Pillalamarri Pinaveerabhadrudu

Pillalamarri Pinaveerabhadrudu was a Telugu poet of the later 15th century.¹ He was the court poet of Saluva Narasimha, who later made himself king of Vijayanagara.¹² His Jaimini Bharatamu (the Mahabharata as told by the sage Jaimini) is dedicated to that king.² Its opening gives historians a poet’s account of the Saluva family and its wars.²³

Poet of the Saluva court

P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao, in their history of Telugu literature (1928), date him to 1450–80.¹ They call him “the court poet of Saluva Narasimha Razu”.¹ In their account Saluva Narasimha was for a time the commander of the Vijayanagara king Virupaksha.¹ Then he pushed the king aside and ruled on his own.¹

They describe the poet as learned in Sanskrit and in the Vedas, with “a widespread reputation for sanctity”.¹ Many poets, they add, were found in his family tree.¹ His teacher was Bharatitirtha Swami.¹⁴ P. T. Raju, in 1944, wrote that as a scholar he was placed even above Srinatha.⁵

His works

Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao list seven works.⁴ Only two of them survive:⁴

• the Jaimini Bharatamu, the story of the Mahabharata in the form told by the sage Jaimini
• the Sringara Sakuntalamu, a love poem on the story of Sakuntala⁴

The lost works include the Avatara Darpanamu and the Naradiyamu.⁴ Raju gives the same two surviving works.⁵ Court poets compared his style to a lily that slowly opens and fills the air with its scent.⁴

He influenced later poets. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao found that Allasani Peddana followed him in the hunting scene of the Manucharitramu.⁶ K. Sitaramaiya, writing in 1943, named him with Nachana Somana and Srinatha.⁷ In his view these three laid the foundations for the later prabandha (long narrative poem).⁷

What the Jaimini Bharatamu tells historians

S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar printed the opening of the poem in his Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919).² He summed up its account of Saluva Narasimha:²³

• it traces the king’s family back to his ancestor Saluva Mangu
• it says he conquered the Tamil country and broke the strength of the Gajapati king of Odisha (then Orissa), who had invaded
• it names forts he took, among them Gingee, Bhuvanagiri and Penukonda
• it says that week after week he made large gifts to Brahmins²³

The poem is praise of a patron, written for him.² But Krishnaswami Aiyangar used it, with other works, to trace Saluva Narasimha’s rise.⁸

Stories told about him

Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao tell two famous stories, and they treat both with care.

The first is about Srinatha.⁹¹⁰ Srinatha wanted the boy’s opinion of his Telugu Naishadhamu, and found him playing in the street.⁹¹⁰ The boy asked how he had turned one Sanskrit phrase.¹⁰ Srinatha’s version differed from the Sanskrit by a single syllable.¹⁰ “Your only contribution seems to be the syllable ‘da’”, the boy said.¹⁰ The historians wrote: “We cannot, of course, take this as serious criticism.”¹⁰

The second is about the Jaimini Bharatamu.⁴ The poet, they relate, led a wild life and left the poem to the last day.⁴ He shut himself in a room, and his brother, looking through the keyhole, saw a woman writing fast.⁴ The story says she was the goddess Sarasvati, who finished the poem in one night.⁴ The historians suggested instead that “a poetess of extraordinary ability” among his friends had helped him.⁴¹¹ They gave this as their own guess.⁴

Footnotes

1. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 66 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

2. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 85, extract 31, the Jaimini Bharatamu (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

3. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 86 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 67 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

5. P. T. Raju, Telugu Literature (1944), p. 28 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²

6. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 73 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

7. K. Sitaramaiya, A Hand Book of Telugu Literature (1943), p. 33 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²

8. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar (ed.), Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), introduction, pp. 7–8 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

9. P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 61 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

10. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 62 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

11. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 103 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