands and
feet of the prince should be cut off and that he should
be left in a forest. But there he was rescued by
siddha called Matsyendranatha, who restored his hands
and feet. The poem gives a beautiful portrayal of the
purity and serenity of the prince and the mental
conflict and suffering of the king.

Venkatakavi lived at the court of Raghunatha Raya
of Tanjore. After the destruction of Vizianagar the
deputies of Krishnadeva Raya became independent and
at their courts Telugu literature continued to flourish,
though not with the same grandeur. The chief

THE SATAKAS AND THE AGE OF DESPAIR 47

contributions come from Tanjore, Madura, Pudukotah
and Mysore. From Madura the eighteenth century
work Tarasaidnkavijayam of Sesham Venkatapati is
the most popular. Tara, the wife of Brihaspati, falls
in love with his student Sasanka or Moon. ( The moon
is masculine according to Hindu mythology. ) They
spend a few happy days while the teacher is away
on business. He returns, and discovers what has
happened. Then a battle ensues between the teacher
and the pupil and they are somehow reconciled by
the gods. What a significant history of literature has
to note is the way Tara marshals with success evidence
to demonstrate to Sasanka, who was at first innocent,
that no moral code has absolute validity. For, are
there not instances in the puranas of great women who
were regarded as chaste in spite ot their loving, and
living with men other than their husbands ? Literature,
however, does not show lack of faith in Bhdratadharma,
but only in the absoluteness of moral laws. We may
say that this work boldly points to a differentiation
between morality and religion. Moral law has ceased
for the poet to inspire religious awe. But previously,
however immoral people might be, the poet's work was
not to show any disrespect to the injunctions of the
moral code. There are some other works like Tardsasan-
kavijayam belonging to this period.

It would be interesting to trace a line of develop-
ment here. The Puranas were really the starting-point
and the source of inspiration for Telugu Literature. At
the very beginning they were not rendered as pwdyas
but converted into prabandhas or groups of prabandhas,
so that unphilosophical laity might imbibe the spirit of

48 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

Bharatadharma. Later some purists wanted to trans-
late the Purdnas as such; but their works did not
achieve popularity. What the people of the country
wanted was a kavya with religious atmosphere. By the
time of Krishnadeva Raya the feeling must have grown
that if the plot had some basis in the Puraqas it would
be enough. But by the time of Snrana the need was
felt for severing even this connection. And later
Sesham Venkatapati boldly questioned the absoluteness
of the moral side of Bharatadharma.

The seventeenth century marks the beginning of prose
kdvyas and Raghunatha Raya's Valmlkicharitram is
the first important prose work. Prose was used even
before but only occasionally. There is evidence for
prose hymns even during the twelfth century. There is
a fourteenth-century prose work called Pratapacharitram
of Ekamranatha, which gives the history of the
Kakatiya dynasty. But none of these earlier works
has literary value. Iti the eighteenth century Kandurti
Venkatachalakavi wrote the Bhdratam, the Bhdgavatam,
and the Rdmdyanam in prose. And during this period
several other prose works made their appearance in the
courts of Tanjore, Madura and Mysore.

Of the contributions from Puddukota Nudumpati
Venkatanarayudu's Andhrabhashdrnavam, which is a
sort of dictionary, may be mentioned.

Tanjore is remembered mainly for Tyagaraju, the
greatest Hindu musician that India has so far produced,
whose songs are sung by all musicians following the
Katnatic style of music. In fact, the Karnatic style is
the only Hindu style of music, whereas that inaugurated
by Tansen in the North is a mixture of the Hindu and

THE SATAKAS AND THE AGE OF DESPAIR 49

the Muslim. Besides, Tyagaraju's songs written in
popular everyday Telugu are of great poetic charm.
He belongs to the eighteenth century. He was a great
devotee of Rama to whom he addressed most of his
songs, and shunned kings and their courts. His songs,
though without much literary value, were composed
according to the rules of scientific music and are printed
in all South Indian characters. Even before him there
were songs called kirtanams in Telugu, for example, of
KancherJa Gopanna, which also are sung according to
rdga and tola ( tune and beat ). But they are not meant
for advanced music. The Muvvagop&lapadams of
Kshetrayya who belonged to the seventeenth century
and whose songs were meant mainly for Bharatandtyam
are sung by advanced musicians also. His songs are
in Telugu what Gttagovinda is in Sanscrit. Kshetrayya
does not command the same respect as Tyagaraju whose
devotion to Rama is pure and whose songs do not
make an appeal to sex. Kshetrayya's patron was
Viziaraghava Raya of Tanjore.

There are other kinds of songs like javalis or love
songs, tatvams or songs for teaching philosophy and
sectarian dogmas, Idlipdtas or cradle songs, mangala-
hdraiis or songs of benediction, and ntelukolupus or songs
of awakening, sung at dawn. But none of these have
literary value.

During this period the drama seems to have been
enthusiastically taken up. Several dramas were written,
but in colloquial language. The precursor of the drama
in Telugu is yakshagdnam or jakkupdta in pure Telugu
out of which sprang bhdgavatams, vidhindtakams,
narrative songs, and harikath&s. Jakku is a modified

50 OLD ANDHRA LITERATURE

form of yaksha. All these, except probably harikathds,
were known even in the fourteenth century. The
harikatha is what is called abhang in Marathi and
kdlakshepam in Tamil. In it the narrator identifies
himself with the different characters of the story and
speaks. The narrative songs or padams do not differ
much from the harikatha except that they are composed
in the same metre throughout and are mostly sung by
the illiterate. In the bhdgavatams different people
play different r61es ; there are crude stage and sce-
nic arrangements and much music and dancing.
Bharatandtyam is preserved among these bhdgavatam
parties and the devaddsis in the Andhra. But
unfortunately the art is dying since the advent of the
modern drama. The devaddsis are taking to the screen ;
and the bhdgavatams are being ejected by third-rate
imitations of the modern stage. Dying remnants of
the Bharatandtyam are still to be found in Kuchipudi,
Krishna District, where pious and orthodox Brahmins
were cultivating the art and teaching it according to
the ancient gurukula system. In the vidhindtakam one
person narrates his experiences, which are necessarily
of a very interesting type, to another who plays the
part of a simple listener. The Sanscrit dramas were
known to the Andhra poets; and it is a wonder
they did not translate those dramas as dramas or
compose their own dramas in imitation. But the
general practice of the time was to turn even a Sanscrit
drama into a Telugu prabandha. The first Sanscrit
drama translated into Telugu is Prabodhachandrddayam.
But the translators, Nandi Mallayya and Ghanta
Singayya who lived at the court of Krishnadeva Raya's

THE SATAKAS AND THE AGE OF DESPAIR 51

father, rendered it into a prabandha. But we may
imagine that Sanscrit dramas as such were played
before learned audiences in royal courts.

There are several other works of this period, hundreds
of which are known and to give an idea of which in
this book is not possible. Nor would a mere list be
interesting. Of the eighteenth-century poets Kuchi-
manchi Timmakavi too may be mentioned. He is the
author of several works though none shows any
originality. His brother, Jaggakavi, though not his
equal, is remembered for his comic poem, Chandrarekha-
vildpam, in which he parodies the love of the hero
and the heroine. From the second quarter of the
seventeenth century, except for the works of Chamakura
Venkatakavi and Sesham Venkatapati, good poetry is
found only in the satakams and the songs of Tyagaraju.

NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

( From about 1875 )

Chapter I
THE BEGINNINGS

If every new literary movement in the world is
associated with some political, social or religious
upheaval, then Rao Bahadur K. Viresalingam must be
mentioned as the founder of modern Telugu literature.
He was a man of varied activity and as a personality he
easily outshone others of his time. It will not be an
exaggeration to say that what Tikkana was to the
beginnings of the ancient literature Viresalingam is to
the beginnings of the modern. In fact he is called
" Gadyatikkana " or the Tikkana of prose, a title which
does not do full justice to his literary greatness. He
did not possess high university degrees ; but as was the
practice of ancient scholars, he studied literature
widely. Though trained in ancient lore according to
orthodox methods, his impressionable mind easily saw
the beauties of English literary modes and became eager
to adopt them. Thus appeared the first novel in Telugu,
called Rajaiekharacharitramu, which the author wrote
after Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakcfield. It is not a
translation of the English work, though the theme was
suggested by it. Rajaiekharacharitramu was translated
into English under the title "Fortune's Wheel" by Mr.

56 NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

T. R. Hutchinson and General Macdonald added a
Preface. It was very favourably reviewed by The
London Times, September 30, 1887.

It was at that time that Raja Rammohan Roy's
endeavours to uplift the women of India began to bear
fruit ; and in Bengal the Brahmo Samaj started its work
in full swing. Though a great pandit brought up in
the orthodox tradition, Viresalingam became a Brahmo
and set afoot a vigorous campaign for social reform.
And in his life could be seen easily reflected the militant
aggressiveness of Virasaivism, to which he originally
belonged. In this connection there is not a subject on
which he did not write. He preached remarriage of
Hindu widows, advocated women's education, ridiculed
superstitious beliefs and customs, wrote in favour of the
spread of scientific knowledge, started journals to
preach hygiene to housewives, and, to impart to them
some knowledge of the world outside their homes, wrote
on lives of great women, Indian States, the Congress
and so forth. This type of literary activity was
completely new, Had it not been for the unfortunate
fact that Viresalingam did not occupy some high
Government post, he would have been an All-India
figure and his works would have already been translated
into all the provincial languages. As a scholar and a
mian of true culture he rarely transgressed the limits of
decency in his ridicule, unlike many other writers of
the time. Even now his farces and comedies, apart
from their propaganda value, will be found to be of
high literary merit ; they are well worth translating into
other languages.

The literary activities of Viresalingam extended

THE BEGINNINGS 57

farther. His Telugu Kavulu is the first attempt
at a history of Telugu literature, and he tets given us
the first autobiography. He attempted a number of
short stories, wrote fables for children and conducted
journals like Vivekavardhani. As a scholar he entered
into literary controversy with Pandit Kokkonda Venkata
Ratnam and Mahamahopadhyaya Vedam Venkataraya
Sastri. Their triangular fight was a literary treat for
the educated of the time. He translated several
Sanscrit dramas into Telugu ; and his translations are
marked off from most of the others for the grace of
their simplicity and absence of scholarly display. He
wrote on grammar and poetics also.

This brief sketch of Viresalingam's activities conveys
to the reader how many kinds of literary modes could
have originated with him. He might not have left a
school of poetry behind ; but he supplied the spiritual
motive force for many. And whatever he wrote, whether
liked by the conservatives or not, appealed to all.

The interest which Christian Missions evinced in
Telugu language and literature does not seem to have
been great. Even the translations of the Bible into
Telugu are done by such incompetent men, who weref
not educated in the language or who did not even
belong to the Andhra, that the expression Biblical
Telugu still means the ungrammatical, the unidiomatic
and the nonsensical. Only of late have the missionaries
come to realise their mistake.

There are not many Englishmen who have taken
interest in Andhra literature, the reason being again
the fact that the activity of the Christian Missions did
not spread in these parts as farther South. None-

58 NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

the-less, Mr. C. P. Brown and Colonel Mackenzie should
be mentioned, though not particularly as authors
but as patrons. The first wrote the Stories of Tatachari
and a dictionary, and the second, Kaiphiyats. Neither
was a missionary ; both were government servants.

Another voluminous writer like Viresalingam is
Pandit Chilakamarti Lakshmi Narasimham. He has
written many dramas, essays, novels, short stories,
and lives of great men and saints and even on
pragmatics. His name is popular throughout the
country for his dramas.

Of the poets who are carrying on the ancient tradition
Satavadhanis Tirupati Sastri and Venkata Sastri are
the greatest. They have cultivated the skill of attend-
ing to a hundred things at a time, For the poetic
revival in the Andhra they are to a very large extent
responsible. They are very prolific. Of their works
their somewhat original work Buddhacharitram, their
translations of Balardmdyana and Devlbhagavatam and
their Mahabharata dramas are the most interesting.
They have hosts of disciples everywhere, and hundreds
flock to hear their witty, learned and entertaining
discourses.

Pandits Vavilikolanu Subbarao, Sripada Krishnamurti
Sastri and Janamanchi Seshadri Sarma are great
scholars and well-known for their translations from
Sanscrit.

Chapter II
" BHAVAKAVITVAM "

A group of young men, almost all of them influenced
by English poets like Keats and Shelley, began writing
poems after them on Indian subjects. Their poems
were new to Telugu literature and were not particularly
well received by the conservative critics. These young
men had a predecessor, Mr. Guruzada Apparao of
Vizianagaram, who was not only the first to write such
poems but also the inventor of a new metre called
Mutyalasaramulu or rows of pearls, which was a
modified indigenous metre of a folk-song. But Mr.
Apparao did not write many poems, and so this group
of poets became practically the first group of bhdvakavis
and turned into a school by itself. The first to come
into prominence among them was Mr. Rayaprolu
Subbarao, who is now the Head of the Department of
Telugu, Osmania University, Hyderabad. When his
poems first appeared, they could not be placed under
any of the recognised classes of poetry ; and so Mr. G.
Harisarvothama Rao invented the name bhdvakavitvaiK
for them. Mr. Abburi Ramakrishna Rao, who is now a
lecturer in the Andhra University, Guntur, and Mr.
Basavaraju Apparao belonged to this group, which

60 NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

began to publish poems in Andhragrandhalayasarvasvamu,
a journal of the Andhra Library Association. At first
their poems were received with disfavour and suspicion.
Their subjects included not only the sublime but also
the lowest in creation, which violated the recognised
rules of poetics. But these young poets were not
disheartened. They received support and encouragement
from many great men with modern education. In spite
of the ridicule of the orthodox pandits they did not
desist from writing and their numbers swelled. Mean-
while Tagore obtained the Nobel Prize for an unorthodox
poem, and the information of his recognition gave them
new impetus and set the conservative reflecting.

Bhavakavitvam may generally be translated as lyrical
poetry. Some of it may be sung and the rest recited.
It is more subjective, particular, free both in theme and
metre, less long and more romantic than the ancient.
By these bhayakavis the poet has come to be differen-
tiated from the pandit. The ancient classical poetry did
contain lyrical pieces. Particularly, as it was said, the
iataka literature is mainly lyrical. But it is not often
that the theme of the orthodox poet was particular.
The content of the poem had little that was the poet's
own reaction. Themes were classified by the writers
on poetics, and the poets wrote their poems accordingly.
For them the rules of poetics were the actual source of
inspiration. Though the ancient poems are numerous,
if we omitted the names of persons and places, one
work would be just like any other. And a poet who
could impart any speciality to any of his characters
must be considered especially fortunate. The very fact
that the works of such poets have never lost popularity

' BHA VAK AVITVAM " 6l

shows that implicitly and tacitly people appreciated and
valued originality and particularity. But on the whole
it must be said that the ancient poets did not care much
for contemporary life. Their thought was not set re-
flecting by the political events of their time; their
emotions were not excited by incidents that happened
before their eyes ; their imagination was not stirred by
social injustices; national feeling did not move them;
and they did not care to sing their own joys and sorrows.
The controversy that developed between the bhd-
vakavis and the classical poets threw a flood of
light on the nature of both. It is certainly a mistake
to think that bhdvakavitvam differs from classical poetry
by its adoption of new metres, disregard of certain
grammatical rules and so forth. These differences are
only non-essentials. Many of the new poets use old
metres with grace. One point seems to be significant,
namely, that the classical poets care for rasa or
sentiment whereas the moderns car$ for bhdva or
emotion. This appears naturally to follow from the
shortness of the modern poem. In an epic all emotions
find their place while one of them overwhelms the rest
and settles down ( sthdyibhavati ) as the chief rasa of
the poem. But in a short poem the poet may give
expression to one or two emotions roused by some
event or object. However, there is here a question
both for the poet and the psychologist whether an
emotion which does not contest with others for
supremacy cannot settle down as a rasa. Further, in
the mind of the poet an object or event may arouse
two or three emotions, which may not fight for
dominance. The controversy about bhdvakavitvam

62 NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

gives form to many such problems, when attempts are
made to relate it to the old types of poetry. Into a
discussion of these problems we cannot of course enter
here.

