Palkuriki Somanatha(Makers of Indian Literature)

If Nannaya Bhattaraka of the 11th century AD is considered as the first and foremost Telugu poet, Palkuriki Somanatha of the 12th century is regarded as a pioneer and an epoch maker because Somanatha's major works- Basava Purana and Panditaradhya Charitra -are original Telugu texts whereas Nannaya's work is a translation of the Sanskrit Vyasa Maha Bharata. Nannaya used mostly Sanskrit metres whereas Palkuriki wrote in "Janu Telugu" style and used "Dwipada" a desi metre. It is said that Palkuriki first introduced the life of Lord Basava, a Karnataka prophet, to the world prior to Harihara. He is a classical poet par excellence who was a shining beacon to his successors. He wrote Basava Purana and Panditaradhya Charitra in Telugu and Somanatha Bhashya in Sanskrit. In Vrisadhipa Sataka he wrote poems in his co-eval 12th century Indian languages like Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam (Manipravala) Sanskrit etc. Thus Somanatha stands on a paramount pedestal in Indian classical literature!

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