1839] 



Essay on Telvgu Literature. 



of Shakspeare's plays : being about twice as long as either the Bhaga- 

 vat or Rarnayan.* It is considerably abridged from the Sanscrit original ; 

 many hundred verses being often condensed into a paragraph, written in 

 prose : indeed prose is interspersed in all the Telugu legends and poems, 

 but no where so profusely as in the Bharata. The first three parvamst 

 or books were composed by Nannaya Bhatta and his associate Erra Pre- 

 gada. The remaining fifteen parts are the composition of Ticcana 

 Somayazi: these authors unitedly are emphatically called (Cavi Trayam) 

 the three bards. 



24. The text of theMahabharat has unavoidably been much corrupted, 

 in the course of years : and the Adi Parvara, or first book, being a com- 

 mon school book, has suffered more than the rest. The whole has now 

 been revised and the devious readings found in different manuscripts 

 have been recorded; on this foundation a new edition is now in progress, 

 and the first book is in the press. 



In this ancient version of the Mahabharat some episodes are omit- 

 ted : being too sacred to be translated. These are, the Bhagavat Gita (a 

 portion of the Bhishma Parva or sixth book), the Vishnu Sahasranama, 

 the Bhishma Slava Rajam, and the Anusmriti. The first of these, the 

 Gita, has in later times been translated into Telugu under the usual 

 title Krishna Arjuna Samvadam. 



* It contains a little more than 23,000 padyams or stanzas (the prose being reckoned 

 as verse), of four lines in each. 



+ The eighteen books are in the Telugu version divided into sixtj r ihree (asvasa) can- 

 tos. The books are never mentioned in numerical order, but by certain liamvs : thus 

 the third book of Homer was originally called the M ight of Diomede. The eighteen 

 names are 1 Adi Parvam, 2 Sabha P., 3 Aranya P. or Vana P., 4 Virata P., 5 Udyoga P., 

 6 Bhishma P., 7 Drona P., 8 Carna P., 9 Salya P., 10 Sauptica P., 11 Stri P. 12 Santi P., 13 

 Anusasanlca P., 14 Aswamedha P., 15 A's'ramavasa P., 16 Mosala, 17 Maha Prasthanfca 

 P., and, 18 Swarga robana Parvair.. To recollect these name s it may be useful lo have 

 the following rude lines : — 



Adi Sabh Aranyamque Virat Udyogaque, quinque : 



Bbishmas Dro Car Salyaque Sauptica, ( ,.ra)lia quinque). 



Stri, Saupt atque Anu-as ; Asv', A'srama (quindecimum (it). 



Mosala PrasthanTc et Swargam, Bharata complent. 

 The names of the divisions or books in the Rarnayan ar« denominated Canda. Thus 

 Bala Canda is the phrase for the first book of the Rarnayan. The names may be thus 

 recollected— the seventh being the Uttara Rarnayan, or supplement. 



1 Balas, 2 Ayodhya Canda, et3 Aranyam, 4 Cishkiudh&que J 



5 Sundara, 6 Yuddh' atque 7 Uttara, sunt Rameide seplem. 



The books of the Bhagavat again are called by numerical names : so that a volume su- 

 perscribed " Dasamam" would in English phrase be " the tenth book of the Sri Bfa 

 vat:" and " Uttara Dasamam" denotes " the second part" of the same 1 ook. I m>uet» 

 these because (like the " Ashtamam") they often occur in lists of Sanscrit libraries^ 

 the name " Bhagavat" being omitted. 



