Telugu literature includes poetry, short stories, novels, plays, and other works composed in Telugu. There is some indication that Telugu literature dates at least to the middle of the first millennium. The earliest extant works are from the 11th century when the Mahabharata was first translated to Telugu from Sanskrit by Nannaya. The language experienced a golden age under the patronage of the Vijayanagara Emperor-Poet Krishnadevaraya.
Historiography There are various sources available for information on early Telugu writers. Among these are the prologues to their poems, which followed the Sanskrit model by customarily giving a brief description of the writer, a history of the king to whom the book is dedicated, and a chronological list of the books he published. In addition, historical information is available from inscriptions that can be correlated with the poems; there are several grammars, treatises, and anthologies that provide illustrative stanzas; and there is also information available from the lives of the poets and the traditions that they followed.
Subject matter More popular works of Telugu literature are characterized by their descriptions of traditional Hindu knowledge systems such as Vedic astrology, the Arthashastra, grammar, moral aphorisms, and bhakti (devotional psalms) to deities within the Hindu pantheon. Telugu folk literature includes ballads and caste myths.
Early Telugu literature is predominantly religious. Poets and scholars drew most of their material from epics, such as the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata and the Purāṇas, which they also translated. Religious literature consisted of biographies of the founders of religious traditions, their teachings, , as well as commentaries, .
From the sixteenth century onwards, rarely known episodes from the Purāṇas would form the basis for the tradition of Telugu-language kavya (poetry). Literary works, drawn from episodes of the Purāṇas under the name Akhyana or Khanda, became popular along with depictions of the fortune of a single hero under the title of Charitra, Vijaya, Vilasa and Abhyudaya. In the eighteenth century, marriages of heroes under the title Parinaya, Kalyana and Vivāha became popular.
Genres Prabandham Prabandham are stories in verse form with a tight metrical structure. These have three subtypes or sub-forms: Prakhyātam (Famous story), Utpadyam (fictional story), and Misramam (a mix of the two).
Ashtadiggajas have written in all three of the Prabandham genres during the Prabandha yugam.
Champu Champu is a mixture of prose and poetry. Telugu literature uses an expression in verse called Champu, which mixes prose and poetry. Although it is the dominant literary form, there are exceptions: for example, Tikkana composed Uttara Ramayana entirely in verse.
Kavyam Kāvyam: Poem which usually begins with a short prayer called a Prarthana, containing initial auspicious letter "Sri" which invokes the blessings of the God. The occasion and circumstances under which the work is undertaken is next stated. The subtypes of Kāvyam are: Padya kāvyam: Metrical poetry. Gadya kāvyam: Prose poetry. Khanda kāvyam: Short poems
Avadhanam Avadhanam is a literary performance popular from the very ancient days in Sanskrit and more so in Telugu and Kannada languages. It requires a good memory and tests a person's capability of performing multiple tasks simultaneously. All the tasks are memory-intensive and demand an in-depth knowledge of literature, and prosody. The number of Prucchakas can be eight (for ) or 100 () or even 1,000 (for ). A person who has successfully performed is called , one completing is a , and after performing is called .
Avadhānam involve the partial improvisation of poems using specific themes, metres, forms, or words.Amaresh Datta, The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature, v. 1, "Avadhanam" (Sahitya Akademi, 2006; )
New devices for the dissemination of knowledge among the people were developed in the form of the Dvipada and Sataka styles. , sometimes written was dwipada, means 'two feet'—a couplet— and means 'hundred'—signifying a cento of verses).
Dwipada A is a couplet with a specific rhyme scheme. A stanza contains two short lines, each with less than fifteen characters. Longer poems, composed of many dwipada, can be composed with a "highly musical" effect. Much of the extant corpus in this form was written using the common language of the time. The form's musicality and accessibility made the form a natural fit for spreading religious messages. Palkuriki Somanatha the first to write in this form in the 12th or 13th century. His works Basava Puranam and Panditaradhya Charitra were "immensely singable" devotional works to Siva as Basaveswara. Influenced by Saivaite poets' use of dwipada, a Vaishnavite poet wrote the Ranganadha Ramayana, a version of the Ramayana that became incredibly popular for its singability, vernacular diction, and stories not found in Valmiki's version. The form reached its apex with Palnati Vira Charitra, popularly ascribed to the 14th century poet Srinatha. By the end of the Prabandha era, the three most important Sanskrit poems had been translated into Telugu in dwipada: the Mahabharata by Thimmaya, the Ramayana by Ranganadha, and the Bhagavatam by Tekumalla Ranga Sai. The form declined after the dwipada works of the early 17th century king-poet Raghunatha Nayak of Tanjore. Dwipada's accessibility has sometimes meant it was not a prestigious form of Telugu poetry. In the 19th century, scholar Charles Philip Brown noted "the learned despise couplets because the poems thus written are in a flowing easy style which uneducated persons read with enjoyment." Only a few writers today use it out of lingering respect its history.
