TELUGU LITERATURE

Telugu literature traces back its roots to the second decade of eleventh century, though earlier literary works are few and far in between. That was time when a part of Mahabharata was rendered by Nannaya from Sanskrit into Telugu. Nannaya, poet laureate in the court of Rajarajanarendra of Rajahmahendravaram (now Rajahmundry) was considered to be the pioneer Telugu writer. Though he could finish only the first two and a portion of the third parva out of the 18 parvas of the epic, the translation attained a special significance. Thikkana (13th century).resumed and completed the rest but for a small gap after Nannaya. This gap was filled later by Erraprgada (14th century). Thus spanned over three centuries, the Telugu Mahabharata is a liberal admixture of prose and verse and is a significant work of all time.

The Mahabharata writers are known as ‘kavitrayam’ trinity in early Telugu literature. In between, Palkuri Somanatha (12th century) composed a Saivite treatise “Basava puranam” in Dwipada. Influenced by Sanskrit classics, Nannechoda wrote Kumara Sambhava. Though a latecomer in Telugu, Ramayana and Ranganatha Ramayana as well as Tikkana’s Uttara Rama Charitra merit mention. Srinatha (15th century) has been described as the Byron of Andhra. Palnati veera charitra was his historical classic. His contemporary and near relative, according to a legend Potana devoutly rendered the great Bhagavata Purana saying ‘palikedidi bhagavatamata palikinchedivadu Rama Bhadrundanta’ to stress that his inspiration was divine. Even today Potana’s Bhagavata story woven around Lord Krishna, is recited by scholars and common people alike in Andhra. That was his popularity.

“Desabhashalandu Telugu lessa” was Krishna Devaraya’s lex non scripta. Krishna Devaraya’s reign was hailed as the golden age of Telugu literature. This was said to be starting point of original Telugu writings in the form of prabandhas. Allasani Peddana’s Manucharitra, Poetess Molla’s Ramayana, Pingali Suranna’s Kalapoornodaya, Ramaraja Bhushana’s Vasu Charitra are merited literary productions of this period. Sataka is yet another literary from original and unique in Telugu full of wisdom and mysticism.

Vemana, hailed as poet of the people excelled in Sataka form. Later, the Southern School of Telugu Literature took roots under Nayaka Kings (17th century) in Tanjore. Yakshagana, folklore type of literary form emerged along with other desi forms sung by women on festive occasions. Perhaps, Muslim invasions and later political subordination of the country under the Dutch, French, Portuguese and British rulers of alien origin drove Telugu literature into rapid decline. The Literary output in 18th and mid 19th century was meager according to one estimate.

Spurred by political awakening in the latter half of nineteenth century, a new era began in Telugu literature with accent on prose writings. Gidugu Venkata Ramamurty and Gurazada Apparao (Kanyasulkam) revolutionized the literary field by establishing (see MODERN DRAMA) good prose traditions using spoken form of Telugu. In this period of renaissance as it is often called by experts, influenced by English literature and thought, Kandukuri Veeresalingam (1848-1919) wrote Rajasekhara Charitra.

Wakefield by Goldsmith, a well known English author. Avadhanam is yet another peculiar form of Telugu literary tradition. It is a form of literary ‘acrobatics’. Tirupati Sastry and Venkata Sastry known as janta kavulu or Tirupati pair (Tirupati Venkata Kavulu) mastered this avadhanam. Asukavita or extempore versification is one more unique feature of Telugu literary tradition. All these literary forms rely strongly on certain rigid metrical standards.

Against this background of traditional school in letters, a free school of lyricists with romantic vein and a strong base of progressivism began to grow. Inspiration in life is the main stay of literary production according to the progressive school. Devulaplli Venkata Krishna Sastry belongs to transition from classical to modern school.

Narayanababu zealously led the progressive group and established themselves passing on their tradition in thought process to Arudra, Tilak Dasaradhi, and Narayanareddi; there are poets of merit who combine tradition with modernism. Viswanatha Satyanarayana, a veteran writer produced popular novels. Short story too was introduced during this period when Padmaraja’s Galivana (Cyclone) won world recognition (1950).

More recent trends in Telugu literary output turn to existentitalism when a group of young men started Digambara school (1966). Advent of cinema, inrecent times, began effectively utilizing the services of variety of fiction writers, short story writers, poets, play-wrights for scenerio, song, dialogue writings.
Non-fiction writing, once limited to text book production developed into writing of books on History, Science and other knowledge giving subjects and journalism.

Mutnuri Krishna Rao and Kasinadhuni Nageswararao were the successful pioneers in Telugu journalism, when they founded Krishna patrika (1902) & Andhra Patrika in (1912). Perhaps Vijnanachandrika Grandha mandali founded by Komarraju Venkata Lakshmanrao was the earliest to endeavor to disseminate knowledge on an organized scale. His indefatigable efforts resulted in the production of science books and a pair of encyclopedia volumes: Andhra Vijnana Sarvaswamu (1923) for bringing out subject wise encyclopedia Vijnana Sarvaswamu (16 volumes). Earlier, institutions like Andhra Sahitya Parishad, Kakinada, Andhra Saraswata Parishad, Hyderabd and Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Akademi are engaged in the promotion for the cause of literature on an organized scale. Navya Sahitya Parishad, Hyderabad, Andhra Viswa Sahiti, Hyderabad, Sahiti Samiti, Tirupati, Visakha Writers Association, Visakhapatnam, Sarasa, Madras etc are engaged in the promotion of the cause of local writers fraternity.