Pingali Suranna (
Telugu: పింగళి సూరన్న) (16th century
CE) was a
Telugu poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
and was one of the ''
Astadiggajas''.
Early life
Suranna's exact birthplace is uncertain. He lived in Kanala village near
Nandyala.
Suranna's parents were Abbamamba (mother) and Amarana (father), scholars themselves. Surana dedicated a work to
Nandyala Krishna Raju, a
subject of the
Vijayanagara Empire
The Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Kingdom, was a late medieval Hinduism, Hindu empire that ruled much of southern India. It was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty, belongi ...
in
Krishna District
Krishna district is a district in the Coastal Andhra region in Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, with Machilipatnam as its administrative headquarters. It is surrounded on the East by Bay of Bengal, West by Guntur district, Guntur, Bapatla distric ...
. It is now settled that he was from Kanala village, near Nandyala, on Nandyala and Koilakuntla Road of
Nandyal District. There is his samadhi. Potter community celebrates his Jayanthi year after year. There is an old Oriental High School in Kanala, which is said to be the legacy from Pingali Surana. Surana Saraswatha Sangham, Nandyal is a literary organisation in existence for more than 25 years. Dr. G. Sahadevudu, a practicing doctor, Gottimukkala Subrahmanya Sastri, a retired teacher and Koduri Seshapani Sarma, a retired teacher are the President, the Secretary and the Joint Secretary of the organization respectively.
Literary works
Surana wrote ''Garuda Puranam'', ''Prabhavatee Pradyumnamu'', ''Raghava Pandaveeyam'' and ''Kalapurnodayamu'' in 1500
CE. He dedicated ''Garuda Puranam'' to his father and ''Kalapurnodayam'' to the Nandyal King.
''Prabhavati Pradyumnamu'' and ''Kalapurnodayamu'' have been translated into English by
Velcheru Narayana Rao and
David Shulman. ''The Sound of the Kiss, or The Story that Must Never be Told,'' translation of ''Kalapurnodayamu,'' was published by Columbia University Press in 2002. ''The Demon's Daughter: A Love Story from South India,'' translation of ''Prabhavati Pradyumnamu,'' was published by
SUNY Press
The State University of New York Press (more commonly referred to as the SUNY Press) is a university press affiliated with the State University of New York system. The press, which was founded in 1966, is located in Albany, New York and publishe ...
in 2006.''
Review
at complete review website''
Style
Two of his works were revolutionary in Telugu and the first of their kind. ''Kalapurnodayam'' is more of a novel than poetry and ''Raghava Pandaveeyam'' is in ''dvayarthi'' ( double meaning) style.
''Kalapurnodayamu'' means full bloom of art. Surana used advanced literary techniques in Indian literature such as flashbacks and character transformation.
Each poem of ''Raghava Pandaveeyam'' references to the stories of Ramayanam
The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...
or Mahabharatam simultaneously. The entire work is double entendre. His first work ''Garuda Puranam'' is in Prabandha style, popular for romantic poems.
Awards and Titles
* The critic Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy praised ''Kalapurnodayam'' as the best original book ever written in Telugu.
References
External links
Pingal Surana
Telugu literature at bloom in 15th and 16th centuries
* K.A. Nilakanta Sastry, ''History of South India, From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar'', (New Delhi: OUP, 1955, repr. 2002)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Surana, Pingali
Indian male poets
Telugu poets
People from the Vijayanagara Empire
16th-century Indian poets
Vijayanagara poets
Scholars from the Vijayanagara Empire