But unfortunately many of these bhavakavis are not
well read. They are not well posted with information
about events happening in the world and the currents
of thought that are swaying nations. Their outlook
is not as wide as might be desired. Some of them are
shallow and have very little to say though they say too
much. And some who could have been better do not
possess the necessary scope and opportunities for wide
study and intellectual development. Hence their field
of ideas and imagination is narrow and the topics on
which they can write soon get exhausted. Besides, to
write poems does not pay ; and when poets write for
their livelihood and not as a hobby or pastime, their
economic condition is generally deplorable. Among
them, however, there are some who have given us
excellent pieces.

Of the group of three poets mentioned above the
first two are very popular and have good opportunities
for widening their intellectual horizons. Professor
Subbarao is the author of many beautiful poems like
Trnakankanam and Svapnakumaram and has numerous
admirers all through the country. Mr. Ramakrishna
Rao is not so prolific, but in his poems Mallikdmba,
Chdg&nam and Purvaprema as well as in his lyrical
drama Nadisundari he creates like Keats in the minds
of his readers a definite impression of his ideas. Again,
like the poems of Keats Mr. Ramakrishna Rao's poems
are rounded out in plan and the reader can get a clue

1 BHAVAKAVITVAM " 63

to the intentions of the poet. Mr. Apparao wrote a
number of songs like Burns. The language of all th&
three is chaste and their poetic merit high. Mr.
Ramakrishna Rao is also a guide of a number of younger
poets, whom he supplies with ideas and latest develop-
ments in literary thought.

It seems that the time has come when clarity in ideas
and imagination has to be placed before the bhdvakavis
as a great ideal of poetic art. We may well appreciate
the vagueness of a mystic's ideas. But while it may be
difficult to be a mystic like Tagore, it is easy to be " mys-
ty " for want of real inspiration. A poet may imagine
that a great idea is dawning upon his mind, but it may
be empty sentimentality, mere effervescence. And one
is tempted to doubt, after reading some of these
bhavakavis, whether Croce's theory that there can be no
idea without expression is not after all true. Of course,
these poets use a number of words; but how their
imagination forms itself is difficult to understand. Pandit
Akkiraju Umakantam in his Netikdlapu Kavitvamtt
{Poetry of Today) ably brings to light some of the defects
of the bhavakavis. But unfortunately he could see
nothing good in them and so his work seems to be
somewhat one-sided. The very fact that bhdvakavitvam
has come to stay shows that there is nothing funda-
mentally wrong with it. After all, as Moulton says*
"when a poet does not conform to the existing laws
of poetry, he is extending the law/' 1 Poetry which is
not true poetry will be a passing phase and may be
criticised as not conforming to law ; but poetry which
is abiding gives the law.

1 The Modern Study of Literature, p. 300,

64 NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

In fact bhdvakavitvam has made its appearance at the
proper time and the proper place in the order of
growth of Telugu poetry. Telugu poetry began its life
with the purdyas, for the Mahabharatam though strictly
an itihasa is called a purdna also and even the
Rdmdyanam is called so by the laity. These purdnas are
grand epics and not simple epics ; for their chief rasa is
not any one particular rasa but all emerging out of
idnti and merging in it. Later the poets produced
simple epics of lesser scope with only one predominant
rasa. These are the mahdkdvyas or prabandhas.
Then Telugu poetry passed through the stage of the
fatakas, which are still narrower in scope, like the
khandakdvyas. All of these are of course not lyrical.
For every short poem need not be a lyric just as every
long one need not be an epic. An epigram or a gnome
is in essence an epic. Mallikarjuna's Sivatatvasdramu
and many of the verses of Vemana and SumatUatakam
are not lyrical. But an autobiography when written as
a poem which gives the reactions of the poet's mind to
the conventional and established world with which he
puts up a lifelong fight in order to alter it, would be a
nice lyric. In the epic the poet enters the objective
world and becomes one with it in imagination. That
is why the authors of the Mahdbhdrata and the
Rdmdyana say that they saw the world of their events
as a totality like an dmalaka fruit in their palms. And
their narrative is given in the tranquillity of their
mind's fulness. But the lyric poet absorbs and
assimilates the world. The focus of unity is his own
mind, which loses its peace whenever the order of the
established world is not in harmony with its deeper

' BH AVAKA VIT VAM ' ' 65

aspirations and likings. That is why the lyric poem is
generally an outburst and is consequently short and
small. Convention deemed that the Sataka should
consist of one hundred and eight verses ; but even that
is felt by the bhdvakavi to be too long. He wants a
much shorter length, which again is to be determined not
a priori but by the nature of his emotions. Their
nature is to decide again what metre he is to use. In
understanding this growth no hard-and-fast distinctions
can be made or cut-and-dry rules framed. For
instance, the fatakas are mainly lyrical, particularly so
when they were written by authors who were in some
distress. But sometimes even these authors give mere
purdnic descriptions in order to fill the prescribed length,
and then the poems are uninteresting. And some of the
Satakas which preach morals, philosophy and so forth,
are not certainly lyrics. And so it would be wrong
to call the iataka a lyric. But we may say that the lyric
as an independent type of poetry was beginning to
evolve through the sataka, and has taken full shape in
the poems of the bhdvakavis. And probably even if
the earliest bhdvakavis had not been influenced by the
English poets, it would have evolved naturally.

Of the younger bhdvakavis Mr. Devulapalli Krishna
Sastri is the most admired and imitated. His Krishna-
paksham is the most popular. But in him some of the
vices of bhdvakavitvam are not totally absent. Of late
Mr. Srirangam Srinivasa Rao with his Prabhava has
come to the forefront. It is not possible to give a list of
all these poets and their works. They have some
associations of which Sahitisamiti with Mr. Tallavajjhula
Sivasankara Sastri as the president and Kavitasamiti

66 NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

with Mr. Marepalli Ramachandra Sastri as the president
may be mentioned. Of the poets Messrs. Adavi Bapiraju,
JC. V. Subbarao, S. Narayana Babu, N. Narasiraha
Sastri, P. Venkataratnam, G. Rukmininatha Sastri, and
G. Venkatachalam are widely known. The last is a
social rebel. Mr. Sivasankara Sastri's Hfdayeivari is
read by many. Mr. Nanduri Subbarao's pastoral song
Venkipatalu created a sensation when it was first
published. In it beautiful and sublime ideas are
expressed in the colloquial language of rustics. Some of
these poets are socialists.

Mr. Duvvuri Kami Reddi needs special mention. Of
all the bhavakavis he is the most influenced by Tagore.
He is the author of several poems, many of them
published in Kavi-Kdkilagranthavali. His pastoral poem
Krshivaludu ( Cultivator ) is the most popular and
beautiful. His translation of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat
under the title P&naSdla is unsurpassed in charm by
other attempts. His language is chaste and he has few
of the vices of the bhavakavis. He translated some of
his poems into English and Dr. J. H. Cousins has a high
opinion of them.

There are women poets also among the bhavakavis, of
whom Shrimatis T. Visvasundaramma, C. Bangaramma,
Saudamini and B. Kanakamma are well known.

Chapter III

THE LIBERALS

There are a number of poets who have recognised the
true value of bhdvakavitvam but do not particularly like
to be called bhdvakavis. Like the poetry of decadence
in Europe bhdvakavitvam as such, after a life of about
two to three decades, is turning into surrealism, cubism,
unanism, imagism, futurism, pessimism and what-not.
The poets who profess to follow these 'isms are not
master-minds ; and for several reasons among which
finance is an important one their experience and outlook
are circumscribed. Further, what is wanted in such
poets is not merely a second-hand acquaintance through
books with the world of things about them but a
peculiar sensitiveness and affectability, which are best
expressed by the Sanscrit word anubhava. Or, as Hegel
says, such a poet should be

rich in fancy and feeling, or imposing and profound in his
views and reflections, and above all should be essentially
independent, the possessor of a unique ideal world, from which
the servility and caprice of a prosaic nature is excluded. A

But this requirement is rarely satisfied. The word
bhdvakavitvam has now come to mean a slight humorous

1 The Philosophy of Fine Art, Vol. IV, p. 198*

68 NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

disparagement. It means mellifluous and spontaneous
verbosity, monotonous dwelling on one's own experi-
ences, lengthy repetitions of words meaning sweetness,
love and sublimity, tedious outpourings of fancied
sorrows, reasonless fears and imagined dread, and the
use of confused imagery and mixed metaphor. There
are other defects which critics have brought to the
notice of the public. It is high time that those who call
themselves bhdvakavis gave full thought to what their
critics say.

For this reason some poets who are alive to both the
defects and merits of the bhavakavis did not join that
group. Of these the names to be first mentioned are
those of Mr. Pingali Lakshmi Kantam, Head of the
Department of Telugu, Andhra University, Guntur, and
Mr. Katuri Venkatesvara Rao, who generally publish
their poems jointly. Their Tolakari ( First Shower )
which is a collection of small poems on different subjects
and Saundarananda, a small epic, are favourably
received both by the conservative and the modern
critics. Their language is simple and beautiful, thought
clear and neat, and sentiment pleasing and dignified.

Pandit Visvanatha Satyanarayana is a very prolific
writer of this type, and has a nice flow of ideas and
language. He has attempted all literary forms, novels,
dramas, essays, songs, and short and long poems. His
language is chaste, and sometimes sonorous and high-
flown. His patriotic verses and his songs called Kinna-
rasanipatalu are very popular.

Another poet of this type is Mr. Joshua. He is a
Christian and is one of the best contemporary poets.
His language also is chaste. His poems contain no un-

THE LIBERALS 69

necessary words and are pregnant with meaning. They
are many, of which Phirdausi may be mentioned.

Mr. G. T. Somayaji, Lecturer in the Telugu Depart-
ment, Andhra University, Guntur, has written a beauti-
ful poem called Rdmachandruni Hampiyatra after
Byron's Childe Harold. In it the author has successfully
incorporated a number of ideas and sentiments both
from Western and Indian poets. Mr. K. Subbarao's poem
on the same subject has been very highly reviewed by
the press and is regarded as one of the most beautiful.

Among the modern poets the name of Maharajah
Dr. Vikaramadeo Varma of Jeypore should not be
omitted. He is a scholar of Sanscrit, Telugu and Oriya
and has written poems in the three languages. As that
of a patron and benefactor his name is unsurpassed in
the Andhra country.

In poetry Sir C. R. Reddy is a mind capable of great
achievements. His earliest attempt, Musalammamara- '
nam t which he wrote as a university student, is very
promising. For their lyrical charm his dedicatory verses
in his ArthaSdstramu are highly praised. With all his
culture, experience of the world and width of learning,
had he continued his poetic work, Telugu would have
been proud of a great poet as Bengali is of Tagore and
Persian of Iqbal. However, even now he is a friend and
patron of every young poet, and there is no bhavakavi
who has not received an encouraging word from him.

The present Yuvarajah Saheb of Pithapuram, Sri Rao
Venkata Mahipati Gangadhara Ramarao, is of late com-
ing into the limelight as a poet. Besides, he is a patron
of poets, and Telugu literature naturally depends Upon
princes like him for its growth and enrichment.

Chapter IV
THE DRAMA

As regards drama, the Telugu poets, as it has been
said, did not take to it for a long time. Even
Prabddhachandfddayam was first translated into an epic.
But, on the other hand, histrionic art was encouraged
and widely cultivated. The bhdgavatam parties were
nothing but dramatic societies. But their plays are
not based on Sanscrit models and are purely indigenous.
Hegel writes :

In the drama, then, subjective emotion passes on likewise to
the expression of action ; and, by so doing, renders necessary the
manifestation to our senses of the play of gesture which con-
centrates the universality of language in a closer relation with
the expression of personality, and by means of position,
demeanour, gesticulation and other ways is individualised and
completed. If, however, this aspect of deportment is carried
forward by artistic means to a degree of expression, that it can
dispense with speech, we have the art of pantomime, which
resolves the rhythmical movement of poetry in a harmonious
and picturesque motion of limbs, and in this, so to speak, plastic
music of bodily position and movement gives animated life in
the dance to the tranquil and cold figures of sculpture that it
may essentially unite by such means music and the plastic art. 1

But the actors in the indigenous Andhra bh5gat>atams
1 Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 105.

THE DRAMA 71

not only act and dance as in the Kathakali of Malabar,
but also sing and converse. Dancing seems to have
been excluded from drama even before Kalidasa. But
in the indigenous Telugu drama it is retained. And
this dramatic tradition is being carried on by the
Kuchipudi bhagavatars even now. Their dramas are the
most perfect blend of poetry, music, acting and dance,
and their dance is technically called Bharatandtyam.
Their acting ( abhinaya ) and dance are still superb and
what is wanted to save their art from death and
popularise it is some refinement of their music to suit
modem taste. Some revivalists object to any modifica-
tion and even insist upon playing those dramas in the
glow of torches in preference to the light of gas and
electricity. But they seem to be too puristic.

However, dramas after those of Sanscrit do not seem
to be written till the Modern Period. After the advent
of English education, many educated Andhras attended
English theatres and wanted that similar dramas should
be enacted in Telugu. Meanwhile Parsi theatrical
companies from Dharwar toured the country and staged
their plays in Hindi. Seeing them, Maharajah Sir
Ananda Gajapati of Vizianagaram started the Sanscrit
Dramatic Association at his place, which began to stage
Sanscrit dramas, but after his death it became extinct.
The Zamindar of Munagapaka started a dramatic
company by which Hindi plays were enacted, but it
ended in his financial ruin. By that time Sanscrit
dramas began to be translated into Telugu and the
first translation to see print was Kokkonda Venkata
Ratnam's Narakasura Viziavyaydgam. Next Viresa-
lingam's Abhijii&na&ikuntalam and Ratndvali appeared.

72 NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

He also translated Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice
and Comedy of Errors.

Then were started two dramatic societies, the
Sarasavinodini Sabha of Bellary and the Sugunavilasini
Sabha at Madras. In the latter not only Telugu
dramas but also dramas in other South Indian
languages were staged. The moving spirit of the former
was Dharmavaram Krishnamachari, who was not
only an actor but one of the foremost playwrights of
the time. After these Sabhas several theatrical societies
were started in big towns all over the country, of which
the Chintamani Nataka Samajam of Messrs. Nagesvara
Rao and Gunnesvara Rao at Rajahmundry and the
Jaganmitra Nataka Samajam which flourished tinder
the patronage of Maharajah Vikrama Deo Varma at
Vizagapatam, may be mentioned. Some of them became
professional touring parties, of which the " Surabhi "
companies are the important ones. The members
of these companies belonged to single families, and
both men and women appeared on the stage. Almost
every one of these societies had its own playwright,
who used to compose dramas to suit the histrionic
abilities of the available actors. Hence most of the
dramas could not attain a high standard of perfection.
Actors were not chosen to suit the characters of a play
well conceived, but characters were delineated to suit
the actors. Even then some of the plays reached a
high standard and became very popular. They were
written mainly after the Sanscrit models.

