language
date from around the 6th century,
but a proper literary career started five centuries
later. The script, almost similar to that of
Kannada, took shape in 1000AD from the Pahlava
script of 7AD.
Most literatures began with translations from Sanskrit.
So did Telegu with Nannayabhatta (1020AD), the
adikavi or 'first poet' of Telegu translating
the Mahabharata. It was a unusual translation, with lots of clever innovations
but no deviations from the story. But Nannayabhatta couldn't complete
the job. Tikanna came along sometime in the 13th century and
furthered it. However, it was Yerrapragada (14th century)
was finally able to clinch it. Nannaya, Tikanna and Yerrapragada are
known as the
kavitraya or 'the three great poets' of Telegu for this mammoth effort. Other such
translations followed, like Marana's Markandeya Purana, Ketana's Dasakumara
Charita, Yerrana's Harivamsa and others. Shaivite (in praise of Shiva)
works like Sivatattwa Sara, Basavapurana and Panditaradhya Charitra were
a part of this initial stash too.
By the time the Telegu poets wrote down some original stuff along with
translations, it was almost the end of the 14th century. Slowly
but steadily they picked up, some landmarks being Srinatha's Sringara Naishadha,
Potana's Dasamaskandha, Jakkana's Vikramarka Charitra and Talapaka Himmakka's
Subhadra Kalyana. Literary activities flourished, especially during the
mighty Vijayanagara emperors. The 16th century was the golden
age in the history of Tamil literature, thanks to the king Krishna Deva
Raya. The raja, a poet himself, introduced the prabandha (a kind of love
poetry) in Telegu literature in his Amukta Malyada. He had in his court
the Ashtadiggajas (literal: eight elephants) who were the greatest of
poets of the times. Original verse compositions and stories were written
in a
new zeal. Of those eight, Allasani Peddana (1510-1575AD) is known as
Andhra Kavita Pitamahudu or 'Grandfather of Andhra Poetry'.
In the following years, poets still wrote their prabandhas, but kind
of overdid on the love bit which make some critics dismiss it as 'a decadent
age'. Of the dozens of poets of the 18th to mid 19th century,
the only bright spot was Kankanti Paparaju whose Uttara Ramayana in campu
style and the play Vishnumayavilasa were admirable. But other genres
bloomed. Innumerable Yakshagansa or indigenous dramas of song and prose
works were
also produced. Tyagaraya of Tanjore (19th century) composed
devotional songs in Telegu which form the repertoire of the classical
ragas of South India.
Although the first printed Telegu book was out in 1796, it took some
time before the modern period in literature set in. Young men acquainted
with
English literature tried to imitate Shelly, Keats and Wordsworth, and
a new type of romantic poetry called the Bhavakavithwa was born. Bengali
novelists like Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Ramesh
Chandra Dutta were a major influence on modern Telegu fiction. Viresalingam
Pantulu (1848-1919) wrote the first novel in Telegu, Rakashekharacharitramu.
Other writers joined forces to build modern Telegu literature, like the
dramatist Dharmavaram Krishnamachari, Chilakamarti Lakshminarasimham
(also
called the 'blind poet of Andhra Desha') the poets and dramatists Gurujada
Apparavu and D. Krishnamacharlu.
The literary group Sahiti Samiti was set up in 1921, and their 'progressive
and rationalist' journal Sahiti was followed by several others. Even
now many writers preferred the old traditional style, like Tirupati Venkata
Kavulu, Sripada Krishnamurthy Shastry and Vavilakolanu Subbarao. The
other
school was that of the Neo-classicist group of Sri Vishwanatha, Katuri,
Pingali, Gadiyaram, G. Joshuan and others. Today the drama, novel, short
story, essay and criticism in Telegu have reached high standards although
they started only a century ago.
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