Padam Padams are lyric poems usually meant to be sung, with an opening line or lines called a pallavi, followed by three caranam verses, each of which is followed by the pallavi refrain. The padam is thus "a highly integrated, internally resonant syntactic and thematic unit." Annamacharya, the most famous composer of Telugu padams, is said to have composed a padam a day for the god of the Tirupati temple, Venkateswara. His poems, of which 13,000 survive on copper plates stored in the temple vaults, deal with the "infinite varieties and nuances of the god’s love life" and "his sense of himself as an agonized, turbulent human being in relation to the god he worships".
Chatu Chatus (meaning "charming utterance") are remembered poems passed on by recitation. In premodern South India, literate people recited to each other as a social pastime. Most of these poems have memorable stories that go along with them that explain and contextualize them. They have passed through a lively oral tradition for hundreds of years, and been anthologized since the 19th century by scholars like Veturi Prabhakara Sastri. Many chatus are attributed to Srinatha, Tenali Rama, and other famous poets. These attributions, most of which are unverifiable, serve to make both mythologize these poets and judge their relative merit. Once made legends, they're free to interact anachronistically in chatus. Poets from different eras meet, exchange poems, and critique each other. In sum, chatus, "moving from gnomic advice to metalinguistic criticism, through the domains of desire, social commentary, the articulation of cultural values, and critical taste, these interlocking stanzas embody an entire education, an expressive vision of life and poetry."
Satakamu
A satakamu literally means "an anthology of a hundred poems", but the number is usually somewhat higher, often an auspicious number like 108. Popular include: the , and .
Vemana Satakam Sumathi Satakam Sri Kalahastishwara Satakam Dasarathi Satakam Bhaskara Satakam Kumara Satakam Narasimha Satakam Sarveswara Satakam Kumara Satakam Kumari Satakam Andhra Nayaka Satakam Sri Kishna Satakam Bharthruhari Neethi Satakam Bharthruhari Vyragya Satakam Bharthruhari Srungara Satakam Daksharama Bhimeswara Satakam
There are some which are divided into ten groups of ten verses called which is adopted from Prakrit.
Sasanam
Śāsanams (Telugu: శాసనం) are historical inscriptions engraved on stone, copper plates, temple walls, and other durable media that record royal grants, land donations, edicts, genealogies, religious endowments, and social transactions. Although not formal literary works, śāsanams (inscriptions) provide some of the earliest evidence of the Telugu language, script, and literary style. In the Telugu region, some of the earliest known inscriptions in Telugu include the Kalamalla inscription (c. 575 CE), widely regarded as among the first records in the Telugu language, marking an early stage in the development of Telugu writing and linguistic identity. Copper-plate grants in Telugu from medieval dynasties such as the Eastern Chalukyas and Kakatiyas, reflect both administrative practice and cultural patronage. These śāsanams are crucial primary sources for reconstructing the linguistic evolution, script changes, and socio-political history of the Telugu-speaking regions, and they provide evidence of Telugu usage several centuries before many surviving literary works.
Other genres Novel: () are written fictional prose narratives, normally longer than a short story. Katha: A style of religious storytelling. Nātakam: Drama. Naneelu: Epigrams. Nanolu: Nano poems
Poetics The or is considered the highest form of verse. The essentials of such a composition according to the Telugu poetic theory are: Śaili (style): The words chosen are neither soft nor very musical but ('dignified'); ('sweetness'); ('grace and delicacy'); ('fragrance'); and symphony. Vulgar language () is avoided. (mould): Refers to the embodiment of ideas in language, and the nature and texture of the language employed. There are three types of : (wine or grape): is a crystal clear style where everything is seen through a transparent medium. Mostly Nannayya and Karunasri use this mould. (plantain): is a complex because the soft skin has to peeled to reach the core of the subject. Mostly Tikkana Somayaji uses this mould. (coconut): is the most difficult mould to employ because one has to break the rind to understand the idea. of Krishnadevaraya is cast in this . Rasa (aesthetic flavour): is the heart and soul of Telugu poetry. A sutram, or aphorism, , explains that the soul of a sentence is the . There are nine, known as the . (love) (comic) (sympathy) (horror) (fear) (disgust) (heroic) (wonder) (peace) Alankara (ornamentation) are used in description of events, places and proceedings. These include: (ornaments of sound) (double entendre) (alliteration) (ornaments of thoughts) (simile) (hyperbole)
History
Early writers
The pre-Nannayya period (before 1020 AD) In the earliest period, Telugu literature existed in the form of inscriptions, from around 575 AD. The first long inscription (sasanam) entirely in Telugu, dated to 575 CE, is attributed to the Renati Choda king Dhanunjaya and found in the Kadapa district. Early Telugu inscriptions provide some of the earliest evidence of the Telugu language, script, and literary style.
The 6th- or 7th-century Sanskrit text Janashrayi-Chhandovichiti (or Janāśraya-chandas) deals with the metres used in Telugu, including some metres that are not found in Sanskrit prosody. This indicates that Telugu poetry existed during or around the 6th century.
Addanki poetic inscription