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Nannaya

Telugu poet of the 11th century, the author of the earliest surviving Telugu literary work. He wrote the first parvas (books) of the Telugu Mahabharata at the request of the Eastern Chalukya king Rajaraja Narendra of Rajahmundry. A Telugu grammar in Sanskrit, the Andhra-sabda-chintamani, is traditionally said to be his, though later historians doubted it. A. C. Burnell placed him in the 12th century in 1878; the editors of the inscriptions and later historians place him under Rajaraja in the 11th.

Nannaya, often called Nannaya Bhatta, is remembered as the first poet of Telugu literature. The historians of Telugu literature P. Chenchiah and M. Bhujanga Rao wrote about him in 1928.1 In their words, “the earliest literary work of which we can be certain is Nanniah’s translation of the first three cantos of the Mahabharata”.1 He worked at the court of the Eastern Chalukya king Rajaraja Narendra of Vengi, whose capital was Rajahmundry.23 (See Language and literature.)

Patron and date

The Godavari district gazetteer of 1907 says that the Mahabharata was translated into Telugu during the reign of Rajaraja.3 It adds that Rajaraja had fixed his capital at Rajahmundry.3 Robert Sewell’s chronology of 1932 also places Nannaya Bhatta’s translation under Rajaraja’s patronage.4

Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao wrote that Nannaya began the work at the command of Rajaraja Narendra.2 They dated Rajaraja 1022–63.2 Elsewhere in the same book they gave the year 1020 for the translation.1

A. C. Burnell dated Nannaya much later. In 1878 he described the Telugu Mahabharata as belonging to the 12th century.5 In one passage he wrote that Nannaya composed his Telugu grammar about 1180.67 According to that passage, Nannaya worked under the patronage of the Hoysala king converted by Ramanuja.67 He also began a translation of the Ramayana that another Brahman finished.67

In a note to another chapter, however, Burnell gave a different date.8 There he said that Nannaya translated the first part of the Mahabharata for Vishnuvardhana, “Ramanujacarya’s chief convert”.8 So in that note Nannaya lived in the middle of the 11th century.8

J. F. Fleet, in 1891, still cited Burnell’s 12th-century date for the Telugu Mahabharata. He used it as evidence that Rajahmundry had by then become the “central gem” of the Vengi country.9

The Nandamapundi grant

Rajaraja made the Nandamapundi grant in his 32nd year (1053).10 It names the author of its Sanskrit verses as Nanniyabhatta.10 E. Hultzsch, who edited the volume, added a note about this author.10 He wrote that the author was “perhaps identical with Nannayabhatta, the first Telugu translator of the Mahabharata, whose patron was Rajaraja of Rajyamahendri”.10

F. Kielhorn, the editor of the grant, gave a warning.11 The first three plates had been engraved earlier and were used again.11 So the statements about the writer, and probably about the author of the verses, could not apply to those three plates.11

The grant itself gave the village of Nandamapundi to the poet Narayana.1210 It calls him Nanni-Narayana.1210 It praises him for composing poetry in Sanskrit, Kannada, Prakrit, Paisachi and Telugu (Andhra).1210 Sewell’s entry for the year describes the grant as a gift of a village to the poet Nannaya Bhatta himself.13

The Telugu Mahabharata

According to Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, Nannaya was a Vaidiki Brahmin of the Mudgala gotra (family line) from Tanuku in the Vengi country.2 He was also the family priest of the king.2 In the prologue to the poem he tells how Rajaraja wished to have the epic in the language of his own country.2 Rajaraja claimed descent from the kings of the lunar line and from the Pandavas.2

Nannaya composed the Adi and Sabha parvas and part of the Aranya parva.2 Tikkanna continued the work in the 13th century.2 Errapragada finished it in the 14th.2 The three are honoured together as the Kavitraya, “the Great Three”.2

Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao described his style as “simple, sweet and graceful”.14 By their estimate his vocabulary was two-thirds Sanskrit and one-third Telugu.14

Nannaya praised a fellow poet of his time, Narayana Bhatta.1415 The 1928 history gives his words as: “Just as Krishna assisted Arjuna in the great war, Narayana Bhat helped me in my labours.”1415 Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao identified him with the Narayana of the Nandamapundi grant.1415 They rejected the suggestion that Narayana really wrote most of the poem.1415

Why the poem stops

Why the poem stops in the Aranya parva is not known. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao recorded a story about it.214 In the story Nannaya burnt the manuscript of a rival Bharata by the Jain poet Atharvana and was cursed with madness.214 They rejected the story, since the two poets did not live at the same time.214

B. V. Krishna Rao in 1930 cited an Andhra tradition about Rajaraja’s last days.16 In this tradition the country was disturbed by invasion, and both the king and his poet died in those troubled times.16 Krishna Rao linked this with the invasion of Vengi by Rajaraja’s half-brother Vijayaditya VII.16

Krishna Rao also cited Nannaya’s Mahabharata for the statement that Rajaraja was the eldest son of his father.17 By the same statement Rajaraja’s mother was Kundavamba, daughter of the Chola Rajaraja the great.17

Religion and the beginnings of Telugu literature

Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao saw Nannaya’s work as part of a Brahmanical revival, which they called the Vaidiki movement.18 In their view this revival followed the decline of Jainism in the Telugu country.18 In his foreword to their book, C. R. Reddy suggested a reason for the translation.19 He called the translation of the Mahabharata into Telugu “propaganda through the vernaculars, as a counterblast to the Buddhist and Jain propaganda”.19

