Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu Literature: Classics and Awards
Books and authors notes on Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu literature: Pampa, vachanas, Ezhuthachan, Nannaya, Indulekha and the Jnanpith winners.
By GK24 Editorial Team· Published · 4 min read
The three major literatures of the southern peninsula, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu, are set as one block in examinations, because the questions take the same shape in each: who is the first poet of the language, who wrote a named classic, and which writer in that language won the Jnanpith Award and for which work. Each of these three languages has also been recognised as a classical language of India, and each has a literary history more than a thousand years old, so the classical names matter as much as the modern ones.
Kannada
Pampa, who wrote in the tenth century, is honoured as the Adikavi, that is the first poet, of Kannada, and his two great works are Vikramarjuna Vijaya, also called Pampa Bharata, and Adipurana. Along with Ponna and Ranna he makes up the group known as the three gems of early Kannada poetry. The earliest surviving work on Kannada poetics is the Kavirajamarga of the ninth century, and the Halmidi inscription is the oldest known inscription in the language.
In the twelfth century a very different kind of writing appeared. The vachanas were short, direct prose-poems of devotion and social criticism, composed in the speech of ordinary people by Basavanna, by the woman saint Akka Mahadevi and by Allama Prabhu, and they belong to the Veerashaiva or Lingayat movement. The dasa sahitya of Purandara Dasa and Kanaka Dasa carried the same devotional current into song.
Modern Kannada has been honoured with the Jnanpith Award again and again. Kuvempu, whose full name was K. V. Puttappa, received it in 1967 for Sri Ramayana Darshanam and also wrote the state song of Karnataka. D. R. Bendre received it in 1973 for Naku Tanti, Shivaram Karanth in 1977 for Mookajjiya Kanasugalu, Masti Venkatesha Iyengar in 1983 for Chikaveera Rajendra, V. K. Gokak in 1990 for Bharatha Sindhu Rashmi, U. R. Ananthamurthy, the author of Samskara, in 1994, the playwright Girish Karnad, who wrote Tughlaq and Hayavadana, in 1998, and Chandrashekhara Kambar in 2010.
Malayalam
Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan is called the father of the Malayalam language, because his Adhyatma Ramayanam, written in the kilippattu or parrot-song form, fixed the shape of literary Malayalam. Cherusseri Namboothiri, with the Krishnagatha, belongs to the period before him, and Ramacharitam is reckoned the earliest surviving literary work in the language.
Modern Malayalam poetry rests on the three poets known together as the Kavithrayam: Kumaran Asan, Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer and Vallathol Narayana Menon. In prose, Indulekha by O. Chandu Menon is treated as the first major Malayalam novel. Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai wrote Chemmeen, the story of a fishing community, and Vaikom Muhammad Basheer wrote Balyakalasakhi. The Jnanpith Award has come to Malayalam six times, and the very first award of all, in 1965, went to G. Sankara Kurup for Odakkuzhal; later recipients were S. K. Pottekkatt in 1980 for Oru Desathinte Katha, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai in 1984 for Kayar, M. T. Vasudevan Nair in 1995, O. N. V. Kurup in 2007 and Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri in 2019.
Telugu
Nannaya is the Adikavi of Telugu. He began the Telugu rendering of the Mahabharata and also wrote Andhra Shabda Chintamani, a grammar of the language. Tikkana and Errana completed the Mahabharata after him, and the three together are called the Kavitrayam, the trinity of Telugu poets. Palkuriki Somanatha wrote the Basava Puranam, and Srinatha, titled Kavi Sarvabhouma, wrote Sringara Naishadham.
The reign of Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara is remembered as the golden age of Telugu, and the king himself wrote Amuktamalyada. Of the eight poets of his court, called the Ashtadiggajas, Allasani Peddana is the most asked about: he wrote Manucharitra and carries the title Andhra Kavita Pitamaha, the grandfather of Telugu poetry. The woman poet Molla wrote her own Ramayana in Telugu.