Of the earliest playwrights the names of Dharmavaram
Krishnamachari and Kolachalam Srinivasa Rao stand
out pre-eminent. Krishnamachari wrote nearly thirty

THE DRAMA 73

plays, of which some thirteen have been printed. His
Vishdda-S&rangadhara, Chitranaliyam, Prahldda and
Padukdpattabhishekam are the most famous. He is
called " Andhranatakapitamaha " or the Grandfather of
the Andhra Drama. Mr. Srinivasa Rao too wrote many
dramas of which several are historical. But he is famous
only for his Vizianagararajya Patanam ( Fall of
Vizianagar), which was the first historical drama written
in Telugu. Mr. Chilakamarti Lakshmi Narasimham too
wrote several plays of which Prasannayddavam and
Gayopdkhydnam attained unequalled popularity. Of the
other dramas which are well known, Satyaharischandra
of Mr. Baljepalli Lakshmi Kantam, Rasaputravijayam
of Ichchapurapu Yajna Narayana, Pratdparudrtyam of
Mahamahopadhyaya Vedam Venkataraya Sastri and
Venlsamhdram of Vaddadi Subbarayudu need mention.
All these authors are great scholars. Bilhanlyam of
Umar Ali Sha needs special mention as it is a Telugu
drama written by a Muslim poet.

Kanyasulkam of Guruzada Apparao is the first
important social drama in Telugu. In it the practice of
selling young girls in marriage to aged husbands is
ridiculed and widow remarriage advocated. It had a
sensational reception. Mr. Apparao will ever be remem-
bered for the creation of the character Girisam, a
social reformer of easy virtue. Plays on similar themes
are Viresalingam's Brdhmavivdham and Kallakuri Nara-
yana Rao's Kaqthdbharanam. Of late several plays
with social themes have appeared which preach against
the dowry system of marriage and the demand for
educated and fashionable brides, in preference to illit-
erate ones who would make devoted wives.

74 NEW AKDHRA LITERATURE

Of recent historical dramas Unnava Lakshmi Nara-
yaaia's N&yakw&lu, Duvvuri Rami Reddi's Kumbhar&nd
and several plays dealing with the battle of Bobbili, in
which the Rajahs fought heroically with the French
General Bussey, are the most popular. Unfortunately,
the actual details of the fall of the Satavahanas of
Dhanyakatakam, of the Kakatiyas of Warrangal, and
of the Reddi Kings is not known. The Ganga Kings
who ruled Kalinga, the country between the Mahanadi
and the Godavari, wrote their inscriptions in Telugu
and Sanscrit a fact which lends support to the view
that they were Kannada people domiciled in the
Andhra. But the details of their exploits, which would
have offered good themes for dramas, are not welt
preserved. So, until historical research makes further
progress, good dramas with themes from Andhra history
cannot appear. But on Vizianagar there are a few
good plays.

Mr. Abburi Ramakrishna Rao's Nadisundari is an
excellent lyrical drama. Mr. Tallavajjhula Sivasankara
Sastri has written a number of all-verse plays called
Geyandtikalu. The Yuvarajah Saheb of Pithapuram
also has written a number of such interesting dramas of
which Alokamunundi Avhdnamu may be mentioned.

There are not many metaphysical or philosophical
plays. Besides the translation of the Sanscrit drama,
Prabddhackandrddayam by Viresalingam, Hamsavijayam
of Kanchanapalli Kanakamba, a lady-poet, needs
mention. Religious dramas are many. The Bhdrata,
RSmSyana and Bhdgavata dramas too come under this
class. Plays with deep philosophical meaning touching
the innermost depths of our life, culture, outlook and

THE DRAMA 75

civilization are few or none.

Of late there have appeared several one-act plays
which are mostly read and not staged, one of the
unfortunate reasons being the popularity and cheapness
of the cinema. There the indigenous dramatic modes
are unable to develop. The Telugu cinema is a more or
less second-rate imitation of the Hindi, and even the
songs are nothing better. Here too wider outlook,
deeper insight and imagination, better taste and fuller
understanding of ancient dramatic modes are wanted.
These films seem to be intended more for pandering to,
than for educating the taste of the masses.

Some of the best one-act and other short plays are
the farces, comedies etc., of Viresalingam and Chilaka-
marti Lakshmi Narasimham. They cover a variety of
topics, the ignorance of women, learned but hypocritical
discussions of pandits, foolish superstitions, social
injustices to women, communalism and sectarianism,
village factions, malpractices among certain services,
the taking of census and so forth. Panuganti Lakshmi
Narasimham is a leading comedy writer and is very
entertaining. He first became famous through his
Sakshi (Spectator) in which he gave a humorous
description of a variety of things. All his comic dramas
are popular. Mr. Bhamidipati Kamesvara Rao has of
late come into prominence as a comedy writer. . He
and Mr. G. Venkatachalam too have written a number
of one-act plays.

A very interesting account of the growth of the
Andhra stage and of the different views held about
histrionic art and the art of play-writing, is given in
G. Sitarama Sastri's Andhranatakarangamu. Puranam

76 NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

Suri Sastri's Andhranataka Samskaranamu and R.
Anantakrishna Sarma's Natakopanydsamulu. Some held
that only women should take the part of women, some
that there should be no songs and music, some that
the drama should be written only in prose and not in
verse also, like the Sanscrit dramas, and so forth.
But many, like Pingali Lakshmi Kantam ( See his
Presidential Address to the Andhranataka Kalapa-
rishat, 1937), maintain that men may play the r61es of
women and that songs, music and verses, when used in
their proper place, add to the dramatic effect. It
must, however, be said that the number of verses in
contemporary plays is much reduced, though songs and
music remain as before. And everyone who can sing
is not now regarded as a great actor.

For nearly eight years the Andhranataka Kalapari-
shat has been doing good work by giving opportun-
ities to both dramatists and actors to meet and discuss.
This academy has instituted prizes for the best actors as
well as for the best drama of the year and is thus
encouraging the histrionic art and that of the play-
wright. This academy meets once every year in some
big town and is a provincial body. Attempts were
made to start associations of that type in places like
Masulipatam and Nellore, but these could not thrive
long.

Chapter V
NOVELS, SHORT STORIES, ESSAYS

Novelists and novels are numerous. There are all
types of novels. Many are translated from English and
Bengali. As has been said, Viresalingam is the first
novelist. Chilakamarti Lakshmi Narasimham wrote
many. The novels of both have a standard and include
both the historical and the social. Then a number
appeared, of which many are good. The historical
novels generally deal with the kingdoms of Vizianagar,
Warrangal and Rajahmundry, the Reddi principalities
and the Zamindari of Bobbili. Some novelists go
beyond the Andhra and write about the Rajputs, the
Marathas and the Moguls. In some of the earliest
historical novels some mythological and supernatural
element used to be mixed up. But of late the practice
has been discontinued. Of the historical novels
Bhogaraju Narayana Murti's Astamayamu and Chilukuri
Virabhadra Rao's Nayakurali Darpamu may be
mentioned.

Of novels on social subjects Viresali*gam's Raja-
Sekharacfaritra, Chilakamarti Lakshmi Narasimham's
Htmalatt and Karpfirama&jari, Ketavarapu Venkata
Sastri's LakshmiprasSdamu and Rajyalakskmi, and

78 NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

Visvanatha Satyanarayana's Cheliyalikatta are well
spoken of. All these authors are highly respected.

Detective novels are very many. But they have only
an entertainment value. A few of them are realistic,
but the rest are fictitious. Translations too are many.
But all along the Eastern Ghats some of the hill chiefs
turned into robber leaders ; their exploits, heroism and
ultimate capture could have formed very interesting
topics for the novelist. But the realistic illusion is rare
in the available novels and, where present, is not
maintained all through.

The activities of the Indian National Congress both
in the political and social spheres have provided themes
for a number of novels, the most famous of which is
Unnava Lakshmi Narayanans Mdlapalle (The Hamlet
of the Harijans ). It was at first proscribed by the
Government, but of late the ban has been lifted.

There are some associations which are encouraging
the writing of good novels by giving prizes and publish-
ing series. Of these K. V. Lakshmana Rao's Vijnana-
chandika Mandali ( Madras ) with its Vijnanachandika
Series, Venkata Kavi's and Parvatisvara Kavi's Andhra-
pracharini Nilayam ( Pithapuram ) with its Andhra-
pracharini Series, the Sarasvatigrantha Series ( Rajah-
mundry) of Addepalli Lakshmana Svami and the
Veguchukkagrantha Series ( Berhampur ) of Tapi
Dharma Rao are the most important.

The Telugu short story originated with Mr. Guruzada
Apparao ; but Mr. Gudipati Venkatachalam is the lead-
ing writer, if both quality and quantity are assessed.
These two, along with Mr. Chinta Dikshitulu, occupy
the front rank among Telugu short-story writers. Mr.

NOVELS, SHORT STORIES, ESSAYS 79

Venkatachalam is a rank realist and often violates the
canons of decency; but Mr. Dikshitulu is an idealist and
does not transgress the limits. There are a few others
like Messrs. M. Narayana Sastri, S. Subrahmanya
Sastri, and A. Bapiraju, in the field. Almost all of
them are influenced by Western writers; but they
handle quite skilfully subjects from Andhra life.

There are several essayists of whom Viresalingam and
Chilakamarti Lakshmi Narasimham are the leaders.
They wrote on many subjects, which have already been
mentioned. Of late several others have come into
prominence, of whom Jonnalag^dda Satyanarayana is
one. He has written on travels also. Panuganti
Lakshmi Narasimham's essays are well known for their
satire. Viresalingam and Rayasam Venkatasivudu
wrote autobiographies. There are a few biographies.
Viresalingam 's Telugu Kavulu ( Lives of Telugu Poets ),
Guruzada Srirama Murti's Kavijivitanwlu ( Biographies
of Poets). Vanguri Subbarao's and Veturi Prabhakara
Sastri's works on Srinatha may be included in this class.
Unfortunately it is very difficult to get authentic
material on the lives of ancient poets. Viresalingam's
Abhagyopakhyanam and Tirupati Kavi and Venkata
Kavi's Glratam are interesting parodies. Rukmininatha
Sastri's Rachanalu also comes under this class of
literature.

A number of works have appeared on literary
criticism. The work of Viresalingam, Venkataraya
Sastri and Kokkonda Venkataratnam belongs to the
old school. Sir C. R. Reddy's Kavitvatattvavicharamu
inaugurates the new school, which is influenced by
the Western theories of literary art. After him

80 NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

Sdhiiyatattvavimartana of Jonnalagedda Satyanarayana
and Samiksha of Mutnuri Krishna Rao have been
written. Akkiraju Umakantam's Netikalapu Kavitvam
is a very interesting, scholarly and useful, though some-
what one-sided, criticism of bhdvakavitvam. A lot of
controversial literature appeared about the advisability
of using the spoken language for literary purposes. Rao
Saheb Gidugu Ramamurti, a great and highly respected
scholar, advocated its use, while several equally great
scholars like Vedam Venkataraya Sastri, Kokkonda
Venkata Ratnam and Jayanti Ramayya Pantulu
opposed him. Ramamurti had the modern Bengali
literature as an example in support. Both parties have
now several writers as followers.

Chapter VI

LITERARY HISTORIES AND SCIENTIFIC
AND PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS

We do not have quite satisfactory histories of Telugu
literature, which is due to the difficulty of collecting
relevant material. Still, serious attempts have been
made and a number of works have been published.
Viresalingam with his Telugu Kavulu ( Lives of Telugu
Poets) heads the list. Guruzada Srirama Murti's
Kavijivitamulu (Biographies of Poets) is an interesting
though not a very reliable work. Vanguri Subbarao's
Andhravangmayacharitramu (History of Andhra Litera-
ture) and Sataka Kavula Charitramu (History of the
Sataka Poets), T. Achyuta Rau's Andhravangmayacha-
ritramu, which he translates "History of Andhra
Literature in the Vizianagar Empire/' aad Kavitva-
vedi's Andhravdngmayacharitra-Sangrahamu (A Brief
History of Andhra Literature ) are very useful books.
Mr. G. V. Raghavarao brought out an excellent work,
Andhragadyavdngmayacharitramu (History of Telugu
Prose ). Chilukuri Narayana Rao's Andhrabhashacha-
ritramu ( History of the Telugu Language ) is a standard
work from the scholarly point of view. But a compre-
hensive and fully informative history of Telugu

82 NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

literature which gives not only names and dates but
also some idea of the works, and traces the literary
development in a significant way is still a desideratum.

In this connection Pandit Malladi Suryanarayana
Sastri's Samscrtavdngmayacharitramu ( History of Sans-
crit Literature ) needs mention. It is a very informa-
tive and interesting work written by a Telugu scholar
belonging to the ancient tradition. Pandit Vajjhula
Chinasitarama Sastri's work on some points of Telugu
grammar is of very great academical interest. Mr. Veturi
Prabhakara Sastri has made an interesting collection of
chdtus or stray verses on miscellaneous subjects in his
Chdtupadyaratnavali (A Garland of Stray Verses).
Attempts are being made to collect mangalahdratulu or
songs of benediction, yakshaganams, which are indigenous
precursors of drama, folk-songs, dance songs and so
forth. Some good work has already been done in this
field by Vanguri Subbarao, Nandiraju Chalapati Rao
and others.

An excellent beginning was made by Sir C. R. Reddy
through his A rthaidstramu (Economics) in writing books
of a scientific nature. As history, geography, science
and mathematics are now taught in Telugu up to the
Matriculation examination, a number of text-books on
these subjects have appeared. Recently, for students
who undergo training in education, a few small books
on educational psychology have been written. After
the advent of the Congress a small number of works on
political theory, nature of self-government, and forms of
government in Europe, America, China and Japan have
also been published. But most of these, meant only for
the general education of the people, are not of a high

LITERARY HISTORIES, SCIENTIFIC WORKS ETC. 83

standard. Atmakuri Govindachari's Indian Economics
and Professor Venkatarangiah's Economics, however,
deserve mention.

Of the works on science K. Kondayya's Vitvar&pam
(The Nature of the Physical World) is the most
important. G. V. Raghavarao's Everyday Science and
Gullapalli Narayana Murti's Radio are prize works.
Important attempts are being made by the staff of the
Andhra University to discover and coin indigenous
technical terms in arts and science subjects. Until these
attempts are co-ordinated and systematised, works of
lasting importance cannot be written on these subjects.
In this connection co-operation of the workers of all the
provinces may be necessary.

