A history of Telugu literature; - Cristo Raul

IV
LITERARY MODES AND FORMS
The Substance of the Literature. The substance of
Telugu literature is preponderatingly religious.
The epics,
Rdmdyana, Mahabharata, Bhdgavata, and the Purdnas
are a vast storehouse of national culture from which the
poets drew their material. The prodigious expenditure of
time and talents which the translation of the epics involved
led Srmatha to choose easily manageable portions of the
epics for treatment. Episodes from the Purdnas^ under
the name of Akhyana or Khanda, became popular. Of
these the stories of Nala and Harischandra are easily the
best favourities. From the sixteenth century onwards, the
less known episodes from the Purdnas are taken as the
basis for kavyas. Thus, the fortunes of a single hero
under the title of Charitra, Vijaya, Vilasa and Abhyudaya
became a common subject-matter of poetry. In the
eighteenth century, the canvas contracted still further and
the marriage of heroes, under the designation of Parinaya
Kalydna, Vivdha became the order of the day. The
avowedly religious literature consisted of biographies
of the founders of religion, compendiums of religious
teaching (Sara), panegyrics of sacred places (Mahdtmya),
philosophical treatises and commentaries (Bhdshya) ;
secular literature occupies a secondary place. The
sciences, especially astrology, law, grammar, statecraft,
archery fall under the latter head. Story and song, moral
aphorisms, devotional psalms, are characteristic features of
the popular literature. The drama is conspicuous by its
absence. The Sanskrit Classics were also extensively translated.
The lyric and the lampoon, though not regarded as
separate departments, appear now and then.