Product Code Database
Nannayya Bhattaraka or Nannayya Bhattu (sometimes spelled Nannaya; ) was a Telugu language poet and the author of Andhra Mahabharatam, a Telugu retelling of the Sanskrit-language Mahabharata. Nannaya is generally considered the first poet ( Adi Kavi) of Telugu language. He was patronized by Rajaraja Narendra of Rajahmundry. Rajaraja Narendra was an admirer of Mahabharata and wanted the message of the Sanskrit epic to reach the Telugu masses in their own language and idiom. He commissioned Nannaya, a scholar well versed in Vedas, Puranas, and Itihasa for the task. Nannaya began his work in and wrote Adi Parva, Sabha Parva, and a part of Vana Parva.
Nannaya is the first of the three Telugu poets, called the Kavitrayam ("trinity of poets"), who wrote Andhra Mahabharatam. His work, which is rendered in the Champu style, is chaste and polished and of a high literary merit. The advanced and well-developed language used by Nannaya suggests that prior Telugu literature other than royal grants and decrees must have existed before him. However, these presumed works are now lost. Legends also credit him with writing the Sanskrit-language Andhra-shabda-chintamani, said to be the first work on Telugu grammar.
Yelakuchi Bala-sarasvati wrote a Telugu gloss (commentary) on this work, and his Bala-sarasvatiyamu refers to this legend in brief. A more elaborate version of the legend appears in Appa-kavi's Appakavīyamu (1656). According to this version, Bhimana, who was jealous of Nannaya, stole and destroyed Andhra-shabda-chintamani by throwing it in the Godavari River. Unknown to others, King Rajaraja-narendra's son Saranga-dhara, an immortal siddha, had memorized Nannaya's grammar. He gave a written copy of Nannaya's work to Bala-sarasvati near Matanga Hill (at Vijayanagara), and Bala-sarasvati wrote a Telugu gloss (commentary) on the work. With help of the god Vishnu, Appa-kavi received a copy of Nannaya's work, and wrote Appakavīyamu as a commentary on this text. Ahobala-panditiya (also known as Kavi-siro-bhushana), a Sanskrit commentary on Andhra-shabda-chintamani, also retells this story.
While some of the grammatical sutras in Appa-kavi's work may be from Nannaya's time, Andhra-shabda-chintamani is an imaginary work, and was probably fabricated by Bala-sarasvati himself. Although Appa-kavi describes his work as a commentary, it is really an original work.
|
|