So far as Indian philosophy is concerned, there have
been several works, both ancient and modern. All
purdnas contain philosophical discussions. Many of the
satakas are philosophical poetry or poetic philosophy.
It has been said that Tikkana omitted the Bhagavadgfta
altogether from his Mahabharatam. Tupakula Ananta
Bhupala translated it into simple and beautiful prose in
the eighteenth century. The philosophical work which
has been very popular with the Andhras is Sitaraman-
janeya Samvddamu (eighteenth century) which is an
interesting mixture of metaphysics, psychology and
hathayoga. Of the recent works K. Gopalakrishnamma's
Andhramimamsd Nyayamuktdvali may be mentioned.
On the whole it must be said that in the Andhra there
is not so much interest in philosophical writings as in
pure kdvya literature. There are, indeed, a number of
books on contemporary saints and philosophers like
Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Ramatirtha, Aurobindo

84 NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

Ghosh and Dayananda. Of these Shri Raja M. Bhujanga
Rao's translation of parts of The New Testament into
Telugu verse and Chilukuru Narayana Rao's translation
of the Koran should be mentioned. Of course, there
are some translations of the Vedas and the Upanishads
also. Probably the want of real depth in modern
Telugu poetry in general is due to lack of interest in
philosophical literature.

Chapter VII

ACADEMICAL ORGANS, LEXICOGRAPHY,
JOURNALISM

There are a number of learned societies with their
series and periodicals, which have done great service to
the cause of Andhra literature. The first and foremost
among them is the Vijnanachandrika Mandali. It was
started by Komarraju V. Lakshmana Rao, whose name
is remembered by all educated Andhras with pride and
enthusiasm. This society published a number of
standard works on various subjects. Sir C. R. Reddy's
ArthaSastramu and Chilukuri Virabhadra Rao's Andh-
rula Chariira, both of which were the first works of
their kind, belong to this Series. But unfortunately
after Lakshmana Rao's death the society became extinct
for want of funds, and the noble projects begun by him
could not progress beyond the stage at which he left
them.

The Andhrasahitya Parishat was started by Jayanti
Ramayya Pantulu under the patronage of the Maharajah
of Pithapuram, Dr. Rao Venkata Mahipati Suryarao.
It has its own journal called Parishatpatrika. It has
printed and published many valuable ancient works.
Its headquarters are at Coconada.

86 NEW ANDHRA LITERATURE

The Navyasahitya Parishat of Guntur of which Sir
C. R. Reddy is a patron, is doing similar service for
modern literature. Its journal is Pratibhd, edited by
Telikicharla Venkata Ratnam. It has published the
complete works of Gidugu Ramamurti and is publishing
the poems of many a modern poet.

There have been smaller bodies of a similar nature.
But they have not been able to continue their work
long. The Andhra is not an industrial country and is
very poor. And without rich patrons literary activities
cannot flourish in the present conditions.

Again finance is standing in the way of bringing out
lexicons and encyclopaedias. B. Sitaramacharyalu's
Sabdaratndkaram is a good dictionary. C. P. Brown
and C. A. Galletti have brought out small English-
Telugu dictionaries. K. Nagesvara Rao published a
bibliography of Telugu literature, called Andhra-
vdngmayasftchakamu. The Andhrasahitya Parishat has
been working at a voluminous dictionary called
Sftryardydndhranighantuvu, financed by the Maharaja of
Pithapuram. Shri Raja K. Prasadarao of Devidi has
published a small encyclopaedia called Andhra-
vijndndmu. Long ago, when the Madras University
made a grant for the preparation of a Tamil Encyclo-
paedia and did not make a similar grant for a Telugu
Encyclopaedia, K. Nagesvara Rao wanted to undertake
it and was able to issue two volumes. Much depends
on finance, which it is so very difficult to obtain in
this country, and on Government support and the
co-operation of scholars.

Of the dailies, weeklies and journals the following
may be mentioned. The Andhrapatrikd is both a daily

ACADEMICAL ORGANS, LEXICOGRAPHY, JOURNALISM 87

and a weekly. It was started by K. Nagesvara Rao
and is the most widely circulated Telugu newspaper.

The Krishndpatrikd is a very popular weekly edited
by Mutnuri Krishna Rao. The Andhra Prabhd is a
daily issued by the publisher of The Indian Express, Mr.
Ramnath Goenka. The Anandavdni, the Vihari and
the Trilinga are weeklies edited by Kalidas, Narahari
and Venkatesvara Sastri respectively. The last is
Anglo-Telugu and represents the views of the
Sanatanists.

The Bhdrati, the most popular Telugu monthly, was
started by K. Nagesvara Rao. The Prdbuddhdndhra of
Sripada Krishnamurti Sastri, which has now ceased
publication, maintained a high standard. The Grha-
lakshmi of Dr.Kesari is meant only for women. There
are some other weeklies and monthlies of an enter-
tainment value, containing wit and humour, short
stories and so forth. Their names need not be
mentioned.

There are some good journals which are no longer
functioning but which were of a very high standard.
The Manjuvdni and the Sarasvati were publishing
unpublished works and were conservative in views. The
Kala was started with the highly ambitious programme
of correlation of art and literature, but could not con-
tinue long. The Sdradd was slightly liberal in its views
and was also publishing unpublished works. The
Pratibhd and the Parishatpatrikd have already been
referred to. The Telugu of Gidugu Ramamurti ran for
some time during the days of the controversy about the
use of literary and spoken languages.

ANTHOLOGY

ANCIENT POETRY

URMILA'S SLEEP

( A folk-song generally sung by women )

(During his exile of fourteen years Lakshmana left
his wife Urnrila and followed Rama and Sita into the
forests. All these years Urmila lay in a long and
continuous sleep. The following is the scene of her
reunion with her husband. )

Lakshmana entered the bedroom and on the soft bed saw
The parrot-voiced lady. Her thigh he touched and

her sari
Arranged. Cool pastes he applied and ornaments

rearranged.
Sitting on her bed he fondly began to speak: "Tender

Girl!
Your beautiful face the moon desires to worship.

Nectar rains
Down from the sweet corner of your smiling lips that

easily
Dispense with betel leaf and nuts. Move with that

sweet sound
Your feet which are like small lotuses." But in sleep

Q2 ANTHOLOGY

Herself the lady forgot. Half -awake she trembled and

said:
" Who are you, Sir ? For so great a mischief have you

come ! Through lanes
And by-lanes searching, have you come to do me

wrong ? You have,
When nobody is here, approached me privately ?

Arrested
Will you be, if my father, King Janaka, hears of this.

In danger
Will your life be, if my sister and her lord know this.

On earth
He will not let you live, if my sister's brother-in-law 1

is informed.
Alas ! What am I to do ? Ill fame has fallen on this

noble line.

Is it not for desiring another's wife that Indra's body
Became corrupt, Havana died with his kith and kin,

and Kichaka
Lost his life ? You know about these sins and yet have

you come
For sinning! Sisters and mothers like me have you

none ? "
Lakshmana heard her. Sad he felt, and said: " Rama's

brother

Am I. Who else is Rama in this creation ? Am I not
Janaka's son-in-law ? Who else is Janaka on earth ?
Urmila are you called on earth. Your name belies you.

From Rama
Separated, Janaki 2 was kidnapped. Ravana have we

1 That is, her own husband.
1 Sita.

ANCIENT POETRY 93

Destroyed and returned home with that goddess of the

earth.

Accept me, moon-faced Lady ! Willingly shall I receive
The bad name. Am I not Sita's brother-in-law ? Lady !
Be kind and awake. Friend of my life ! From the

moment
I left you, food and sleep have I not known. If you

do not
Wake up, O Friend ! I cannot endure life. " And,

drawing his sword,
" I shall cut myself ! " he cried. Urmila shuddered and

rose.

She realised that he was the lord of her life, felt relieved
And fell at his lotus-feet. He raised her from his feet

with his hands,
Pressed her to his bosom and wiped her tears. She

said: " My father,
King Janaka, trusted you and gave me as wife.

Deceived he was
In thinking that you were a man of honour. Men have

their minds
Somewhere and women disappoint/' Lakshmana heard

and understood
The thoughts of his wife who, weeping in her heart,

was unable to speak.
He caressed her and said: "0 Girl! why are you

sorrowful ? My life
Without you these fourteen years I bore somehow.

O Lady !
Food and sleep I knew not. In our past life we must

have
Innocent wives and husbands separated. And the fruits

94 ANTHOLOGY

Of our actions we should enjoy some time or other/'
This state of the couple Kausalya saw and brought
Champaka oil.

( Date unknown )

THE FLIGHT OF THE GODS FROM
DAKSHA'S SACRIFICE

The gods and demons of the earth then saw

The lords of the Ganas, huge and terrible.

They lost heart. Some fought and were defeated ;

Some were surrounded and cried ; some wept in fear.

And, afraid of falling into the hands

Of the dreadful lords of the Ganas,

The gods concealed their faces from their men

And began to escape. At that time

Brahma ran to mount his swan and fell

In fear trembling. But, as if carrying a lotus-stalk

The bird by its beak caught him and fled.

Between the feet and neck of his Garuda 1

Vishnu escaped creeping. And as he fled

Across the sky his sweat appeared

Like drops from a rainbow oozing.

As the Ganas uttered their war-cries

To his white elephant Indra ran ;

And with his thousand eyes like a peacock appeared

By hunters chased to the White Mount escaping.

Yama like a coward fell across

His buffalo, while the Ganas hooted.

He forgot the saddle and the stirrup

In a hurry of fear.

1 Eagle.

ANCIENT POETRY 95

Like a weaver Varuna fled.

Though the lord of vast seas,

His tongue was parched as if to show

When fortune leaves nothing remains.

With the hooting Ganas behind,

To mount his man Kubera forgot.

He placed him on his own shoulders instead

And fled in consternation.

(From NkixxicHonA'sKumdrasambhavam, II, 201-8)
( I2th Century A. D. )

KICHAKA'S ADVANCES

"" O delicate Maid ! Why glance you not at me,
The lustrous beauty of your white eyes displaying ?
Why does not your sweet smile double the beauty of

your face ?

Lotus-eyed One ! Why speak you not Love's word,
The rays of your pearly teeth accompanying ?
Lotus-faced Lady ! Why do you not hint
Playfully the love of your heart ? "
Thus speaking, the rogue, Kichaka, makes eyes,
Approaches and longs to hear her sweet words,
And take her hand in his own his passion to convey.
And in great excitement, to know her mind unable,
Says he: "O Lady of beautiful teeth! Afraid am I

to look
Full at your beautiful form lest from an evil eye you

suffer.
Darling ! The word from my mind sprouting is caught

in your beauty,
And reaches not the tip of my tongue.

96 ANTHOLOGY

Lady ! Look at this hand that in doubt shakes
Through longing to hold yours.
Woman ! In all ways I think but cannot decide
What your mind is. Dear One ! If you your love no

longer show
Killed shall I be by Cupid. And then can you have me

by any means ? "

(From TIKKANA'S Mahabharatam, " Virataparvam,"

11,45-7)
( I3th Century A. D. )

DAWN IN HEAVEN

The male cuckoos ate the tender leaves of the Parijata

creeper
And wanted more. The heavenly elephant with its

gold bell ringing
From its neck on its morning duties started. The dark

short tresses
Of the Apsara maids stirred the breeze on the waves of

the Mandakini.

High rose the sound of the Vedic chant in the hermit-
ages of the seven Rishis.
For its little calf in affection the Kamadhenu 1 began to

bellow.
And the dawn in heaven the conch-shell sounded in

Indra's clock.
Then Manjughosha 2 lifted the covering bed curtain and

got down

1 Kamadhenu is the cow of Heaven.

* Manjughosha, Rambha, Pramlocha, Harini and Menaka are
courtesans of Heaven.

ANCIENT POETRY 97

From her ivory cot. Rambha, her beautiful anklets

sounding,
Her sandals of golden toes put on, and arranging her

tresses with one hand,
Released the latch from her glassy door. Drowsy and

indifferent
Pramlocha into her long mirror looked. Harini clad

herself
In her lotus-bordered sari. And Menaka wore her

jacket over her breasts.
And the cock crowed in the homes of the Apsara

maidens.
The gods of Amaravati downwards looked in the early

morn and saw
The sun to salute him, when in the middle world with

his dazzling rays

He appeared like a bunch of guruvinda beads
In the red hand of the damsel of the East.
The beauty of the lady of daylight awoke. And the

tender
And divine hands of the great Rishis were laid on their

foreheads.
In the delicate sunlight the young Chakravaka pair by

Indra fostered
Stretched out their necks. On the golden lotuses of the

divine river
Hummed and swarmed the bees. And in the dancing

halls
Of the Vidyadharis the bands of music began to sound.

( From SRINATHA'S Haravildsamu, VII, 135-139 )
( i4th Century A. D. )

<j ANTHOLOGY

MOONRISE IN BENARES

With his tender and fresh rays up to the spaces of the

heavens
The moon in a comprehensive sweep the darkness

pushed,

As Varaha 1 with a single tusk heroically lifted
The whole of the earth.
The nectarous moon rising half his 2 orb
In the evening red appeared beautiful,
Like the Bimba-like lip of the damsel of the East,
Turned red by the colour of betel leaf and nut.
When fully risen he shone as if
He had played on hills of red earth
And turned pale red, and black also
By the Kalakuta 8 sticking.

Lo ! Is it the gold peak of the Eastern Mountain ?
No ! it is the grand Panaghatta. 4
It is not the full orb of the moon but the Sivaiinga of

Kashmir.

No, it is not the lustre of the glow of moonrise ;
It is the fresh saffron paste.

No, no, it is not the shine of the group of black spots ;
It is the lily flower used in worship.
Such ideas did the rising moon occasion.
The seven seas swelled and the Chandrakanta stones
Trickled. Like a pearl-umbrella rose the moon
And flooded the world with his light.
Gradually leaving the redness of the rise

1 The incarnation of Vishnu as a boar,

1 The moon is masculine in Indian literature,

8 A black poison.

4 The dais or platform on which Siva is installed.

ANCIENT POETRY 99

The full moon to the eye a festivity became,

With the lustre of the diamond-like teeth

Of the wives of the Kings of the South,

Set in glistening red within the mouth.

Then higher over Benares ascended the moon

T&e high road of the heavens along.

On the sacred dais of Siva he poured

His nectarous rain of light.

Passing he saw his reflexion

In Visalakshi's 1 glassy cheeks.

On the sandy banks of the holy river

The Chakravaka maids to suffering he put.

Dhunti Vighnesa* he greeted by patting

On his hard and spacious neck.

He added beauty to the teeth of Kalabhairava 3

And showered his light in a forest of bliss.

( From SRINATHA'S Bhimakhandam, II, 39-44 )
REKHAMBA'S ADVICE TO HER DAUGHTER MANCHALA

( A Heroic Song )

Dear Manchala ! Hear gladly.

On the tree of life there are two fruits, beautiful and

tasteful :

Rippling enjoyment the first and fame the second.
One tastes the first and goes,
Another tastes the second and dies.
The difference is wide between the two.