In modern Telugu, Kandukuri Veeresalingam is called the father of the Telugu renaissance and wrote Rajasekhara Charitramu, counted as the first Telugu novel; Gurajada Appa Rao wrote Kanyasulkam, the first modern Telugu play, attacking the practice of bride price; and Srirangam Srinivasa Rao, known as Sri Sri, wrote Mahaprasthanam. The Jnanpith Award has gone to Viswanatha Satyanarayana in 1970 for Ramayana Kalpavrukshamu, to C. Narayana Reddy in 1988 for Viswambhara and to Ravuri Bharadwaja in 2012 for Paakudu Rallu.
The Jnanpith Award
The Jnanpith Award was instituted in 1961 by the Bharatiya Jnanpith and first conferred in 1965, and it is given for a writer contribution to Indian literature in any of the scheduled languages or in English. The first award going to a Malayalam poet, G. Sankara Kurup, is one of the most frequently asked single facts in this topic, so it is worth keeping separate from the first award in Kannada, which went to Kuvempu in 1967, and from the first in Telugu, which went to Viswanatha Satyanarayana in 1970.
Exam Point of View
Four patterns cover this topic. The first asks for the first poet of a language, so keep Pampa for Kannada and Nannaya for Telugu, and remember that for Malayalam the parallel title is father of the language and belongs to Ezhuthachan. The second asks who wrote a named classic, where Indulekha, Chemmeen, Kanyasulkam, Samskara and Tughlaq are the stock titles. The third asks about the Jnanpith Award, and the single most asked fact is that the first award of all, in 1965, went to G. Sankara Kurup of Malayalam. The fourth asks about a literary movement or group, such as the vachanas of Basavanna, the Kavitrayam of Telugu or the Kavithrayam of Malayalam poetry. The usual traps are confusing the Telugu Kavitrayam with the Malayalam Kavithrayam, and attributing Chemmeen and Kayar to different writers when both are by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai.
Important Facts
| Adikavi of Kannada | Pampa, author of Vikramarjuna Vijaya and Adipurana |
|---|---|
| Earliest work on Kannada poetics | Kavirajamarga, of the ninth century |
| Vachana poets | Basavanna, Akka Mahadevi and Allama Prabhu |
| First Jnanpith in Kannada | Kuvempu, in 1967, for Sri Ramayana Darshanam |
| Samskara | By U. R. Ananthamurthy, Jnanpith in 1994 |
| Tughlaq and Hayavadana | Plays by Girish Karnad, Jnanpith in 1998 |
| Father of the Malayalam language | Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan, author of Adhyatma Ramayanam |
| First major Malayalam novel | Indulekha, by O. Chandu Menon |
| First Jnanpith Award ever | 1965, to G. Sankara Kurup of Malayalam, for Odakkuzhal |
| Chemmeen and Kayar | Both by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai |
| Adikavi of Telugu | Nannaya, who also wrote Andhra Shabda Chintamani |
| Telugu Kavitrayam | Nannaya, Tikkana and Errana |
| Andhra Kavita Pitamaha | Allasani Peddana, author of Manucharitra |
| First Jnanpith in Telugu | Viswanatha Satyanarayana, in 1970, for Ramayana Kalpavrukshamu |
Practice MCQs on this topic
The first Jnanpith Award, for the year 1965, was given to a writer of which language?
- A.Kannada
- B.Malayalam
- C.Telugu
- D.Hindi
Show answer
The first Jnanpith Award was conferred for the year 1965 on the Malayalam poet G. Sankara Kurup for his collection Odakkuzhal, which means the reed flute; the prize itself had been instituted in 1961 by the Bharatiya Jnanpith.
Read the full explanation →Who is honoured as the Adikavi, the first poet, of Kannada literature?
- A.Pampa
- B.Nannaya
- C.Basavanna
- D.Kuvempu
Show answer
Pampa wrote in the tenth century and is called the Adikavi of Kannada on the strength of two works, Vikramarjuna Vijaya, also known as Pampa Bharata, which retells the Mahabharata with his patron in the place of Arjuna, and Adipurana, on the life of the first Jain Tirthankara.
