Nanne Choda (Telugu: నన్నె చోడుడు; 12th century CE) was a famous Telugu poet and belongs to a family of Telugu Chodas. He holds the titles Tekanadityudu and Kaviraja Sikhamani.[1] He is regarded as the first composer of Prabandha.[2] The trio of Nanne Choda, Mallikarjuna Panditaradhya and Palkuriki Somanatha are referred as Śivakavitrayam (i.e. Trio of Saivite Poets). These trio along with Piduparthi poets and Yathavakkula Annamayya pioneered Veera Saiva movement in Andhra region.[3]

Biography edit

In his works he claims that his mother was from Haihaya family of Palanadu, chieftains to Velanati Chodas. He dedicated his work to Jangama Mallikarjuna Yogi, a Shaivite saint.

Works edit

Nanne Choda's famous work is Kumara Sambhavam in Telugu. Some believe this work to be composed in the 10th century before Nannaya's Mahabaratha. Others place Nannechoda between the period of Nannaya and Tikkana. Kumara Sambhavam is not the translation of Kalidasa's work of the same name. But Nannechodudu has drawn inspiration from Kalidasa's work as well as other stories of the Saivaite literature.[4] He has dedicated his work to Jangama Mallikarjuna, who was his guru.[1]

Style edit

He was the first writer in Prabandha style and earlier than Srinatha and Ashtadiggajas. He had used mixture of Sanskrit and Telugu words. He was master of Telugu idioms. Some of his poems describing nature are very popular. He had introduced new aspects in Telugu literature. He had written poems that does Sukavi Stuti (praise of good poets), Kukavi Ninda (blame the bad poets) and Ishtadeva Prardhana (praise of favourite god) in his works.

Nanne Choda is the first Telugu poet to use Kannada and Tamil words in his poetry.[5]

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b "NanneChodudu" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 April 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  2. ^ P.T, Raju; Rao. A Telugu Literature. India: Onal Book House.
  3. ^ R., Sri Hari, ed. (2003). Major Genres and Trends in Dravidian Literature. Dravidian University. p. 49.
  4. ^ P.T, Raju; Rao. A Telugu Literature. India: Onal Book House.
  5. ^ P, Chenchiah; Raja Bhujanga Rao. A History of Telugu Literature. India: Oxford University press.

References edit

See also edit