1 A goddess in Benares.

1 An elephant-headed god in Benares.

8 A god in the form of a dog.

100 ANTHOLOGY

The juice that issues from the first,
Momentary is it and vanishes for ever.
But that which comes forth from the second
Is eternal. As long as the directions exist,
Till the sun dies and the moon,
The stars, the earth and the ocean vanish.
Does it last. Those who taste the juice of both
And enjoy happiness are rare in the world.
Mortals common obtain the first
And content can be with it.
But for those who are of heroic descent
The first fruit is not of worth.
Their heroism glowing in their hearts,
For the second fruit they strive.
Dear girl ! A hero is your lord,
Enthusiastic he is, longing for renown.
Give up attachment to enjoyments,
Balachandra's noble mind understand,
And try to foster the creeper of his fame.
Dear girl ! Stop him not ! "
Then obediently Manchala
To her mother did obeisance,
Approached her lord and reverently stood.
* * *

The lotus-eyed girl blessed him smiling :
" Beautiful like Cupid and brave in battle,
Burning like the sun, O Abode of Mercy !
Soon will you be strong like the son of Vinata,
Heroic will you be like the son of the Wind,
You will shine with the brightness of the Sun.
Avenge Alaraju with your men.
For the splendour of your great heroism

ANCIENT POETRY 101

Blessed will you be by Chennakesava and Srigirilinga.
And you will prosper. Victory over your enemies
You will obtain. This weapon will bring you success.
In this Kaliyuga will you be worshipped as great/'
Thus did Manchala bless her husband.
And he accepted the sword she gave him.

( From SRINATHA'S Palndtiviracharitramu )

THE BLISS OF DEVOTION

Will ever the bee that floats on Mandara honey

To the Dhattura plant go ?

Will ever the flamingo that is rocked on the Mandakini

ripplets

To the rivers of the earth fly ?
Will ever the cuckoo that feasts on the tendrils of the

mango

The Kutaja tree approach ?

Will ever the Chakravaka that flashes in the full moon
For the thick snows make ?
How can the mind intoxicated
With the nectar of thoughts divine
To something else ever take ?
Virtuous King, why a thousand words ?

( From POTANA'S Bhagavatam, VII, 150 )
( i4th Century A. D. )

THE RESCUE OF GAJENDRA

There in that Vaikuntha, in that corner of the city,

near that palace,
On that couch of Chandrakanta stones near the lake in

the Mandara garden,

102 ANTHOtOGY

While in dalliance with Lakshmi, Vishnu, the Protector

of the afflicted,
Heard the distressed lord of the elephants cry : " Mercy !

Mercy ! " and in haste rose,
Eager to save the elephant's life. He told not Lakshmi

and did not take
The conch-shell and the discus, did not call his

attendants to get ready
His King of the birds, did not comb his ornamented

tresses and did not
Even let go the sari's end, lifted in love's play from the

breasts of Lakshmi.

* * *

Then followed Lakshmi, and after her the servants and

the lord of the birds,
And by his side, the great bow, Kamandaki, conch-shell

and discus,

Then Narada and the commander of the armies.
In short, the whole Vaikuntha followed him, all, young

and old.
Lakshmi, from the lotus of whose face were oozing drops

of honey
And were gladdening the bees, was led along by the end

of her sari

Twisted round the hand of Vishnu. To herself she said:
" He says not where he goes ! Has he heard the wail

of women unprotected ?
Have wicked rogues the Vedas stolen? Have the

Rakshasa hordes
The city of gods invaded ? Or have vicious people

challenged
His devotees the Lord of the worlds to show ? "

ANCIENT POETRY 103

With her ear-ornaments rippling, her braid dancing on

her shoulders,
Her sari removed from her breast, her beauty shining

through her body,
The scented paste falling from her forehead, her waist

bent under the weight of her breasts,
With haste she walks to enquire, but desists lest he

should not answer.
Now she steps forward, her knotted tresses ruffling, and

now tired she lags behind.
As she walked in the footsteps of her husband she

looked like a lightning flash after a cloud,
When she pushed back the short hairs from her forehead
Bees swarmed on the lotus of her face.
When the bees were prevented, down came the parrots
To peck at her Bimba-like lips.
When these were driven away, the big fishes of the

Mandakini

Rushed to swallow her fish-like eyes.
As that river was crossed, the lightning creepers of the

sky

Formed a row to rub with her lightning-like body.
When these were avoided, the Chakravaka birds
Challenged her breasts that looked like their kith and

kin.

* * *

At that time in the protection of the elephant-lord

absorbed,

The salutations of gods unacknowledging,
With the speed of mind, on and on Vishnu journeyed,
And at a distance saw the lake,

104 ANTHOLOGY

The ocean of pity, Vishnu, to kill the crocodile
Hurled his discus, the protector of the gods, whose

movements

Are unchecked in all the worlds.
The earth shook with convulsions.
Sparks flying from the discus flew high
And overpowered Sukra in the heavens.
Like the sun who would come playfully to embrace
The new-blown lotuses, gurgling the discus entered the

waters,

Stirred them and turned them into a muddy pool.
It rushed at the wicked crocodile with the speed of

mind.

Terrible ! It severed its head, and drove life out
From its body, huge like the Himalayas,
A terror to the elephant herds, the abode of lust and

cruelty,
The drinker of the elephant's blood with infinite

sanguinity,
Whose thirst was quenched and who was yearning for

victory.

(From POTANA'S Bhagavatam, VIII, 94-I04 1 )

VEMANA'S VERSES

Asses ! You make balls of rice,
Think of your forefathers and to the crows offer.
But how can a erow that eats dung be an ancestor ?
Hear, O Vema 1 The Delighter of the World !

1 This description of the rescue of Gajendra is Potana's own
and is not found in the Sanscrit original.

ANCIENT POETRY 105

People hear the lizard's note
And are glad that their attempts would succeed.
The trials that fail they attribute to their fate !
Hear, Vema ! The Delighter of the World !

The Brahmins meet and recite nonsense,

And the wife and husband in marriage unite.

If they choose an auspicious occasion why becomes she

a widow ?
Hear, O Vema ! The Delighter of the World !

The Turk that to Tirupati goes

Will not become a Vaishnava devotee.

The prostitute that visits Benares

Chaste will not be rendered.

Can ever a dog become a lion

If it in the Godavari bathes ?

Hear, Vema ! The Delighter of the World !

( I5th Century A. D.? 1 )

SUMATI'S VERSES

The mouth that does not read well,
And asks not for food calling aloud
And calls not the younger brother
Is a pit in which the potter digs

To a horse drinking water and a
To an elephant with rut intoxic
To a low fellow uneducated,
Never go, O Sumati !

1 There is much controversy about

106 ANTHOLOGY

Education is that which gives,
And heroism what the battle enters.
Skill is what is appreciated,
And harm what ends in calumny.
This is true on earth, O Sumati !

Century A.D. l )

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

With wonder the lotuses of her eyes opened and the

light

Flooding her pupils rained down full-blown lotuses.
Her projecting breasts thrilled, the desires of her heart

swelled,

When she saw that Brahmin, handsome like Nalakubara.
Having seen him she rose up, with the knot of her

tresses and her young waist
Slightly wavering. She approached the trunk of a small

betel tree,
And flooded the milky ocean of his path with ripples

of the light of her eyes.
The fear that first arose made her unsteady. Her joy

increased,
And desires began to leap. Her admiration quickened

the movement of her eyelids.
Her great passion increased her wonder. Coquettishly

the tender girl,
Her beaming eyes Streaming moonlight, at the Brahmin

looked.

( From PEDDANA'S Manucharitram, II, 28-30 )

( i6th Century A.D. )
1 There is much controversy about the date and the person.

ANCIENT POETRY IOJT

VILLUPUTTUR

(A Village Scene)

Around the village wells the Dravidian women, before

they bathe,

Rub turmeric on shining stones and wash it down.
The yellow water flows over the swans sleeping below.
Up they wake with shining wings of yellow feathers and

fly about,
The illusion producing that they from the Mandakini

come.

In the early morn the village police on their rounds see
The ducks sleeping with their heads beneath their wings
Along the irrigation canals ; and mistaking them for the

clothes

Washed and lumped and forgotten by the Brahmins
Who come there their morning ablutions to perform, and

wishing

To their owners to restore them, they get down, when
The birds rise up and fly; at which sight the village

women
That keep watch over their crops laugh in amusement.

The shining Rajana crop its superiority displays,

And interpersed with cranes seems wondrously to

laugh

At the flower gardens proudly ;
In which- are planted in rows jasmine creepers and

dates,

And where bloom bunches of flowers
Of Mangoes, Champakas, Gannerus and Bales.

108 ANTHOLOGY

Ripe are the rice crops. With the weight of their ears
They bend. When shaken by the breeze from the

adjacent forests,

Their prickles rub on the lilies that grow thick below.
And when the water in the fields is let out,
The plants appear to have put forth their roots at the

top,

And bending quench their thirst in the sun by drinking
the honey of the flowers.

Ripe is the jack-fruit at the foot of the tree. It bursts

and takes on dirt.
The juice oozes out from it. The buzzing bees swarm

over it to drink its honey.
Oh, the fruit is as huge as a big rock and looks like a

mad elephant
In spring, whose temples burst and are full of dust, and

which,
Drunk with wine, keeps its strong chains incessantly

noisy.

In that village huge and fragrant bunches of ripe fruit

adorn
Rows of plaintain groves. Their fruits have burst and

they scratch the ground.
Like big garlands of thickly set Champaka flowers the

bunches look ;
And their black tips like the bees that faint from the

strong Champaka scent.

There in that town the betel trees drop their dried
leaves on the sugar-canes

ANCIENT POETRY

And constantly shatter their pearls 1 down into the

oven where boils the juice,
And where into powder the pearls are turned, as if

reminded
By the betel creeper embracing their necks that the

powder
Is the only medicine to enhance the colour of their union.

There among mango groves could be seen sacred tanks

ancient
By flowers thickly covered as if we could walk on them,

from which
Emanates the smell of camphor, moss, weeds and lilies.

In them
Small fish with each other fight ; and to eat them the

ducks
Their curved necks thrust into the water with bubbling

sound.

In the evenings sound the drums in Vishnu's temple.
Like their echoes through the Buruga trees rise in the

bowers of pleasure gardens.
The cries and flutter of the wings of white birds
That from the tanks fly back to their nests.

(From KRISHNADEVA RAYA'S Amuktamalyada, I, 64-72)
( i6th Century A. D. )

1 This refers to the ancient belief that pearls are found in
sugar-canes.

110 ANTHOLOGY

THE COCK'S CROW

From the hill-tops and roofs of hamlets the cocks

With their bent necks crowed a threefold note ;

As if to proclaim: "Hear, O Men! The knowledge of

my cry

Everywhere is the cause of the cessation
Of lovers' activities, and of the beginning
Of the threefold activity of Dharma, Artha and Moksha,
Enjoined by the sacred Veda."

(From PEDDANA'S Manucharilram m, 55.)
The copper-crested birds crowed in three notes as if
Proudly to proclaim to the world : " Hear ye my voice !
Of great importance is it, informing you of the three

times

When the Rishis in the three worlds worship.
Do not forget that one day the sage of the time to remind
No less a god than Indra imitated me,
And fell a victim to his curse."

{ From RAMARAJABHUSHANA'S Vasucharitram, IV, 126 )
( i6th Century A.D. )

A BEAUTIFUL NOSE

"The bee that enjoys the scents of so many flowers,
Why does it not myself approach ? "
So thinking the Champaka blossom
To the forest retired and penance did.
The form of a woman's nose it then took on,
In which resides the beauty of the world's flowers,
While the bees as the pair of her eyes
Rested on both its sides.
(From RAMARAJABHUSHANA'S Vasucharitram, II, 47)

ANCIENT POETRY III

THE STARS

Like hailstones in clusters showered
By the enveloping clouds of darkness welded,
Like marble bullets which the moon blows, to part,
Through the pipes of his rays, the Chakravakas,
Like heaps of moonlight the Apsaras collect
On the sands of the heavenly river everywhere,
Like holes in the plate of the heavens through which
The silver wires of bright moonlight are drawn,
Like the Akshatas * of benediction Rati 2 sprinkles
Over her lord starting for the invasion of the world,
Like drops of perspiration on the sky's body
Heated by the bright sunlight, the stars appeared.

( From NANDI TIMMANA'S Pdrtjdtdpaharanam, II, 37)
( i6th Century A. D. )

THE BHILLA MAIDS

Upon high watch-towers the Bhilla maids stand,
And with loud cries drive the birds wonderfully with

their slings.
The yellow leaves around their waists their nakedness

betray,
And the beauty of their arm-pits spreads on to their

young breasts.

From the crops the maids scare flocks of birds away
With sweet cries which the lusty male cuckoo mistakes
For the notes of its own species and emulates ;

1 Rice coloured with turmeric.
8 Wife of Cupid.

112 ANTHOLOGY

And the Bhilla men that hunt around are pierced to the

heart
By the arrows of Cupid and draw near.

* * *

They roam about with their heroes, with spikes, arrows
and bows

Of close-knotted and strong bamboo, with drawn bow-
strings of bark.

Round the knot of their hair, hard and dishevelled,

The peacock's feathers they tie, and put a red mark
glistening with scent

On their forehead, and cover with deckings of ripe leaves

Their breasts that give no place even to Kuruvinda
beads,

And fix the peacock's tail tightly

To the twined girdle around the waist.

(From DHURJ ATI'S Kalahastimahatmyam, III, 10-15 )
( 1 6th Century A. D, )

THE SUNSET

All the day from the far-off east along the way of the

heavens

Travelled the sun to the West and felt fatigued.
As if perspiring and wishing to bathe
Down into the western waters he dipped.

The evening glow of pure red
And the darkness that alighted on the sea
Looked like red and blue stones embedded
On the sun that appeared like Varuna's head.

ANCIENT POETRY 113

Then darkness spread and enveloped the earth
Like black clouds and dark pigment of the eyes,
Like waters and the lustre of blue stones,
And like a heap of black grain, step by step.

( From HOLLA'S Ramdyana, I, 6-9 )
( i6th Century A. D. )

SUGATRI AND SALINA

In the Sarada monastery of Kashmir there lived a priest.
His daughter was Sugatri and her husband Salina
Was adopted as a member of the house. On the first

day of their union,

Heavily decorated, into the room the bride was sent,
While outside watched her friends to see how she was

received.

Her ornaments repelled him and he withdrew,
The girl waited and returned.

* * *

She was at a loss and thought : " If I do anything,

He will be estranged and left shall I be. Enough if my

bridal knot
Unimpaired continues. " No motives she attributed to

him and continued to wear
Her ornaments as usual, believing that thereby
His life would be prolonged and prosperity increased.
Respectfully her mother she begged not to be vexed

with him.
Prevented was the old lady from using harsh words ;

but at last called
Her daughter and said : " At least tell him he should

114 ANTHOLOGY

Go to the flower garden and tend. "

With respect she called him and on the duty sent.

* * *

In chaste consecration of her life to her husband

Sugatri wanted her husband to help.

Fatigued must he be with the work in the garden

Because of her mother's words.

There she walks to aid him,

But returns bashful.

* * *
Flash after flash the lightning shot,

Peal after peal rolled the thunder,
And the bolts fell crashing.
Down poured the clouds in all directions
Thick jets of water.

* * *
In the house anxious stood Sugatri

From the time the clouds spread,

And stray drops into thick showers developed,

Lest her husband be woefully drenched.

* * *
To her household deity Sarada she prayed
And could not stay at home.

Without her mother informing

She stole out and found him safe.

* * *

Her bashfulness vanished. And through devotion to her

husband

That from within swelled
She ignored her mother's words.
Decorating herself, all charming,
To the garden she went where her husband worked.

