A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s4.14

c19.s4.14

The century and a half that followed 1350 may well be designated the age of Śrīnātha (1365-1440), held by some to be the greatest poet in the language. His great talents secured for him early in life the patronage of many chiefs and kings—the Reddis of Kondavidu, the Velamas of Rājakonda, and Devarāya II of Vijayanagar. He moved on equal terms with them and their ministers, and enjoyed a full taste of the pleasures of life though in the end he died a poor man. His command over Sanskrit and Telugu was unrivalled, and he says that he wrote the Marutrāṭ-caritra as a boy and translated Śālivāhana-sapta-śati while yet in his teens; unfortunately neither has survived. His masterpiece was the translation of Śrī Harsha's Naishadhakāvya called Śṛingāra Naishadha, a majestic and stately poem in which all the great qualities of Śrīnātha's genius found full play. His other works were Paṇḍitārādhya-carita, Śivarātrimāhātmya, Haravilāsa, Bhīma-khaṇḍa and Kāśikhaṇḍa. Only the last four are available now and these show what a staunch Śaiva he was. Another work attributed to him is Krīḍābhirāmam, a drama which marked a new departure in Telugu and started the genre known as vīthināṭaka in which one person narrates his experiences in the streets of Wārangal to another who is only a listener. Śṛingāra-dīpika a work of poetics, purports to be the composition of Kumāragiri Reddi but is held by some to be the work of Śrīnātha. A heroic ballad of a very popular type, the earliest available work of its kind, Palnāṭivīra-caritram, which commemorates the achievements of the warriors of Palnad (Guntur district) in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, is also considered to be his work. Many Cāṭus or stray verses on miscellaneous subjects are reputed to be his and command great popularity to this day.