The oldest recorded Telugu literature comprises translation of the Mahabharata from Sanskrit by Nannayabhatta (11th century A.D) hailed as the adikavi or ‘first poet’ of Telegu. Nannayabhatta’s unfinished task was taken up by Tikanna (13th century) and finally completed by Yerrapragada (14th century).These three individuals are known as the kavitraya or ‘the three great poets’ of Telegu. Similar translations followed including Marana’s Markandeya Purana, Ketana’s Dasakumara Charita, Yerrana’s Harivamsa.
In the late 14th century the milestones of Telugu literature included novels like Srinatha’s Sringara Naishadha, Potana’s Dasamaskandha, Jakkana’s Vikramarka Charitra and Talapaka Himmakka’s Subhadra Kalyana.
The 16th century was the golden age of literature in southern India, During the Vijayanagara Empire period, particularly due to the patronage of king Krishna Deva Raya. The monarch, himself a poet, introduced the prabandha (love poetry) in Telegu literature by way of his Amukta Malyada. His court was adorned by the Ashtadiggajas (literally: eight elephants/stalwarts) who were the greatest poets of those times. Among them, Allasani Peddana (1510─1575) is known as Andhra Kavita Pitamahudu or ‘Grandfather of Andhra Poetry’.
Between the 18th and the 19th centuries, among the prominent literary personalities was Kankanti Paparaju who wrote the play Vishnumayavilasa. Numerous Yakshagana or indigenous lyrical dramas as well as prose works were also produced. The renowned saint-poet Thyagaraja of Tanjore (19th century) composed devotional songs in Telegu which form the backbone of the classical ragas of South India.
Though the first book in Telegu was printed in 1796, there was a time lag before the modern period of literature set in. The educated youth acquainted with English literature attempted to imitate Shelly, Keats and Wordsworth; consequently a new genre of romantic poetry ─ the Bhavakavithwa was born. Viresalingam Pantulu (1848─1919) wrote the first Telugu novel, Rakashekharacharitramu. Other pioneers of modern Telegu literature included dramatists like Dharmavaram Krishnamachari, and Chilakamarti Lakshminarasimham (a.k.a the blind poet of Andhra Desha) besides Gurujada Aparavu.
Malayalam
Malayalam is actually an offshoot of Old Tamil, and remained in the latter’s shadows for a long time before breaking free in the 10th century. But the fledgling language encounterd a formidable foe – Sanskrit which attempted to overshadow it completely, thanks to the efforts of the Namboodiris, the powerful feudal aristocrats of Kerala. The Mani-pravalam or ‘ruby and coral style’ was the offspring of this interaction. The end result was that the resources of Malayalam were infinitely enriched.
The Ramacharitam (1300 A.D) is probably the oldest Malayalam text. Literary outputs of the first few centuries were in Mani-pravalam style. This continued until Cherusseri Namboodiri turned his attention to pure Malayalam and wrote Krishna Gatha in early 15th century. This was again followed by a cluster of Campu compositions ─ a mixture of prose and verse with a liberal sprinkling of Sanskrit words. The themes were culled from the Sanskrit epics and Puranas. In the 17th century, the first major Malayali poet, Tunchattu Ramanuja Ezhuttachchan adopted the Sanskrit alphabet in place of Malayalam’s incomplete one. A new literary type arose in the 18th century, the Tullal or dance drama, which heavily borrowed themes from the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas.
Cities like Kotungallur and Thiruvananthapuram were flourishing centres of literary activity in the second half of the 19th century. Volumes of translations were being written – Valiya Koyil Tampuran’s Shakuntala, Kunnikkuttan Tampuran’s Hamlet and Mahabharata, Vallattol Narayana Menon’s Ramayana. The first and original novel in Malayalam was T. M. Appu Netunnati’s Kundalata, but more popular was Chantu Menon’s Indulekha.
Some of the later novelists were Vennayil Kunniraman Nayanar, Appan Tampuran, V. K. Kunnan Menon, Ambati Narayana Potuval and C. P. Achyuta Menon who developed the present day Malayalam prose style. Vaikkom Mohammad Bashir is one of the most loved modern literary figures of Kerala, while some modern poets include Kumaran Ashan, G. Sankara Kurup, K. K. Raja, Channampuzha Krishna Pillai and N. Balamaniyamma.
Kannada
The earliest fragments of Kannada literature provide no clue to the literature’s origins. The oldest extant book is king Nripatunga’s literary critique Kavi Raja Marga (circa 840). Jainism being rampant during that time, there were some Jaina poets like Srivijaya and Guna Varman I. However, in the 10th century, a new trend was started by the ‘Three Gems’ of Kannada literature ─ Pampa, Ponna and Ranna who extensively used the Campu style (a blend of prose and verse). The trio extensively wrote on episodes from the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Jain legends. Chavunda Raya brought forth an elaborate chronicle about the 24 Jain tirthankaras (teachers). Owing to the periodic aggressions by the Chola kings of Tamilnadu during the 11th century, there ensued a lean phase in literary activities, barring the works of writers like Naga Chandra, known for his Jain Ramayana, the Jain poetess Kanti, the grammarian Naga Varman II who wrote Karnataka Bhasha Bhushana in Sanskrit, among others.