ANCIENT POETRY 115

Though dissuaded by him, her ornaments in a corner

placing,

She tied her sari round her waist,
And began to work.

She dug and dug with a spade where needed.
Her stout breasts leaped.
Here and there she walked and her quick hips shook

with weight.

Specks of dirt were spattered on her glossy cheeks
When she directed the water through the channels of

the beds.

Her waist like a creeper shook as, from place to place,
She carried weights.
Her young body with drops of sweat
A new polish acquired.
Foremost to work she charmed her husband.
When briskly she was working,
Her tight breasts and knot of hair shaking,
Watched was she by her husband and in him love dawned.
He could bear it no longer and said :
" Mad Girl ! However prevented, you do not desist.
How remote is your life from the garden labour ! "
With the end of his cloth he wiped
From her forehead sweaty drops,
But they came again as if
Through the mischievous power of Cupid,
And down her shining cheeks streamed.
He saw them and could not endure it.
Saying: "You have to this labour taken and are

fatigued, "
He pressed her head to his breast.

Il6 ANTHOLOGY

Thus received Sugatri the favour of her husband and

home returned.
That night was she decorated all the more in joy by her

friends,

And entered the bedchamber of her lord.

* * *

But he opened not his eyes at the dazzling ornaments

And scented pastes, and looked aside.

Unmoved, he did not stir.

Anxious the girl became and thought :

"What has happened in the house to displease my

lord ? "

* * *

Then as before to the flower garden she went

And joyfully undertook the tasks.

His favour she received and then realised

That charms natural and not ornaments to him appealed.

(From PINGALI SURANA'S Kaldpurnddayam, IV, 60-123}
( i6th Century A. D, )

INDU SATAKAM

Moon ! Are you not coming in these full-moon nights

From the flocks of Nanda's sheep ?

How goes Burdaranya ? Are the cattle flourishing ?

Are Nanda and his wife doing well ?

With the cowherd boys and girls happy,

Are Krishna and Halayudha playing ?

Moon ! Are you not coming in these full-moon nights
From the flocks of Nanda's sheep ?
Have you looked at Krishna tending
The cattle, by many girls attended,

ANCIENT POETRY 117

In his sweet voice singing,
And slow smiles extending,
In his Cupid's form charming,
And with youth blooming ?

Moon ! Are you not coming in these full-moon nights

From the flocks of Nanda's sheep ?

Does ever Krishna think of me

In pity, knowing my state ?

Does he ever wish my longing to satisfy ?

What a joy I derive when in Nanda's lands I see

His charming games of childhood f

Moon ! Are you not coming in these full-moon nights

From the flocks of Nanda's sheep ?

In the pasture grounds Yasoda sees Krishna,

Looks fondly at his beautiful face,

And says : " He is the ocean of our merits " ;

She passes him to Nanda. How he caresses !

Have you seen with both your eyes ?

Moon ! Are you not coming in these full-moon nights,

From the flocks of Nanda's sheep ?

Tell the darling of the cowherd Nanda

My words as I speak.

"My thought, learning, self and life

Do I surrender to you.

Save me, meet me without fail,

My heart to satisfy. "

(PUSULURI SOMARAJU)

( I7th Century A. D. )

Il8 ANTHOLOGY

SONGS OF TYAGARAJU

Great are you by marrying our Janaki.
O greatest King of kings ! O lotus-eyed One !
Your fame as Havana's foe you owe to her.
To the forest she went and, with Fire remaining,
Her false form she gave the Demon to carry.
At the foot of the Asoka tree, by his words enraged,
With a look she would have killed him but for your glory.
O Protector of Tyagaraju ! Your greatness you owe
to her.

Is it not for bliss that they surround you ?

O Giver of fortune, Ocean of mercy, Self of Chit,

And Chintamani of the dependents !

In your beauty Sita finds happiness,

And Lakshmana in the signs of your eyes.

In the grace of your face Bharata finds joy,

And Satrughna in the halo of your wisdom,

O Tyagaraju's Boon-giver !

Is it not for bliss that they surround you ?

O Mind! worship the glorious deities of the Svaras 1

seven

That reside in the naval, heart, throat and tongue
And nose and other organs ; in the Rik, the Sama and

the other Vedas,
In the heart of Gayatri and the minds of gods and

Brahmins
And in Tyagaraju.
O Mind! Worship the glorious deities of the Svaras

seven.

1 Musical notes.

ANCIENT POETRY

O Mind! Is there virtue in music without devotion

divine ?

Adored was it by Bringa and Matanga,
Natesa, Hanuman, Agastya and Narada.
Even for Tyagaraju, who the just from the unjust

discerns,

And knows that the worlds are by nature Maya,
And to be won are the six deadly enemies.
Is there virtue in music without devotion divine ?

( i8th Century A. D.)

ANDHRA NAYAKA SATAKAMU

Was it not with the idea that you were not there
That in wrath the Danava King struck the pillar in the

hall with his palm ?

Was it not with the idea that you were not there
That at the womb of Uttara Asvatthama his arrow

aimed ?

Was it not with the idea that you were not there
That the Kuru King to the abode of the Pandavas

Durvasa sent ?

Was it not with the idea that you were not there
That Dussasana in the full council Draupadi's garment

removed ?

Though absent, were you not present everywhere ?
Strange it is that you cannot be here.
O Lord of varied and wondrous powers ! O merciful

One!
Life of the afflicted ! O Andhra Lord of Srikakula !

120 ANTHOLOGY

When will your temple illumined be with the big lamps

your devotees offer ?
When will your home the sweet fragrance emit of

Agaru l and Sambrani ? *
When will your temple the sweet sounds and tones

enjoy of dances and songs ?
When will your beautiful body shine with worship and

decorations ?

Now you appear poor like a miser.
Did such a thing ever before happen ?
O Lord of varied and wondrous powers! merciful

Onel
O Life of the afflicted ! O Andhra Lord of Srikakula !

In that Repalle when the cowherd damsels wanted to

beat you

In house after house did you not hide ?
In that Rasa play when surrounded and caught by girls,
Did you not try to escape ?

When at you the sixteen thousand princesses stared,
Did your mind not rave ?
In love's quarrel scolded by your eight wives
Did you not for affection beg ?
Even before women were you perplexed !
Can you stand before your royal enemies ?
O Lord of varied and wondrous powers! O merciful

One!
O Life of the afflicted ! O Andhra Lord of Srikakula !

( KASULA PURUSHOTTAMA KAVI )
( i8th Century A. D. )

* Scent.
1 Incense.

ANCIENT POETRY 121

SIMHADRI NARASIMHA SATAKAMU

For a merry dance this is not the bank of the Yamuna

but a battle-field.
To beat and drive, these are not herds of cattle but

cavalry.
To grasp and see, these are not the breasts of cowherd

girls but cannon balls.
The old Arjuna trees these are not that broke at your

touch, but soldiers.

You cannot fight with the Yavana l armies !
This is like you who by cruel Jarasandha were routed.
Won't you be laughed at ?
O Terror of the enemy ! Narasimha of Simhadri !

Prahlada you did not save except after the torture by

Kasipa.
Panchali you did not protect except after the Kuru

King by the hair dragged her.
You did not rescue the elephant lord except after his

agonies from the crocodile.
You did not help the Pandavas except after their

sufferings.

Your devotees you do not defend except after miseries.
Caressed is the baby after it is made to weep.
O Terror of the enemy ! Narasimha of Simhadri !

What greatness was there in crushing Bali

After he granted the three feet of land you begged for ?

Concealed you killed Vali to please Sugriva :

That alone is suited to you.

1 Muslim.

122 ANTHOLOGY

That was your valour when you fled

Of Kalayavana afraid to Muchikunda.

In the flight to Dvaraka lies your heroism

By Jarasandha defeated in battle.

To speak truth is to invite wrath.

Are you a hero ? Defeat the Yavana hordes cruel,

And preserve the creation of the Andhras.

O Terror of the enemy ! Narasimha of Simhadri !

The divine prowess that protected the gods

By killing Hiranyaksha and others,

Your heroism that defended the hermits

By destroying Havana and his kin,

The way you save the meek in the world

By slaying cruel men like Sisupala,

Your mercy that rules the earth

By annihilating the wicked like Kamsa,

We hear of but never have seen.

We now see the power that subdues

The Yavanas and saves the people.

O Terror of the Enemy ! Narasimha of Simhadri !

You viewed us, merciful, and to protect us,

O lotus-eyed One ! You have sent

Huge terrible bees from within the hill

To meet the Persian armies

Like dark clouds in a cataclysm

They overwhelm the sky and attack,

And drink streams of blood that flow from the

enemy.

Lumps of flesh fall from his body
As they tear him with their sharp steel stings.

ANCIENT POETRY 123

They surround each and kill him ! Wonder !
O Terror of the Enemy ! Narasimha of Simhadri !

(GOGULPATI KURMANATHA)
( i8th Century A. D. )

KUKKUTESVARA SATAKAMU

Great in the world it is not to get upon a throne ;

Proudly the tree-top can the monkey climb.

To put on ornaments is not a blessing ;

Gorgeously decorated is the beggar's bull.

Real fame is not to hoard treasures ;

The dog protects several of them.

It is not a pleasure to oppress people ;

All living creatures Yama plagues.

These are not the marks of royalty,

But heroism, generosity and manliness.

O Praised of the world ! Inhabitant of Pithapura !

O Kukkutesa, glorious as a crore of moons !

( KUCHIMANCHI TlMMAKAVI )

( i8th Century A. D. )
KALUVAYI SATAKAMU

The skill in speech of a woman whose lover is away
Is like that of a parrot speaking in a ruined house.
The beauty of a woman from her husband separated
Is like that of a night without the full moon.
The hauteur of a woman by her lord abandoned
Is like that of a peacock's dance in some wild tract.
And the youth of a woman rejected by her husband
Is like that of flowers that blossom on some high hill.

124 ANTHOLOGY

My life has become miserable like this.
Why has Brahma created me thus to suffer ?
O Friend ! To the young Krishna of Kaluvayi go.
O Lotus-eyed Lady ! Return with him, quickly.

( DABBIRU NARASIMHA KAVI )
( igth Century A. D. )

MODERN POETRY

MOHINI

When at the beauty of Prakriti we look,

And of the power of Purusha think,

How diverse appears the nature of love !

As mother, wife and daughter

Prakriti offers happiness.

As son, husband and father

Purusha enjoys happiness.

When Prakriti and Purusha are one

In the bliss undifferentiated of the Brahman,

Merging, emerging and re-emerging,

They long for crores of births.

One with experince is the witness.

( From M. PARVATISVARA SASTRI'S Palavelli )

THE CLOUD

Unable to know Nature's truth

I wander with a roving mind

Along the ways of the world, worried.

But why, O Cloud, like me do you wander ?

Ignorant of your greatness, might and destiny.

Under an illusion are you.

Innumerable are the powers

That rest in you.

126 ANTHOLOGY

Do you not with powerful ease amazing,

Full shining darkness displaying,

Conceal sometimes the dazzling sun

Worshipped of the three worlds ?

Indeed are you with supreme light endowed.

But, ignorant of your greatness, might and destiny,

Under an illusion are you.

Sometimes dense and with fearful strength,

Releasing tempestuous waves of cataclysmic winds,

Like a dreadful cannon you roar.

Is not the grandeur of this ceaseless downpour

Your greatness and your destiny ?

Indeed are you with supreme light endowed.

Sometimes playfully you shine

In sprouting shades of evening glow.

You dance in the streets of the heavens

In glorious colours and glee.

Is not this joy enthusiastic

Your wealth and your destiny ?

Then still, O Cloud, why do you wander ?

(SRIRANGAM SRINIVASA RAO)

AWAKENING

When in the city of Amaravati the Buddhists their

university established,
And in Warrangal military colleges for the heroic cult

were run,
When festive pavilions for the Muse in Vizianagar were

raised,
And near Potnur the Andhra Empire built her pillar of

victory,

MODERN POETRY

To what a heroism and ambition did our forefathers,

happy and sublime,
Consecrate themselves ! Sprinkle the Akshatas on the

Andhra land,
And, O Andhras, bless her with that enthusiasm.

The Telugu language which was a glory and taught the

Tamil race her songs,
The Telugu sword that flashed unendurable by her enemy

hordes,
The Telugu beauty which her neighbours the standards

of beauty taught,
The Telugu land whose rivers the green earth with crops

endow,
I remind you, that they might the streets of your mind

with feeling flood,

They are not dead. Dead is not the Andhra history,
Oh, you who can feel ! Tear your hearts and read it

there.

When the Andhra boats meet, spring and dance on the

Krishna's waves,
When in every home the Andhra genius rubs with

the light of Telugu letters,

When the Andhra skill in the world of fine arts contests,
And the Andhra valour strides forward under the colours

in battle array,
Then will the Andhra sons and daughters see, and with

joy and pride
Shake their heads and obtain peace. Till that day no

rest can we have.

Is this the time for quiet and making no vows ?
(RAYAPROLU SUBBARAO)

128 ANTHOLOGY

THE THUNDERBOLT

As in world-destruction,

With sound shattering the sky,

O Thunderbolt, do not roar.

Stop and hear my request.

My golden idol,

The giver of my happiness,

On the hard ground in the graveyard

Sleeps unconscious.

Thunderbolt ! Display not
Your great prowess there.

My dear daughter will shudder and rise
And weep bitterly loud.

1 rave with a burning heart ;
I am the father.

Please do not be vexed
With a poor father's request.

(BASAVARAJU APPARAO)

THE POET BEGS FOR PATRONAGE

Mother ! With a full meal are we never blessed
Though the songs of the rising sun we sing.
We notice not those ways of motherly patronage
In spite of our delicate sounds on Vina's strings.
Where are the charms of the flowers that fall
Separated from their stems ? Mother I Give us alms f

Bathing in the sweet waters of the Krishna,
With thrills water in hands holding
Awaiting are the brother poets,
Reciting new songs beautiful.

MODERN POETRY 129

Delay not. Your motherly affection bestow
On your wandering sons, who have to go.
Mother ! Give us alms !

(ABBURI RAMAKRISHNA RAO)

THE FARMER'S WIFE

Quickly bathe, Farmer, to eat your rice and butter-milk
Speaking sweet words to the poor lady who is coming
With her pot of food. The hot dust in the path has

blistered

Her feet. From her face is streaming sweat.
Lady ! For the blisters on your feet chafe not at your

husband.

Cultivation for running the family is possible
If both of you labour. Can ever a cart reach
Its destination if in opposite directions its horses pull ?
Woman ! Do not be sad if the yield is to your pains

not proportionate.
Till the scorching sun goes down, swing in clusters of

banyan roots.
Then take the path home. Your child might have got

up

From sleep and for milk been weeping. Sweet Baby 1
While along the path walking, from the tank nearby
A few lotuses pluck and take them home. The child
Will look at the beautiful flowers in wonder and play,
While you do your work in the kitchen before your

husband returns.

Having sucked honey from flowers, charming to the ears
The swarms of bees are singing sweet songs and tunes.
Why mix you not your voice with their pleasant hum,

130 ANTHOLOGY

And with your heart swelling even a village song sing ?
Rich daughters wear ornaments of varicoloured stones,

and saris
Of lace-borders. Seeing them, hanker not after those

deceitful trinkets.
Your juicy love is a gem invaluable. Let it shine in the

lotus of your heart.
Your husband may see you wearing thousands of costly

ornaments.
Still he will not love you if for a moment your smiles

sweet,

Which rain from your blooming face, do not appear.
Ornaments can never equal love in honourable woman.

