Vinukonda Vallabharaya

Vinukonda Vallabharaya was a Telugu poet and official of the 15th century.¹² He is named as the author of the Kridabhiramamu (the delight of play), a verse play set in the streets of Warangal.²¹ P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao called it the first Telugu translation of a play that kept the form of a play.² It is also valued for its picture of town life in Warangal.²³

A family of royal servants

S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar printed the opening of the Kridabhiramamu in his Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919).¹ In its verses the poet gives his family history, as Krishnaswami Aiyangar sums it up:⁴

• his great-grandfather Chandra was a minister of the Vijayanagara king Bukka I
• his uncle Linga was a general under the king Harihara
• Linga’s brother Tippa, also called Tripurari, kept the store of precious stones for Harihara
• Vallabharaya, “Tripurantaka’s son”, was governor of Vinukonda, held Mopuru and three other villages in Mulki Nadu, and kept the jewel store at the court of Devaraya II⁴

Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, in their history of Telugu literature (1928), give a shorter version.² They call the poet the son of Ravipati Tippanna, who ruled a few villages in Muliki Nadu and kept the crown jewels of “Hari Hara Raja”.² They date the poet from about 1420.²

The Kridabhiramamu

The poem is a tour of Warangal.² Govinda Machanna tells his friend, a merchant, of the sights and adventures he met in the city.² Among them is “a delightful description of a cock-fight in the streets of Warangal”.² Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao counted it, with Srinatha’s Vidhinatakamu, among the rare Telugu works of this kind.²

Krishnaswami Aiyangar describes it as a translation of a Sanskrit play, the Premabhiramamu, by Ravipati Tripurantaka of the court of the Kakatiya king Prataparudra.¹ Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao agreed that it “purports to be a translation” of the Premabhiramamu.² But in their view “it is really an original composition”.²

They called it “the earliest drama in the Telugu language”.⁵ In it, they noted, the author says he had seen a woman act parts of the Palnati Vira Charitra.⁵ They took this as early evidence of acting in the Telugu country.⁵ See Music & dance.

Where the sources disagree

• Who wrote the Kridabhiramamu. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao and Krishnaswami Aiyangar name Vinukonda Vallabharaya.²¹ P. T. Raju, in 1944, called it Srinatha’s “independent work”, “which gives a nice picture of the urban society of Warrangal”.³⁶ K. Sitaramaiya, in 1943, also called it Srinatha’s.⁷
• Translation or original. Krishnaswami Aiyangar called it a translation of the Sanskrit Premabhiramamu.¹ Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao thought it an original work that only claimed to be a translation.²

Footnotes

1. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar (ed.), Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 55, extract 17, the Kridabhiramamu (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

2. P. Chenchiah and Raja M. 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 ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

3. P. T. Raju, Telugu Literature (1944), p. 25 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²

4. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 56 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

5. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 114 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. Raju, Telugu Literature (1944), p. 29 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

7. K. Sitaramaiya, A Hand Book of Telugu Literature (1943), p. 131 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