Jakkana

Jakkana was a Telugu poet of the early 15th century.¹ He wrote the Vikramarka Charitramu (the story of Vikramarka), on the legendary King Vikramaditya of Ujjain.¹² P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao list him among the poets who lived in the time of Srinatha and Bammera Potana.¹ His patrons were linked with the court of the Vijayanagara king Devaraya II.²

The Vikramarka Charitramu

Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, in their history of Telugu literature (1928), date Jakkana from about 1410.¹ They describe his poem as celebrating the victories of Vikramarka, king of Ujjain.¹ Vikramarka was remembered as a patron of Sanskrit learning and “a hero much celebrated in history and song”.¹

S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar printed the opening of the poem in his Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919).² In his summary, Jakkana dedicated it to Vennelaganti Siddamantri.² Siddamantri and his son Jannamantri were greatly favoured at the court of Devaraya II.² Siddamantri received the royal fly-whisks, an umbrella and a palanquin from Devaraya’s minister Chamanamatya.²

His style

K. Sitaramaiya, writing in Hyderabad in 1943, admired the polished verse of Nannechoda.³ He wrote that many later poets imitated it.³ The one he named was “Jakkana the author of Vikramarkacharitam”.³

Footnotes

1. P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 65 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

2. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar (ed.), Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 63, extract 23, the Vikramarkacharitramu (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

3. K. Sitaramaiya, A Hand Book of Telugu Literature (1943), p. 24 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³