(From DUVVURI RAMI REDDI'S Krshlvaludu)

MYSELF

The world of the Gandharvas was first my home,

The land of beautiful songs of delicious nectar.

A song of separation am I. High in a flight I flew

Along the ways of the moonlight of sleep,

Grazing the tragic tones of some lute.

I am the streak of pain of the heart's passion

Of some woman from her lover separated.

During her painful hunger I fell

From her tender finger's shaky tip

Into this infinite world.

That was the first time I ran

In all directions for reasons unknown,

From that time I wander

Along the roads of love of the Apsara maids,

In the beautiful throats of the Kinnaris,

In the embraces of the Sravana clouds,

MODERN POETRY 131

Among the brilliant rows of stars,
And on the broad wings of the winds,
Day and night without sleep and rest.
This is a mad search, meaningless,
Endless and restless.
Thus I roam in this playful exile
Across the space of the directions
Like a sigh, a dumb tear and a deep desire.
( DEVULAPALLI KRISHNA SASTRI )

GOD'S CHARIOT

O Lord ! With divine speed does your Chariot run.

Crushed is my body under its wheels

That with clots of blood are blotted.

Your Chariot shines with sublime light,

But stopped not at the uneven jerk,

Even looked not back at my sudden cry.

Tomorrow will your cleaner wash

My blood from the wheels.

There among the marks of blood of so many men

O God ! how discerned can be mine ?

( VlSVANATHA SATYANARAYANA )
THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS

The Language of flowers is to Enki known :
Enki knows the mind of the garden flowers.
Says Enki : " The flower plants stand

The watery ways along

Your songs to hear. "

The language of flowers is to Enki known :
Enki knows the mind of the garden flowers.

132 ANTHOLOGY

Says Enki : " Touch the flower plant ;

It is a virtue.

This flirting girl

Puts on an ornamental petal. "
The language of flowers is to Enki known :
Enki knows the mind of the garden flowers.

Says Enki : " As if with masts hoisted

When the bee like a ship flies,
The flowers bend along its path
With their hands folded. "
The language of flowers is to Enki known :
Enki knows the mind of the garden flowers.

(From NANDURI SUBBARAO'S Enki Patalu )

IF THE BOAT BREAKS

So long this anxious thought has my mind haunted
That this boat will break. But now
My joy swells at the idea that you will help,
Swimming the vast ocean without leaving the wreck.

So long this anxious thought has my mind haunted
That this boat will break. But now my heart leaps
At the thought that within the ocean
You will build a diamond chariot with the wreck.

So long this anxious thought has my mind haunted
That this boat will break. But now my mind is calm
With the thought that you will the wreckage gather
And honour it as the fuel for your funeral pyre.

(NAYANI)

MODERN POETRY 133

THE GLOW OF FRIENDSHIP

The glow of our long friendship

That knows no difference,

Is it the shower of moonlight ?

Is it the full-blown jasmines ?

Our youthful love is aged in our mind.

In our friendship close

Is it a group of lightnings ?

Or some light inexhaustible ?

Days coursed like moments

Along shortest routes.

Is it the lustre of eyes ?

Or the merit of our best days ?

Is it the essence

Of the love of all our Hfe ?

Is it the delicate shine

Of white moonlight,

The symbol of love sublime ?

(T. VISVASUNDARAMMA)

PHIRDAUSI TO MAHMUD OF GHAZNI

( The story of Phirdausi is well known. Mahmud
invited the poet to immortalise his conquests in a poem
and promised to pay one gold dinar for every verse.
The poet laboured for thirty years and produced the
Shdnama of sixty thousand verses. But the Sultan paid
only a silver coin for each verse, which the poet refused

134 ANTHOLOGY

to accept and, as Mr. Joshua represents him, wrote the
following letter. )

O Sultan Mahmud ! I relied on the deceitful lights of

lightning,
And built a palace of hope. A barren void has it

become,
Has stolen my all and crashed into Hell. In a world

overwhelmed

By sorrow am I left, a product of unavailing pains.
The heart of Sultans, that resolutely feeds the sword

with men,
Is hard like a stone. The sin of sprinkling the nectar

of my Muse on them
Is weighing me down. True, my own fault it is. And

the gold

Is burnt in its fire. How can it ever reach me ? Now is left
Only for songs of misery the black in my pen. Un-
fortunate am I.
My youth has sunk with its strength. The demon of

old age possesses my body.
The reward of thirty years' service is now tears to

despair dedicated.
For every verse I wrote by one drop has my blood

decreased.
It was vain labour. Can ever a king of high descent

be false

Like this ? Would he not to the Muse his debt repay ?
Sultan Mahmud ! Your true nature I knew not and

have been deceived.
In the name of Allah you promised in gold to pay. And

now

MODERN POETRY 135

You pay in silver and cheat. Will ever Allah be happy
If by you worshipped ? O King Mahmud ! In all the

worlds

He is a man and great who speaks the truth.
A palace for your fame have I built happily to live,
And blessed it with posterity and long life. With

empty hands
Shall I go into darkness. The sun on my happiness has

set.
At the black gate of dreadful misery shall I dance. I

sprinkled
The Attar of jasmine and anointed for eternity a

slave.
Has any from artificial lace gold extracted, cruel

Muslim King,
In this world ? Fiery coals of everlasting misery have

I poured
On my head. In the graveyards of Muslim kings shall

I now rest.
Tired is my mind with this labour of thirty years.

My Muse that can rain
The full-moon light endlessly has now into a liar's hands

fallen.

(From G. JOSHUA'S Phirdausi, I,
SUNDARI TO THE

(Sundari is the wife of
Nanda became a Sanyasin
Sundari became a nun and
monastery of her husband by Bu<

136 ANTHOLOGY

a nun, one day she remembers the happy days of her
love and addresses her pet parrot thus. )

Fond Parrot ! Is it not foolish to stop for sport in the

garden tank of our house,
The Mandakini of love that, submerging the three

worlds, rises ?
Placed on the flow'ry throne of his sweet and infinite

love I tried to judge,
And grant boons like a goddess whenever begged. The

sweet lady
Of his heart was I made. O Friend ! Dethroned have

I been.

Over the limitless kingdom of the world he now reigns.
Not knowing the depth of my lover's mind I took it
To be only knee-deep, and my heart swelled. Maharshi

Gotama discovered the mines
At his heart's bottom and presented pure diamonds to

the people of the world.
That auspicious light which shone in the dark caves of

my heart
Illumines the world today, and with its pure lustre of

love floods it.
The world's merits have fructified : it ?s receiving now

the services of my lord.

But do I object ? Let my poor self too get a part and

be not outcast.
Do I not deserve to turn into flowery carpets the paths

my beloved treads ?
Can I not be water and flowers for his worship of the

world ?

MODERN POETRY 137

In his loving service of the distressed can I not be the

fan to cool
His perspiration of fatigue ? Should I not put life into

the wonderful ideas
He paints on the monastery's walls ? If he that life a

boon regards,

Is this life for me proper ? He has left for the forest
And made my home a wild ? Can I not his forest into

a temple turn ?

( From PINGALI LAKSHMI KANTAM and KATURI
VENKATESVARA RAO'S Saundarananda)

THE BELOVED'S OMNIPRESENCE

You beckon with the hands of the wreaths of waves

And call me aloud from the sea.

You hide behind the ripe moonlight fully spread

And smile at me from the sky.

Through the drifts of breezes, sweet, cool and gentle,

Your desires do you whisper.

Through the tears of dew of honeyed flowers

You look at me from the earth.

You manifest through the crackling fire

Your anger when I do some wrong.

The form of all the elements you are in essence ;

Though no more on earth, you are with me for ever.

(From SIR C. R. REDDY'S " Dedication " in his
Arthasastramu)

DRAMA

THE FOOLISH BRIDEGROOM

( Sarasvati and Madhurika in male attire. Enters
Jayarama Sing. )

Sing "Ha, Ha! We are not ignorant that you are
men come for an interview with us. Now what
is the prayer you want to submit ? "

Madhurika ( To herself ) " For an interview with you !
That is false. Men ! That too is false. "
( Aloud ), " Sir why did you let go the young deer
that fell into your hands ? "

Sing " When we saw the tails of those deer the knotted
braid of our new bride flashed before our mind.
We therefore ordered that no harm should be
done to them. This is the worldly reason. "

Madhurika "That is very good. What a taste for
beauty ! You are the great poet who will start
the new poetic usage of comparing a lady's heavy
tresses to a deer's tail. You are speaking of the
worldly reason. What can that other-worldly
reason be ? "

Sing "Is it not enjoined that we should not kill the
animal that adorns the knotted hair of our holy
Vasishtha ? "

DRAMA 139

Madhurika " But do not the Puranas say that that
animal is to be found in Siva's hand ? "

Sing " Indeed, in the North Indian recensions it is so.
But in the Kritayuga Sankaracharya proved that
it was an interpolation. "

Madhurika "Ha, Ha! Your critical scholarship has
lighted up every subject. "

Sing " In the sixty-four arts and sciences established
by our ancients our knowledge is as perfect as
the language of legal documents. Only a true
judge can know ; but such a one is not to be found
anywhere today, probably because those old kings
are no more. Cock-fighting by itself is a science
as vast as the ocean. One who does not know it
does not deserve to be a king. Stealing is a
great art. One who is not perfect in it is not fit
to be a minister. After all even begging is an art.
One who is ignorant of it is not worthy of being
a Brahmin. "

* * *

Sarasvati " Boy ! Why do you trouble His Highness
by talking about all sorts of things ? Take leave
of His Highness. We shall depart. We have
important business. Why waste our time ? "

Madhurika " Sir, please excuse me. Now we go.
(Aside) I shall make him fall at your feet.
Please wait a minute. "

Sarasvati (Aside) " I do not care. "

Sing" Well, Sir, why is he so angry ? "

Madhurika " You ask me calmly why he is angry!
For what you have said he would have caught

I4O ANTHOLOGY

you by the hair, shaken you and dashed you to
the ground. For my sake he must have kept
quiet. "

Sing " Why ? Have we said anything offensive ? You
see, we never pick quarrels. Not because we
are not brave. How can we not be brave when
we eat one goat a day? Courage lies in the
strength of teeth. Take it from us, he who can-
not scrape with his teeth as with an iron scraper
the fat from pork must have his courage dead.
From teeth to tonsils is the region of effort,
below which there is liberation effortless. Any-
way, now tell me why your friend is angry.
More important than that, how can he be
appeased ? We should scratch immediately we
feel itching, but not delay enquiring into causes/'

Madhurika " As you are his great enemy he will not be
satisfied until he punishes you."

Sing " Why so far ? Flight is also a sign of valour.
This is recognized by philosophers. So shall we
respectfully retreat ?"

Madhurika " If you stir, he will cut you to pieces. "

Sing " If it comes to that, we shall fall at his feet.
We make no distinction between dignity and
indignity. And we care less for name and
descent. Fighting is for lower animals, not for
men."

( From PANUGANTI LAKSHMI NARASIMHAM'S
Sarasvatt )

DRAMA 141

PRATAPARUDRA AND VIDYANATHA

( Scene 3. On the Deck )

Vidyanatha (To himself) "Here all are Muslims.
There is nothing noteworthy. What can
there be inside the boat?" (Shivering
and dripping water over the whole deck )
" Fever! Fever! Oh dear! It is as if
the pestle had fallen on the finger with a
boil. Cold! Cold! Cold! Hu, Hu, Hu,
Hoo ! "

The Second Muslim Soldier " Pandit, don't drip water
here. Get inside. Sit there comfortably.
You will not feel cold there. This is the
Godavari."

Vidyanatha ( Gets up) -Where? Hu, Hu, Hu!"
(Descends and comes up again) "My
God ! All is one dark corner ! "

Boatman " Sir, the darkness will not last for more
than a moment."

( Scene 4. Inside the boat )

Vidyanatha " If so, all right." (Gets down and looks
round. Takes ashes and rubs them thick
over his body for preventing cold. Wipes
off water from a book of palmyra leaves
and arranges its leaves )

Prataparudra ( Sees Vidyanatha and says to himself )
" What ! This Brahmin is shining like
the Fire-god. From his arrival I conclude
that Minister Janardana is trying to

142 ANTHOLOGY

prevent the Muslims from crossing the
Godavari and destroy them here alone.
My ministers are not at fault. This is
only fate, which can be countered only by
Yugandhara." ( Thoughtfully ) " Through
him will the ministers learn of me/'

Vidyanatha ( Opens the book and chants )

" ' Now through Virarudra Deva's charities
Exhausted soon will be the gold moun-
tain;

Numbered are its days. ' So thinking
Rejoices the Chakravaki."

Prataparudra " Oh ! What a beautiful verse! What is
that book, respected Sastri ? "

Vidyanatha " Is there a ghost in this boat ? " ( Looks
around searching) "What is this light
in the corner ? " (Sees the King) " What !
Is this boat pregnant ? Sir, you too are
here to bear me company ! "

Prataparudra" What is that book ? "

Vidyanatha (To himself) "Who is this gentleman?
He is tearing the darkness like the rising
sun. All right.' 1 (Aloud) " Sir, this book ?
This is a work on poetics* I have compos-
ed it on Emperor Prataparudra/'

Prataparudra " Why have you composed it on him ? "

Vidyanatha "If any reward is given, I wish to cel-
ebrate the marriage of my daughter/'

Prataparudra " Have you received any reward ? "

Vidyanatha "Reward! Even an audience has been
a big zero/'

Prataparudra" Why ? "

DRAMA 143

Vidyanatha " The King is not in the capital. I waited
for a month. He has not returned. "

Prataparudra " What has happened to him ? "

Vidyanatha " I do not know what has happened to
him. Some say that he went hunting,
some that he made a pilgrimage to
Benares and some that they do not know.
Each says something different. I got
impatient and for want of royal patron-
age I started back home."

Prataparudra "Then why do you not dedicate it to
somebody else and obtain a reward ?

Vidyanatha " Sir, am I so lucky ? Everywhere I glori-
fied his name only."

Prataparudra (To himself) "Alas! How painful to
hear such words!" (Aloud) "Respected
Sir, will you please read one or two verses ?
I shall listen and be happy."