Read the full explanation →Kuvempu received the Jnanpith Award in 1967 for which work?
- A.Mookajjiya Kanasugalu
- B.Sri Ramayana Darshanam
- C.Samskara
- D.Naku Tanti
Show answer
Kuvempu, whose full name was K. V. Puttappa, was awarded the Jnanpith in 1967 for this long poem, a retelling of the Ramayana in modern Kannada, and he was the first Kannada writer to receive the prize; he also wrote the state song of Karnataka.
Read the full explanation →Nannaya, Tikkana and Errana, known together as the Kavitrayam, belong to which language?
- A.Kannada
- B.Malayalam
- C.Telugu
- D.Tamil
Show answer
Nannaya, Tikkana and Errana are called the Kavitrayam, the trinity of poets, because between them they rendered the Mahabharata into Telugu over the course of several centuries; Nannaya, the Adikavi of Telugu, began the work and also wrote the grammar Andhra Shabda Chintamani, while Errana continued and Tikkana completed it.
Read the full explanation →Who wrote Ramayana Kalpavrukshamu, which won the Jnanpith Award in 1970?
- A.C. Narayana Reddy
- B.Viswanatha Satyanarayana
- C.Gurajada Appa Rao
- D.Ravuri Bharadwaja
Show answer
He was awarded the Jnanpith in 1970 for Ramayana Kalpavrukshamu, a retelling of the Ramayana in Telugu verse, and he was the first Telugu writer to receive the prize.
Read the full explanation →Vachana literature in Kannada is chiefly associated with
- A.Pampa
- B.Basavanna
- C.Purandara Dasa
- D.Masti Venkatesha Iyengar
Show answer
The vachanas are short, direct compositions in the rhythmic Kannada of ordinary speech, carrying devotion to Shiva together with a sharp attack on caste and empty ritual, and they belong to the Veerashaiva or Lingayat movement of the twelfth century, of which Basavanna was the central figure; the woman saint…
Read the full explanation →Who is called the father of the Malayalam language?
- A.Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan
- B.Cherusseri Namboothiri
- C.Kumaran Asan
- D.G. Sankara Kurup
Show answer
His Adhyatma Ramayanam, written in the kilippattu or parrot-song form in which a bird narrates the story, settled the vocabulary, script and metre of literary Malayalam and put the Ramayana within reach of ordinary readers, which is why he carries this title.
Read the full explanation →Indulekha, regarded as the first major novel in Malayalam, was written by
- A.Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai
- B.O. Chandu Menon
- C.Vaikom Muhammad Basheer
- D.M. T. Vasudevan Nair
Show answer
Indulekha, published in the late nineteenth century, is treated as the first major Malayalam novel and tells the story of an educated young woman of a Nair household who refuses an arranged match, which made it a social argument as much as a story.
Read the full explanation →The novel Chemmeen was written by
- A.S. K. Pottekkatt
- B.Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai
- C.O. N. V. Kurup
- D.Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri
Show answer
Chemmeen, whose title means prawn, is set among the fishing people of the Kerala coast and turns on the belief that the sea will not spare a fisherman whose wife has been unfaithful; it is the best known Malayalam novel outside the language.
Read the full explanation →Kanyasulkam, regarded as the first modern Telugu play, was written by
- A.Kandukuri Veeresalingam
- B.Gurajada Appa Rao
- C.Srirangam Srinivasa Rao
- D.Allasani Peddana
Show answer
Kanyasulkam, meaning bride price, was written against the custom of selling young girls in marriage to much older men, and it broke new ground by using spoken Telugu rather than the literary dialect, which is why it is counted as the first modern play in the language.
