A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s4.25

c19.s4.25

Pingali Sūranna, (Pingali is a village in the Krishna district), though counted among the *Ashṭadiggajas*, came later than the reign of Krishnadeva Rāya. His *Rāghava-Pāṇḍavīya*, as the name indicates, tells the story of the *Rāmāyaṇa* and *Mahābhārata* simultaneously. It commands a grace and simplicity hard to attain in this type of forced composition, and it is believed that Bhaṭṭumūrti (already mentioned) found his model in this work. Sūranna's *Kalāpūrṇodayam* is more a novel in poetry than a Prabandha, the only work of its type. The plot is a veritable comedy of errors and grips the attention of the reader. In the centre of the plot are Krishna and his seraglio, and in the background are Kāli worshippers with dark hints of human sacrifices, and Malayāli magicians with mystic garlands and strange spells. A noticeable feature of this work is that the writer altogether discards *ślesha*. The *Prabhāvati Pradyumna* was esteemed by the author himself as the best of his works. It deals with a purāṇic theme in an original dramatic manner. The subject is the fall of the powerful Daitya king Vajranābha at the hands of Pradyumna, the son of Krishna, followed by the marriage of Prabhāvati, the daughter of the fallen Daitya, with Pradyumna. In this work Sūranna's ‘characters are lifelike, their movements spontaneous, their conversations natural and the situations tense and vivid’.