A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s4.21

c19.s4.21

Like the Nine Gems of Vikramāditya’s court the Aṣṭadiggajas (the Eight Elephants of the Quarters) of Krishnadeva Rāya’s court are famous in legend. In either case, popular imagination has sought to glorify an intrinsically great name at the cost of historical truth. But there were doubtless many great poets who did adorn the court of Krishnadeva Rāya, and among them Allasāni Peddana, on whom the emperor conferred the title *Andhrakavitāpitāmaha* (Grandfather of Telugu poetry), stands out foremost. He was the son of Chokkanāmātya and had his literary training under Saṭhakopayati, a Vaishnava patriarch of the age. His chief work is the *Svārocisha-sambhava* or *Manucarita*. The story is taken from the *Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa*. An orthodox Brahmin by name Pravara refuses the love offered to him by the divine courtesan Varūthinī. A gandharva comes to know of this, assumes the guise of Pravara and lives with her. Their son was Svārocisha from whom the second Manu was born. As in Kālidāsa’s *Kumāra-sambhava*, interest centres round the parents of the hero whose name the work bears, and Peddana’s fame rests on his delineation of Pravara and Varūthinī. He borrowed from his predecessors like Śrīnātha some features in the development of the theme and in the use of Kannada words. *Manucarita* was dedicated to Krishnadeva Rāya who marked his appreciation of the poem by being a pole-bearer of Peddana’s palanquin. Peddana survived his royal patron and bemoaned the years of desolation that followed. *Harikathā-sāra* attributed to him is no longer extant.