1839.] 



Essay on Telugu Literature. 



367 



Ticcanna, lie gained the epithet Somayagi or Au?pex for he bears this 

 name in the Mahabharat. Yet regarding so popular an author we 

 have no biographical accounts, and it is only surmised that he lived 

 before the era of Krishna Rav el. 



I have mentioned the remote age usually assigned to Nannaia Bhatta 

 but perhaps we may safely place him in the century preceding that 

 which we have conjecturally assigned to Ticcanna. 



Second to Ticcanna, in critical estimation, stands Allasani Peddanna 

 who has already been spoken of: and nest to him, as regards beauty 

 of style, stands Ayyal Raz RamaBhadraya, author of the Ramabhyudaya. 



80. All the poets now nemed appear to have written before A. D. 

 1700 — excepting Muccu Tirdmanna and the author of the Das avatara 

 charitra j the la^t century produced but few other poems of any note; 

 one is the Balarama Vijayam (also called by the pedantic name Pra- 

 bandha Raja Sird Bhu ; .hanam), and another is the Bahulasya charitra. 

 These are little more than imitations of the Tara Catha, Das Avatara 

 charitra and other well known tales : but the modern poets conscious of 

 their inferiority to the older bards attempt to outstrip them in 

 grossness of immorality. The Satya'JS^ma Santw anam, a very favourite 

 modern work is conspicuous for its bad taste in this respect. These 

 poets certainly do not go to that unutterable excess of filthy whimsies 

 which we too often meet in the Mahabharat, but their superior ele- 

 gance and brilliant adornment perhaps only render them the more 

 pernicious. 



The Jangama or Saivite literature is as remarkable for innocence as 

 that of the Bramins is for vice. But the Saiva poems will furnish ample 

 subject for another essay. The Lila and the Tale of Sarangadhara, from 

 which selections will now be offered, belong to this class. 



81. Among modern poems high applause is given to the Bhanumati 

 Parinayam,* which is a pretty close imitation of the Vasu Charitra. 

 The Telugu versions, likewise, of the Bilbanam, and the Krishna Carna- 

 mritalu are, as well as the Cama Cala Nidhi, very popular poems of 

 the 18th century. Among modern writers the highest place however 

 is conceded to Muccu Timmanna, who (particularly in his Nila Parina- 

 yam) has used a vast variety of obsolete phrases which excite an ir- 

 rational admiration. The same taste is displayed in the Satyabhama 

 Santw anam. 



82. This dialect is called Acea Telugu (or pure Telugu), a name 

 justly due to many thousand lines throughout the Puranas and poems. 



• Distinct from the Bhamuaad. Vijayam, a Saivite poem which will be elsewhere no* 

 iiced. 



