The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c31.18

v1.c31.18

3. There has been much controversy about the identity of this person. Some maintain that he is not actually one person, but that the name discloses two different poets, one called Bhattu Murti and the other Ramarajabushana. The *Vasucharitramu* is mentioned as the work of the former, and the *Narasabhupaliyamu* assigned to the latter. There can however be no doubt about their identity; the commentators of the *Vasucharitramu*, who flourished shortly after him, say that he wrote the *Narasabhupaliyamu* to illustrate the figures of speech used in his former work, the *Vasucharitramu*. He appears to have been born at Battupalli during the reign of Krishna Deva Raya, though he did not begin to write before 1560. He acquired such fame in the six years that Rama Raya's life was still to last, that in so short a period he earned the most flattering title of ‘the ornament of his court’. His great works however were written after his patron's death. He continued to be the court-poet during the reign of Tirumala, to whom his great work, the *Vasucharitramu*, is dedicated. This poem reproduces the story of Vasu, King of Pratishtana, who fell in love with Girikanyaka, supposed to be the daughter of the mountain Kolahala. She had been found by Vasu in the forest while hunting. The work is full of poetical exaggerations; but it was nevertheless much admired by its contemporaries, and even became a model for later poets. As a matter of fact, the descriptions of nature are excellent and the diction of the poem undeniably good.