Allasani Peddana


Mahakavi Allasani Peddana was a prominent Telugu poet and the foremost Ashtadiggaja in the imperial court of Emperor Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara.

Biography

There were difference of opinions on birth place of
Allasani Peddana..
1.He is the native of Pedda dornala of present prakasam district which is near to Srisailam..
2.Peddana was a native of Somandepalli near Anantapur. He later moved to Peddanapadu, a small village located at 5 km from Yerraguntla on Yerraguntla-Vempalli road in Kadapa District, which is an Agraharam given by Krishnadevarayalu.
He wrote the first major Prabandha, a form of fictional poetry in Telugu, and for this reason, he is revered as Andhra Kavita Pitamahudu. It is believed that he was also a minister in the king's court and is hence sometimes referred as Peddanaamaatyudu. He dedicated his works to king Krishnadevarayalu.

Lores

  • The emperor himself lifted and bore the weight of the palanquin in which Peddana was seated.
  • He was bestowed with Kanakabhishekam by the king.
  • He was the only poet who had the privilege of mounting the royal elephants.
  • On the demise of Sri KrishnaDevaRayalu the poet Peddana expressed his profound sorrows telling that " Atti Krishna Rayala thoti divikegaleka brathiki yundithi jeevatchavambu naguchu "
Meaning I became a living dead by not going to heaven along with Sri Krishna Deva Raya.

Works

His famous work was Swaarochisha Manu Sambhavam. This work is the development of an episode in Markandeya-purana relating to the birth of Svarochisha-manu, who
is one of the fourteen Manus. Pravara, a pious Brahmin youth. goes to the Himalayas for sightseeing. In the Himalayas, a Gandharva woman called Varudhini falls in love with him, but Pravara rejects her love as he is already married. Knowing this, a Gandharva youth who was earlier rejected by Varudhini, assumes the form of Pravara and succeeds to win her love. To the couple is born Svarochi, the father of Svarochisha-manu.
Some of his other famous works such as Harikathaasaaramu are untraceable now.
Krishnadevaraya ornamented Peddana's leg with a big golden bangle/bracelet called ganda-penderam as a mark of excellent poetry

Style

The theme for his Manu Charitra is a short story from Markandeya Purana. It is about second Manu of fourteen manus, translated into Telugu from Sanskrit by Marana, disciple of Tikkana. The original story was around 150 poems and Peddana extended into six chapters with 600 poems by adding fiction and descriptions.
His work was treated as one of the Pancha Kavyas, the five best works in Telugu. Peddana used a mix of words from Telugu and Sanskrit.

Awards and Titles

Category:Telugu poets
Vijayanagara Empire">Vijayanagara Empire">Vijayanagara Empire
Category:Year of death unknown
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:Indian male poets
Category:15th-century Indian poets
Category:16th-century Indian poets
Category:Poets from Andhra Pradesh
Category:Vijayanagara poets
Category:Scholars from the Vijayanagara Empire