A history of Telugu literature; - Cristo Raul

THE PERIOD OF STAGNATION 93
Purdna and Bhdgavatgltd. Sumati Ramabhadra Kavi
wrote Hdldsyd Mahdtya and Velagapudi Krishna Kavi,
Veddnta Sara.
3. Puddukota. Puddukota's contribution under Raja
Raghava Tondaman (1767-89) takes the shape of
dictionaries and anthologies among other things, of which
Nudurupati Venkatanaryudu's Andhra Bhdshdrnava deserves
mention. His son is responsible for Bilhamya.
4. Mysore. Viraraju (1650-1700), whose Bhdrata is
perhaps the earliest extant instance of a prose kavya, and
Nanja Raju, a minister of the!; 'Mysore king, author of
Linga Purdna and Hdldsya Mahdtya, represent the
contribution from Mysore.
A bare description of the literature of the period throws
into prominence some characteristic features of this school.
1. The chief merit of the Southern school is the dis-
covery of prose. During the Puranic period we find Nanniah,
the first of the Kavitraya, using prose which is simple and
clear ; but Tikkanna seemed to have scorned any resort to
prose in his Nirvachanottara Rdmdyana, an example which
had some following. Prose is used as a literary device by
the classic writers, partly as a '
pause/ to relieve the strain
of composition, and partly to traverse portions of the story
more rapidly with a view to economy. Writers who follow
the Kavitraya, especially Nachana Soma, and Potana, the
author of a Bhdgavata, employ a prose style which is
afflicted with all the infirmities of poetic composition complexity,
over-ornamentation, slesha and yamaka.
The unique distinction of the Southern school is that it
has realised that prose is as valuable and as useful a medium
of literary expression as verse. The extensive use of
prose was to a large extent dictated by the necessities of
the case. The third and fourth generation of Telugus in
a Tamil country are not likely to have possessed sufficient
education to understand the prabandha or even epic poetry.
If, then, culture was to be retained at all, it had to
be conveyed through a medium not altogether beyond the
comprehension of the average educated man. Prose was
obviously such a medium. Nevertheless, the high artistic
value and the relatively important place assigned to prose
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