The same authors discussed whether Telugu literature existed before Nannaya.12021 They noted that no earlier work had been recovered.12021 They also noted that tradition remembered him as the pioneer of Telugu literature and the “legislator” of the language (Vaganu Sasana).12021

They concluded that he was one of the earliest representatives, if not the founder, of the Sanskritised “Margi” literature.12021 They saw the inscriptions of Yuddhamalla and of Mopur as earlier attempts in the same direction.12021 Beside these they saw an older local “Desi” tradition of song.12021 They also thought it likely that Nannaya wrote in an 11th-century form of the Telugu script, which Telugu and Kannada then shared.2223

Works ascribed to him

The Telugu grammar written in Sanskrit, the Andhra-sabda-chintamani, is traditionally Nannaya’s. C. P. Brown, in 1857, described “the Grammar written by Nannaia Bhatta” under that title.24 Burnell called it the earlier of the two old Telugu grammars and used it for the Telugu alphabet.8

Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao listed five works said to be by Nannaya, the Andhra Sabda Chintamani among them.14 They thought that “in all probability, none of these were written by him”.14 But he might have written the Chamundi Vilasa, since Chamundi was the family goddess of the Chalukyas.14

Memory

In 1922 the Andhra Historical Research Society at Rajahmundry celebrated the ninth centenary of Rajaraja Narendra’s coronation.25 It described Nannaya’s Mahabharata as “the only known extant Telugu Kavya of the early period”.25 It named Nannaya, Narayana Bhatta and Pavuluri Mallanna as poets of the king’s court.25

Footnotes

  1. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 37 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  2. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 42 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14

  3. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari (1907), p. 21 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 64 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  5. A. C. Burnell, Elements of South-Indian Palaeography (2nd ed., 1878), p. 16, note 1 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  6. Burnell, Elements of South-Indian Palaeography (1878), p. 28 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. Burnell, Elements of South-Indian Palaeography (1878), p. 29 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. Burnell, Elements of South-Indian Palaeography (1878), p. 129 and note 1 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  9. J. F. Fleet, “The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings”, Indian Antiquary XX (1891), p. 94 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  10. Kielhorn, “Nandamapundi Grant” (1897), p. 303 and note 3 (E. Hultzsch) (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  11. F. Kielhorn, “Nandamapundi Grant of Rajaraja I”, Epigraphia Indica IV (1897), p. 301 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. Kielhorn, “Nandamapundi Grant” (1897), p. 302 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  13. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 74 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  14. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 43 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12

  15. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 44 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  16. Krishna Rao, “Telugu Academy Plates of Saktivarman II” (1930), p. 37 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  17. B. V. Krishna Rao, “Telugu Academy Plates of Saktivarman II”, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society V, pt. 1 (1930), p. 36 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  18. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 22 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  19. C. R. Reddy, foreword to P. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), pp. 5–6 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  20. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 38 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  21. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 39 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  22. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 17 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  23. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 18 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  24. C. P. Brown, A Grammar of the Telugu Language (2nd ed., 1857), p. 266, note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  25. Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society, Vol. I (1926), “Brief history of the Society”, p. 4 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

References

Sources (9)
  1. F. Kielhorn (articles); E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IV (1896–97) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1897, pp. 301–303. F. Kielhorn, Nandamapundi grant of Rajaraja I, with E. Hultzsch's editorial note. [Public domain]
  2. P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (The Heritage of India Series) (opens in a new tab), Association Press (Y.M.C.A.), Calcutta / Oxford University Press, London, 1928, pp. 6, 17–18, 21–22, 37–44. [Public domain]
  3. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1907, pp. 21. [Public domain]
  4. Robert Sewell (ed. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar), The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (Collected till 1923) and Outlines of Political History (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1932, pp. 64, 74. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  5. R. C. Temple (ed.); article by J. F. Fleet, Indian Antiquary, Vol. XX (1891), incl. J. F. Fleet, 'The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings' (opens in a new tab), Education Society's Press, Bombay, 1891, pp. 94. J. F. Fleet, 'The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings'. [Public domain]
  6. A. C. Burnell, Elements of South-Indian Palaeography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D., being an Introduction to the Study of South-Indian Inscriptions and MSS. (2nd ed.) (opens in a new tab), Trübner & Co., London, 1878, pp. 16, 28–29, 129. [Public domain]
  7. Charles Philip Brown, A Grammar of the Telugu Language (2nd ed.) (opens in a new tab), Christian Knowledge Society's Press, Madras, 1857, pp. 266. [Public domain]
  8. K. V. Lakshmana Rao (article); Andhra Historical Research Society, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society, Vol. V, pt. 1 (July 1930), incl. K. V. Lakshmana Rao, 'Two Copper-plate Grants of the Salankayanas of Vengi' (opens in a new tab), Andhra Historical Research Society, Rajahmundry, 1930, pp. 36–37. B. V. Krishna Rao, Telugu Academy plates of Saktivarman II (JAHRS V, 1930). [Public domain]
  9. Not Available, The Andhra Historical Research Society, Rajahmundry, Vol.1,pt.2 (opens in a new tab), 1926, pp. 4. Brief history of the Andhra Historical Research Society (JAHRS I, 1926). [Public domain]

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