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Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c15.s2.t2: Aṣṭadiggajas

Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c15.s2.t2

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Aṣṭadiggajas

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The reign of Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya was the Augustan age of Telugu literature. The emperor himself was known as *uru kavi vaibhava-nivaha nidhāna*, "the cause for the highly prosperous condition of great poets."¹⁰⁷ Tradition affirms that in his court flourished the *aṣṭadiggajas*—the eight great poets. The poet laureates who are included in this list are Allasāni Peddana, Nandi Timmanna, Ayyala Rāju, Rāmabhadriah, Dhūrjaṭi, Mādayagāri Mallanna, Tenāli Rāmakṛṣṇa, Piṅgaḷi Sūranna, and Rāma Rāja Bhūṣaṇa. Though it is doubtful if the last two poets lived in Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya’s time yet it appears to be certain that the rest flourished in his court and dedicated their works either to the emperor himself or to one or other of his subordinates.

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¹⁰⁷ M.E.R., Cp. 7 and 8 of 1914-15; Rep., 1915, para 48; *A.S.R.*, 1908-09, p. 185.

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Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya was himself the author of important Telugu works. Among them mention must first be made of the *Āmuktamālyada*, a work written and dedicated to God Veṅkaṭēśa of Tirupati. The emperor while explaining why he chose the Telugu language for writing out the poem says: "Telugu is the language of the poem for that is the country; to them I am the king, and praised by all is that language. Among the languages of the land Telugu is the best." The work describes the story of Periyāḻvār or Viṣṇucitta, the sixth Ālvar, who is said to have converted the Madura king to the Śrī-Vaiṣṇava faith. It also describes the marriage of his adopted daughter Suḍikoḍutta nācciyār to God Śrī Ranganātha of Śrīrangam.

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The Āmuktamālyada is one of the five great kāvyams in the Telugu language, and is considered to be the most difficult of them. Though the language used in the work is conventional yet the form of expression is entirely original. The construction of his sentences appears to be involved. "His style wants perspicuity (to import a western ideal) but is highly admired in India as an example of nārikela pākam (cocoanut-like form of expression), and its outer form (shell) of words has to be broken to get the sweet pulp within." Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya shows himself essentially a poet of nature. "His description of the seasons, of the moon and the dawn, of the details of life such as of the leafy stuffs prepared and eaten with gingelly oil and coarse grains of boiled ariga (a cereal grain), of earthern showels in which the manure of goats was lit up to give heat to Reḍḍis in the rainy weather, the echoes, coming even at midnight from the roof of Viṣṇucitta respectfully beckoning his never-ending tide of guests to a poorly hospitality—(really rich)—which he prefaced with apologies like curry was not plentiful, the victuals were cold, no sweets could be procured and the dinner not rich as befitted such guests—his knowledge and experiences of polity, which only a great ruler and conqueror like him could depict give an originality to his thoughts and make him a nature poet par excellence."

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The authorship of the Āmuktamālyada is attributed by a few scholars to Peddana.¹⁰⁸ But the differences in style between the Manucarita of Peddana and the Āmuktamālyada show that the authors of the two works must have been different persons. The style of the former is simple, easy flowing and musical while that of the Āmuktamālyada is very involved, though it is not wanting in elegance. Peddana freely uses in his work Sanskrit and foreign words, while the Āmuktamālyada does not contain so many foreign words. Strict rules of grammar are not adhered to in the latter work, a feature unknown to Peddana's work. Further the verses in the *Āmuktamālyada* that describe the deeds and conquests of Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya are borrowed from the works of his contemporary Peddana, and this literary plagiarism could not have been committed by any ordinary author. Since the author of the work under consideration was a prince and since Peddana was his favourite court poet, Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya could have taken some privilege in that matter. The colophons in the *Āmuktamālyada* are in verse and not in prose as are those in the *Manucarita*. These considerations weigh much against the view that the work was written by Peddana.¹⁰⁹

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¹⁰⁸ Wilson, Mac. Mss., p. 281.

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¹⁰⁹ See for a discussion on the *Āmuktamālyada*, *A Historical Sketch of Telugu Literature*, by T. Rajagopala Rao, pp. 82-84; Mys. Gaz., II, Pt. iii, pp. 1920-1922.

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