Nutana-kavi_Suranna

Nutana-kavi Suranna

Nutana-kavi Suranna

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Sūranna (or Surana), who styled himself as Nūtana-kavi ("New Poet") was a Telugu language poet from the Vijayanagara Empire of present-day southern India. He probably lived during the 15th or the 16th century, and is notable for Dhanabhi-ramamu, the story of a contest between Manmatha (the god of love) and Kubera (the god of wealth).

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Biography

Little is known about Suranna's life. He lived in the Vijayanagara Empire,[1] and claimed to have been born in the family of the famous poet Tikkana.[2] He highly praises the deity Bhimeshvara of Draksharamam (in present-day Andhra Pradesh).[3]

Suranna mentions the 14th-century poet Nachana Somanatha in his book. A verse by Suranna is included in Pedapati Jagganna's anthology Prabandha-ratna-karamu (c. 1600 CE). This suggests that Suranna probably lived during the 15th-16th century.[2] Estimates of his period include 1420–1475,[4] 1425–1480,[1] and c. 1550.[3]

Works

An ugly man becomes handsome,
a bad man becomes good,
a fickle one turns stable,
a coward is made into a warrior,
low-caste becomes high-caste,
an idiot achieves wisdom,
the crude turns elegant,
an illiterate lout becomes expert
in all branches of learning—
if only he has money.

Kubera, the god of wealth, in Nutana-kavi Suranna's Dhanabhi-ramamu[2]

Suranna composed Dhanabhi-ramamu (or Dhanabhi-ramam) and a drama titled Vishnu-Maya-Vilasa. In Dhanabhi-ramamu, Manmatha (the god of love) and Kubera (the god of wealth) debate whether humans care more about beauty or wealth.[4] In the end, the god Shiva resolves the dispute by stating that both looks and money are equally important.[2] Besides its literary merits, the work is of historical interest as it provides information about the ornaments and dress of the contemporary period.[1]

References

  1. [1]
    P. Sree Rama Sarma (1979). Saluva Dynasty of Vijayanagar. Prabhakar. p. 275. OCLC 10117617.
  2. [2]
    Velcheru Narayana Rao; David Shulman, eds. (2002). Classical Telugu Poetry: An Anthology. University of California Press. pp. 216–221. ISBN 9780520344525.
  3. [3]
    M. Srinivas Chary (2003). The Hindu Temple Traditions of Draksharama: The Shaivite Tradition. Studies in Asian thought and religion. Edwin Mellen. p. 72. ISBN 9780773467651.
  4. [4]
    Srinivas Sistla (2007). The Body as Temple. Drusya Kala Deepika. p. 69. OCLC 196263920.
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