A history of Telugu literature; - Cristo Raul

92 A HISTORY OF TELUGU LITERATURE
realism of the art ; the latter is, perhaps, the last work of
real merit in Telugu literature. It has been described as
a heap of precious gems. The polish of the language, the
delicacy of sentiment, and the melody of verse combine in
this poet as in no other. His style is so uniquely his own
that a new name had to be coined to express its quality and
it was called after his surname, '
Chamakurapaka '
Chamakura being also the succulent Indian curry. It is
probable, though not certain, that Kavi Choudappah a
moralist who stands next to Vemana and Sumati, among
Sataka writers belonged to this period.
Later, Muddupalani, a courtesan of Pratapa Sinha, of Tanjore
(1765), composed in Telugu a kavya under the name
Radhika Svantam. Kasturi Ranga Kavi dedicated his Rangara
Chandamu to Ananda Rangapillai. But the greatest
gift of Tanjore to the Andhra literature is Tyagaraja, the
hymnologist and musician whose songs are sung all over
South India.
2. Madura. But it is in the eighteenth century and in the
court of Vijaya Ranga Chokkanatha, the king of Madura, a
descendant of Nigama Nayak, appointed by Krishnadevaraya,
that we find the Southern school in full bloom. Visvanatha
Nayak, father of Chokkanatha, is said to have brought
many learned pandits from the north, and gave them gifts
of land, thus inducing them to settle in the south. The
fruits of Visvanatha's foresight were reaped by his son,
Chokkanatha, who set a good example by rendering into
prose Sriranga Mahdtya. Of the group of poets whose
literary output not only constitutes the bulk of Southern
Telugu literature but also gives the tone to the movement,
Samukha Venkata Krishnappa Nayak has to his credit not
less than four books, of which Jaimini Bharata, in prose,
may be taken as an example of the high level of literary value
attained by the Southern school. Ahalya Samkrandana,
Sdrangadhara Charitra and Radhika Svantam are his
other kavyas. They belong, every one of them, to the
erotic type. Sesham Venkatapati's Tarasasanka belongs
to the same order. The other works of the period are of
a religious type. Syatnakavi is the author of Rdmdyana
in Vachana, Tupakula Ananta Raju composed Vishnu