Read the full explanation →Allasani Peddana, who carries the title Andhra Kavita Pitamaha, was a poet in the court of
- A.Krishnadevaraya
- B.Samudragupta
- C.Rajaraja Chola
- D.Harihara the first
Show answer
Allasani Peddana was the foremost of the eight poets of the court of Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara, a group known as the Ashtadiggajas, and he wrote Manucharitra, which earned him the title Andhra Kavita Pitamaha, the grandfather of Telugu poetry; the reign is remembered as the golden age of Telugu, and…
Read the full explanation →The Kannada novel Samskara was written by
- A.Girish Karnad
- B.U. R. Ananthamurthy
- C.Shivaram Karanth
- D.Chandrashekhara Kambar
Show answer
Samskara is his best known novel, set in a Brahmin village thrown into crisis by the question of who may perform the last rites of a man who had broken every rule of the community, and it is read as a central text of modern Kannada fiction; its author received…
Read the full explanation →Frequently Asked Questions
Who received the first Jnanpith Award, and for which work?
The first Jnanpith Award, for the year 1965, went to the Malayalam poet G. Sankara Kurup for his collection Odakkuzhal, which means the reed flute. The award had been instituted in 1961 by the Bharatiya Jnanpith and is given for a writer contribution to Indian literature in any of the scheduled languages or in English. Because this is the first award of all, it is the most frequently asked fact about the prize, and it is worth separating from the first Kannada award to Kuvempu in 1967 and the first Telugu award to Viswanatha Satyanarayana in 1970.
Who is the Adikavi of Kannada, and what did he write?
Pampa, who wrote in the tenth century, is honoured as the Adikavi or first poet of Kannada. His two major works are Vikramarjuna Vijaya, also known as Pampa Bharata, which retells the Mahabharata with his patron cast in the role of Arjuna, and Adipurana, which narrates the life of the first Jain Tirthankara. Along with Ponna and Ranna he is counted among the three gems of early Kannada poetry, and the earliest surviving work on Kannada poetics, the Kavirajamarga, is older still.
What is vachana literature?
Vachanas are short, direct compositions in rhythmic Kannada prose, written in the language of ordinary speech rather than in classical metre, which carry both religious devotion to Shiva and sharp criticism of caste and ritual. They belong to the Veerashaiva or Lingayat movement of the twelfth century and the best known composers are Basavanna, the woman saint Akka Mahadevi and Allama Prabhu. Because the vachanas were written by farmers, weavers and washermen as well as by scholars, they are treated as the first great body of popular writing in Kannada.
Who is called the father of the Malayalam language?
Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan is given that title. His Adhyatma Ramayanam, composed in the kilippattu or parrot-song form in which a bird is made to narrate the tale, settled the vocabulary, script usage and metre of literary Malayalam and brought the Ramayana within reach of ordinary readers. Cherusseri Namboothiri, author of the Krishnagatha, belongs to the period before him, and Ramacharitam is reckoned the earliest surviving literary work in the language.
Who are the Kavitrayam of Telugu literature?
The Kavitrayam, meaning the trinity of poets, are Nannaya, Tikkana and Errana, who between them rendered the Mahabharata into Telugu over several centuries. Nannaya, the Adikavi of Telugu, began the work and also wrote a grammar of the language called Andhra Shabda Chintamani; Errana continued it and Tikkana completed the remaining books. The name is easily confused with the Kavithrayam of Malayalam, which refers instead to the three modern poets Kumaran Asan, Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer and Vallathol Narayana Menon.
Which works mark the beginning of the modern novel and play in these languages?
In Malayalam, Indulekha by O. Chandu Menon is treated as the first major novel in the language. In Telugu, Rajasekhara Charitramu by Kandukuri Veeresalingam, who is called the father of the Telugu renaissance, is counted as the first novel, and Kanyasulkam by Gurajada Appa Rao as the first modern play, written against the practice of taking a price for a bride. In Kannada, the modern reputation of the language rests on later works such as Samskara by U. R. Ananthamurthy and the plays of Girish Karnad.
Sources
- Who is Who of Indian Writers and Akademi Awards — Sahitya Akademi
- Jnanpith Award: List of Recipients — Bharatiya Jnanpith
- Catalogue of Indian Literature in Translation — National Book Trust, India
