''Kavijanasrayam'', also referred to as ''KavijanaaSrayam'' ''Kavijanaasrayamu'' and ''Kavijanaashrayam'', a Jain Literature, is considered by scholars to be the earliest work detailing Telugu prosody, that is, how the basic rhythm of verses in Telugu poetry is structured. The work was authored by Malliya Rechana, a

Telugu language Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language native to the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. Spoken by about 96 million people (2022), Telugu is the most widely spoken member of ...

poet and writer, who lived in the 11t century in the present-day Vemulawada,

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

region of India. While there are differing opinions on the exact year when the book was written, ''Kavijanasrayam'' is estimated to have been written in the 11th century or between 900-950 CE. This is the oldest surviving piece of Telugu literatureand was the reference for many next generation poets. It is divided into five chapters. British scholar Charles Philip Brown wrote an English book on Telugu prosodic techniques based on ''Kavijanasrayam''.

References

Telugu-language literature {{Jainism-stub