Vidyanatha "Very well. What else do I want than
an appreciative listener ?
' From a distance the enemies hear drums

that beat
The setting out of Prataparudra's armies

on their march,

Their sounds spreading over the world.
And the fever of fear
They catch, to the mountains flee and

thick forests enter.
Thorns catch them by the hair. And

mistaking the trees

For their enemies, they beg, "Mercy!
Save us, leave us. " ' "

144 ANTHOLOGY

Prataparudra " Oh ! How beautiful ! Is it nectar or

poetry ? "
Vidyanatha " Hear this :

' The Andhra Emperor his mighty hand

raises and with his sword
The crowns of his foes sends flying, at the

sight of which
The sun flees mistaking them for Rahu ;

and then, as if
His protecting hand lifting, the Emperor

sends up
Enveloping dust. In the battle fury he

breaks the heads
Of drunken elephants, from which are

thrown up heaps of pearls,
Which like shining stars in the sky surround
The moon-like faces of the damsels of the

heavens. ' "

Prataparudra " You are in truth Vidyanatha, the lord
of learning. There is nothing to give you.
My hands are not free even to salute. In
the pocket of my coat there is my seal
finger ring. Take it there is nothing a
poet cannot understand and use it. "
Vidyanatha (Takes it and reads the name, " Maharaja
Prataparudra, " and with surprise ) :
" You have my name uttered, and I
Yours have seen. Again on your finger
Shall I place this may the Goddess of

Virtue

Protect you! on the throne of War-
rangal ! "

DRAMA 145

Prataparudra ( To himself ) " Oh ! His name is
Vidyanatha! A great poet indeed. His
vow may be that of Chanukya. God has
given me some support. "

Vidyanatha " Now I go. "

Prataparudra " Salutations. "

(From VEDAM VENKATARAYA SASTRI'S
Prataparudrtyam, Act III )

PROSE

ON FRIENDS

No member of the human race can be happy without
at least a few friends. Even the naked forest-dwellers
living like animals cannot be happy without friends,
however small their number, suited to their mode of
living. There are three advantages derivable from
friendship.

1. One can talk over one's joys and sorrows with
friends. If we relate to our companions the story of
our miseries half our sorrow is gone and our heart
becomes light. When we give our friends the news of
our joys, our joys are doubled and we get infinite
happiness.

2. We can obtain good advice regarding our affairs.
However excellent our advice may be regarding others'
matters, in our own affairs we cannot use our intell-
igence so well. As we are unable to discern the good
from the bad when our own self is involved, we have to
depend upon the good counsel of others who wish
us well.

3. In times of need we can obtain help. When phys-
ically or financially \ve are in a bad state we need

PROSE 147

pecuniary assistance. None will give us such help
except those who are interested in seeing that we are
happy. Even when we are rich we undoubtedly need
man's assistance. Hence in order to enjoy the above
benefits every man is in need of friends.

Since our joys and our troubles increase or decrease
according as we have good or evil friends, we should
always make friends with good people and enjoy the
benefits. Our conduct may be good. But if we have evil
friends the world will regard us also as bad. So in all
ways we should try to give up the company of bad men,.
Those who are friends should help each other in their,
activities and wish the welfare of each other till death.
That friendship the bond of which can be broken at the
slightest provocation is not true. Hence we should not
trust all as friends, but watch them long. If they are
found to be good we should conduct ourselves towards
them with an open heart. Some men with a motive
appear friends, remain faithful till their work is done,
and afterwards leave us. Generally the friends of the
rich are almost all of this type. But when the rich
become poor none of such friends makes his appearance.
Therefore he who is a friend through affection and
expects nothing in return is a true friend, but others
are not. They are selfish rogues who pretend to be
friends. Those who are gentlemen expect help from
their friends after the friendship is established, but do
not cultivate friendship in order to get such help.

Generally boys who are naturally without experience
trust everybody as a friend and reveal their secrects to
any. By regarding as a bosom friend every wicked

ANTHOLOGY

rogue who approaches them pretending friendship, they
being upon themselves not only troubles but also some*
times danger to their lives. We should therefore have
ait eye on pretenders and act very carefully.

Young men and boys often obtain friends of a diff-
erent type. During the time of their friendship they
act as friends for life, render financial and other help to
one another, and in quarrels with others fight with
them as a body. Friendship among such people is
sftmek during debauchery or gambling. So long as this
relationship lasts they speak of their secrets and render
help to one another and remain the fastest friends. If
accidentally the bond that united them is broken, they
toead upon their friendship and from that day become
deadly enemies, expose each other's secrets and do harm
to* each other. Only friendship acquired in performing
good acts lasts long and is a giver of happiness ; but
that acquired while performing evil deeds can never be
a, lasting and happy one. The guardians of the young
should know this and prevent them from making friends
with bad people.

Friends are not made in a day or two. Hence we
should not commit the mistake of thinking that they are
made at first sight or by short acquaintance. True
friendship sprouts slowly, takes root and grows its
branches and strengthens its roots in the mind, but never
like a magician's tree spreads its branches and bears
fruit all of a sudden. We should keep these truths in
our mind, never open it to others, and behave skilfully.
Butt then we should not appear distrustful. We should
treat aU with love and kindness, but until we are able

PROSE 149

to know their innermost heart, should not open ours
and should conduct ourselves as suits the occasion.

( K. VlRESALINGAM )
A GLORIOUS PAST

Then Rama Raju spoke thus : " Jagannatha Dasu !
From the time I saw Warrangal I have been beside
myself. Of the ancient splendour of the city I heard
from my elders, but have never seen it with my own
eyes. When I reflect over the glory of the city of those
days and its present wretchedness, dejection fills my
mind. What a splendour did that city experience!
Not to speak of that city. Are not all these paths those
that were trodden by the great armies of Ganapati
Deva and Prataparudra Deva! Some of the trees on
the sides of this road must have actually seen the inva-
sions of Prataparudra Deva. If all the leaves of these
trees were tongues, and if, like the human, God had
endowed them with the power of speech, could they not
have described the might of the Kakatiya Empire more
beautifully, more skillfully than historians and Adisesha
with his two thousand tongues? Many of the trees
found here must have sheltered under their cool shade
and tended the soldiers of Warrangal who were wounded
in battle and fatigued by the journey* These parts
must have echoed the boom of the war drums of the
Kakatiya Kingdom, which were a terror to its enemies.
The war elephants of Prataparudra Deva, like thousands
of moving mountains, with auspicious beHs tinkling from
their necks and gold-tipped houdabs on their broad backs,
going with a slow and steady pace, as if the goddess of

150 ANTHOLOGY

the Kakatiya Empire put on thousands of huge forms
and was taking a pleasure-walk, must have made all
these adjacent forests echo their loud roars, and the
Adisesha and the eight elephants of the directions
supporting the earth bend their necks.

(From CHILAKAMARTI LAKSHMI NARASIMHAM'S Krishna-
veni.VII)

RAJYALAKSHMI'S REFUSAL

While some felt sorry that the attempts for the
marriage of Rajyalakshmi with the son of her paternal
aunt failed, others were glad. About this the person
who was the most sorry was Peri Sastri's mother,
Narasamma. Unwilling to break off with a close re-
lation, though they complained that they could not pay
so heavy a dowry, she wanted to settle the match even
by giving a part of her own money. But at the very
start she was disappointed. She told her devoted son
in several ways, chided him and scolded herself. She
demonstrated the advantage of entering into an alliance
with close relations. She explained the disadvantages
of not keeping one's children within the bounds of dis-
cipline. But nothing was of avail. Even if he had sold
hi* ail, it would not have been enough for the dowry.
Himself to refuse assent to the marriage he deemed
improper. He was in fact glad that Rajyalakshmi
herself, without throwing the burden of responsibility
on his shoulders, refused it. Though Mangamma was
sorry that they were missing an alliance with a family
of equal status, she was angry with the bridegroom's
parents who demanded so high a dowry, and was not

PROSE 151

without relief now that the marriage proposals had
failed. All the rest were pleased with what Raju had
done ; for if the house had been emptied for a single
marriage, the family would have had to starve.

( From KETAVARAPU VENKATA SASTRI'S Rajyalakshmi. )

COCK-FIGHT BETWEEN MACHEKLA AND GURIJALA
CHIEFS

Then both the kings agreed that Nayakuralu on the
side of Nalagama Raju and Brahma Nayadu on the side
of Pedamali Deva Raju should be the representatives.
Nayakuralu rose up and looking at Pratapa Reddi, said :
" Sir, Mr. Reddi, where is our Kakidega (a kind of black
cock) ? Leave it first into the arena. " Pratapa Reddi
got that Dega cock ready and pushed it forward to
fight.

Brahma Nayadu saw it and, observing, "How is it ?
It is blacker than the crow ! What ? Have they colour-
ed it ? " ordered, " Karma, let loose our Vinjaberasa ( a
kind of cock ) as its rival. "

Kanna did accordingly and the two cocks began to
fight. And while Balachandra, who was watching the
fight with interest was remarking : " Kannama Dasu,
that is not a Kakidega, it seems to be a magical Dega, "
the Kakidega aimed a kick at the Vinjaberasa. Imme-
diately the latter began to run. Seeing it Balachandra
became despondent. All belonging to the side of
Gurijala began to laugh with pride. Then Brahma
Nayadu, humiliated, said : " Kanna, what a bad omen !
We hoped that our cock would maintain the proud

152 ANTHOLOGY

name of Macherla. The coward ! What ignominy has
it brought us ! "

Then Kannama Dasu caught the Vinjaberasa which
was fleeing, combed its sides with his fingers, shook its
head and infused courage, and flung it again against the
Kakidega. Up sprang the Kakidega and gave the
other another blow with its legs. With it the latter was
unable to move its head and, while all the men of
Gurijala were laughing hilariously, it turned tail and
crying, " Ko, Kro, Ko, " began to run. At that time
a bard got up and began to sing :

" The houses of Palnadu have no beams.
The Brahmins of Kondavidu have no moustaches,
And the cocks of Macherla have no courage. "
Tan Dana Tana 1

Hearing this Balachandra cried in rage : " Who is that
fellow ? Probably a man of Gurijala. Why are you
puffed up so soon ? If you wait a little you will see
whether the cocks of Macherla have courage or not."

(From CHILUKURI VIRABHADRA RAO'S Nfyakurali
Darpamu, Vol. II)

Tan Dana Tana " is meaningless rhyme.

SUGGESTED READING LIST

[Below we print a list of books and articles which
the reader may be interested to consult. ]

The Novel in Telugu Literature. By Prof. V. N.
BHUSHAN. ( The Calcutta Review, February 1939)
(Reprinted in pamphlet form by the University

of Calcutta).

{Telugu Literature. By. P. CHENCHIAH and RAJA M.
BHUJANGA RAO BAHADUR, with a Preface by Sir
C. R. REDDY. ( The Heritage of India Series, Oxford
University Press, Paper Re 1/4 ; Cloth Rs. 2/- ).
Mirror of Gesture, being the Abhinaya Durpana of
Nandikeswara. Translated into English by A. K.

COOMARASWAMY and D. GOPALAKRISHNAYYA, with

Introduction and Illustrations. 2nd edition. (E.
Weyhe, New York. 2is. ) ( A work on Indian

dancing and acting).

"Andhra Literature in the Vijayanagara Empire-"'
(Journal of Andhra Historical Research Society,

I936-37)'
" Thyagaraja, the Minstrel Saint. " By R. B. PINGLAY.

( The Indian P. E. N. t September 1938 ).

"The Telugus and the Epic. " By P. T. RAJU. ( The

Indian P. E. N., October 1937)*

154 SUGGESTED READING LIST

Songs of Tyagaraja. Translated into English by
Dr. C. NARAYANA RAO. ( The Heritage of Andhra
Series. Published by Dr. Narayana Rao, " Atrey-
asram, " Anantapur, Madras Presidency).
"The Short Story in Telugu. " By SRIRANGAM SRI-
NIVASA RAO. (Triveni, August-September 1939).
A Historical Sketch of Telugu Literature. By T.

RAJAGOPALA RAO.

tfLife of Pingali Suranarya. ( An Original and Unique
Andhra Poet of the Sixteenth Century A. D. ). By
TEKUMALLA ACHYUTA RAU. (Author, 9, New
Street, Mylapore, Madras. Rs. 2/-).
"History of Telugu Poetry." By D. SAMBAMURTY.
( The Indian P. E. N. t August 1939 ).
".Trends in Modern Telugu Poetry.' 1 By J. SIVA-
SAN KAR SASTRI. ( Triveni t April 1938 ).
yA Hand Book of Telugu Literature. By K. SITARAMAIYA,
M. A., Nizam College, Hyderabad (Dn.), with a
Foreword by Sir S. RADHAKRISHAN. ( Publication
No. 6, Hyderabad Telugu Academy, Hyderabad

(Dn.). Re. 1/8).

Soli Vahana Gadhah ( Glimpses of Rural Life in Ancient
India). English free rendering of 64 verses in the
Second Century Anthology of Hala. By T. SIVA-
SANKARAN. (Author, Penukonda, S. India. As. 4),
Leaders and Landmarks of Telugu Literature. "
(Published serially in Triveni (Madras), from

April 1939).

THE P. E. N. ASSOCIATION

The International P. E. N. Club was founded in
London in October 1921 by Mrs. Dawson Scott, with
John Galsworthy as its first President who, on his death,
was succeeded by Mr. H. G. Wells, arid he in turn by
M. Jules Romains. In 1940 a Presidential Board of
five was elected : Mr. H. G. Wells, Mr. Hermon Ould,
Dr. Hu Shih, M. Denis Saurat, and Mr. Thornton
Wilder.

Before the war there were National P. E. N. Centres
in some forty countries. Those in Nazi-occupied coun-
tries have been dissolved but numerous P. E. N. Groups
of exiled writers have been formed. The P. E. N.
exists to promote friendliness among writers everywhere
in the interest of world peace ; and to uphold tree cul-
tural intercharge and freedom of the pen. Its annual
International Congresses exert a considerable moral
influence through their resolutions, constructive and
critical. But for the war the International Congress
would have met in India in iq40, on the gracious
invitation of the late Maharajah of Mysore.

In India the P. E. N. serves also the cause of
national unity by spreading appreciation of the litera-
tures in the different language areas. The India Centre,
founded by Sophia Wadia in 1933, includes many of the
country's leading writers and editors among its
members. Shrimati Sarojini Naidu succeeded our first
President, Dr. Rabindranath Tagore, upon the latter's
death. Each major Indian language is
the P. E. N. Advisory Linguistic Comii
two outstanding writers. Membershj A
Indian writer of standing, subject
the All-India Executive Committe
directed to the Honorary Secret
bar Hill, Bombay.

THE P. E. N. BOOKS

The Indian Literatures

* i ASSAMESE Shri Birinchi Kumar Barua,

M. A., B. L.

* 2 BENGALI Shri A. S. Ray, i. c. s., &

Shrimati Lila Ray.

3 GUJARATI Prof. Vijayarai K. Vaidya,

B.A., &
Prof. Vrajrai M. Desai, M. A.

4 HINDI Dr. Ram Kumar Varma,

M. A., PH. D.

* 5 INDO-ANGLIAN Dr. K. R. Srinivasa lyengar,

M. A., D. LITT.

6 KANNADA Prof. B. M. Srikantia,

M. A., B. L.

7 MAITHILI Pandit Amaranatha Jha.

8 MALAYALAM Principal P. Sankaran Nambiyar,

M. A., &
Shri G. Sankara Kurup.

9 MARATHI Prof. M. D. Altekar, M. A.

ID ORIYA Shri Kalindi Charan Panigrahi,

B. A.

11 PANJABI Dr. Mohan Singh,

M. A., PH. D., D. LITT.

12 SANSKRIT Shri K. Chandrasekharan,

M, A., B. L.,&

Brahmasri V. H. Subramania
Sastri.

13 SINHALESE

14 TAMIL Rao Sahib S. V. Pillai,

B, A., B. L., &

Shri P. N. Appuswami Aiyar,

B. A., B. L.

*I5 TELUGU Dr. P. T. Raju, PH. D., Sastri.

16 URDU Rai Bahadur R. B. Saksena,

M. A., LL. B.

* Already published.