A very distinct phase of writing began the second half of the 12th century in the Vira-Shaiva phase with Basava’s Vachanas. There was a spate of writers like Harihara, Raghavanka and Kereya Padmarasa writing fervently about Lord Shiva in his various moods and manifestations in the 12th-13th centuries. In the 15th century rebellion against the orthodox Hindu rituals came from the brilliant poetess Akkamahadevi, a harbinger of the Bhakti (devotion to apersoanl GD) mpoetry. Under the influence of the Bhakti movement, the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas were translated afresh using the folk metres. Devotional songs of dasas or singing mendicants were compiled, which formed an important part of popular literature.
Kanaka Dasa (1509─1609) was an ardent devotee one Krishna and played a key role in the Vaishnava bhakti movement in Karnataka.He was a rebel who protested against social evils like caste system, untouchability, etc. through his poems. Kanakadasa has to his credit, about two hundred songs including kirtans, padas and mundiges (philosophical songs).Around this time, the Jains too composed lengthy accounts about the lives and times of the tirthankaras.
Kannada literature acquired a strong Hindu flavour with the Vijayanagara kings (14th-15th cnturies AD). Some eminent personalities during this age were Bhima Kavi, Padmanaka, Mallanarya, Singiraja and Chamarasa.
The centuries that followed witnessed hectic literary activities under the reign of the Wodeyar kings, Bijapur Sultans and Mughals. Bhattakalanka Deva’s Karnataka Shabdaushasana (1604 A.D) on grammar, Sakdakshara Deva’s romantic Campu the Rajshekhara Vilasa (1657.D), Nijaguna Yogi’s Viveka Chintamani, Nanja Raja’s Puranic works the Shiva Bhakti Mahatmya and Hari Vamsa were some of the notable creations. In the meanwhile the language was transformed from the middle to modern Kannada. In the late 18th century a good deal of folk poetry was composed including the still popular Yakshagana ─ a folk drama inspired by the tales from the Puranas.
The galaxy of modern day novels includes luminaries like Dr Shivarama Karanth (─1997) the winner of the Gyanpeeth and Sahitya Akademi awards. Some of his famous novels include Bettada Jeeva, Mookajjiya Kanasugalu, Chomana Dudi, Marali Mannige, Battada Tore , Alida Mele; K. V. Puttapa, G P Rajaratnam, Basavaraja Kattimani, and Nanjanagudu Tirumalamba, the first eminent woman writer in modern Kannada. The genre of short story writing in Kannada was enriched by the works of Panje Mangesha Rao and Masti Venkatesha Ayyangar. Under the aegis of modern poets who experimented with blank verse, Kannada poetry reached great heights.
Tamil
Tamil, the oldest and purest of the four Dravidian languages, boasts of a literary tradition of more than 2,200 years, the most remarkable body of secular poetry (known as Sangam) that exists in India today.
The Sangam (up to 500A.D) literary works are collections of poems are broadly classified into two groups ─ the eight collections (Ettuttokai) and the ten Idylls (Pattu-p-pattu). There are also a few individual long narrative poems (Kavyas). Based on two distinct themes, akam (romantic) and puram (martial), the poems are replete with imageries of seasons, places, plants and animals, which vividly capture the environs and the social milieu of those ancient poets.
By the next century, Shaiva (devotees of Shiva) and Vaishnava (devotees of Vishnu) writers ushered in a religious renaissance by way of their work. The region was flooded with religious literature It was the turn of devotional literature to hog the limelight. The corpus of Shaiva hymns, were classified under Tirumurarais (early 11th century). The Vaishnava saints compiled their songs in the Nal-ayira-p-pirapantam. Some of the great Tamil poets lived under the Chola regime (10th ─13th centuries), which was a period of literary revival. .
Kamban’s Ramayana is hailed as the best in Tamil language till today; Ottakkuttan wrote the Uttara Kanda, the last canto of the Ramayana; Pukazhenti popularized the Mahabharata with his simple adaptations in Tamil, while Chayam Kontar wrote a long war poem Kalingattu Parani, in the Sangam style. Jain writers produced didactic works, grammatical treatises, and lexicons from time to time.
During the centuries that followed, there were numerous commentaries written on Sangam poetry, Shaiva and Vaishnava philosophies, and literature. Some of these were Bharatham by Villiputthurar, Thiruppuhazh (hymns) by Arunagirinathar and translations of many Puranas. Some brilliant verses of this period have been collected in late anthologies like Kalamegham, Satthimutthapulavar and Padikkasu Thambiran.
Interestingly enough, European Christian missionaries also enthusiastically took up Tamil in the 16th century, and the first book was printed in 1579. Muslim poets like Sakkari Pulavar and Umaru Pulavar introduced new themes into Tamil literature in the 18th century.
A modern trend in Tamil literature was ushered in, during the 19th century by a group of writers influenced by English. Vedanayakam Pillai (1824─1889) was one of the first to write original novels and dramatic pieces. A titan of the 20th century Tamil literature was the firebrand Subramania Bharathi, whose poems and patriotic songs are still popular. Additionally, the historical romances of C.R Srinivasa Aiyangar, social novels like Padmavati and Vijaya Marttandam of A. Madhavayya, Kamalambal by Rajam Iyer and S. Venkataramani’s Murugam are noteworthy modern literary composition.
