Palkuriki Somanatha

2022-12-01T03:45:20Z

2406:B400:B1:B70B:AA96:75FF:FE81:ECC0:

{{Short description|12th century Telugu, Kannada and Sanskrit writer}}
{{use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{use Indian English|date=June 2016}}

'''Palkuriki Somanatha''' was one of the most noted [[Telugu language]] writers of the 12th or 13th century. He was also an accomplished writer in the [[Kannada language|Kannada]] and [[Sanskrit]] languages and penned several classics in those languages.<ref name="multi"/> He was a [[Veerashaiva|Lingayat]] a follower of the 12th century social reformer [[Basava]] and his writings were primarily intended to propagate this faith.<ref name="multi">Sahitya Akademi (1992), p. 4133</ref> He was a well acclaimed [[Shaivism|Shaiva poet]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-13/hyderabad/28685273_1_telangana-region-statues-t-region | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105013056/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-13/hyderabad/28685273_1_telangana-region-statues-t-region | url-status=dead | archive-date=5 November 2012 | work=[[The Times of India]] | title=T votaries cry foul over 'neglect' of T contribution to Telugu pride | date=13 March 2011}}</ref>

==Life==
Indication that he was not a Shaiva by birth comes from the fact that he mentions the names of his parents in his very first work, ''[[Basava Purana]]'', as Visnuramideva and Sriyadevi,<ref name=MohanLal>Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot Edited by Mohan Lal, Sahitya Akademi, 1992 p. 4133</ref> violating a general practice of Shaiva writers who do not mention their real parents but rather consider the god Shiva as the father and his consort [[Parvati]] as the mother.<ref name="multi"/> However, the scholar Bandaru Tammayya has argued that he was born a ''Jangama'' (devotee of the god Shiva).<ref name="tamma">Bandaru Tammayya in Sahitya Akademi (1992), p. 4133</ref> The scholar Seshayya places him in the late 13th to early 14th century and proposes that the writer lived during the reign of [[Kakatiya]] king Prataparudra II, whereas the Kannada scholar R. Narasimhacharya dates his writings to the 12th century and claims Somanatha was patronised by Kakatiya king Prataparudra I (1140–1196).<ref name="life">Seshayya in Sahitya Akademi (1992), p. 4133</ref><ref name="date">Narasimhacharya (1988), p. 20, p. 68</ref> His place of birth is uncertain because there is a village by the name Palkuriki in the Warangal district of the [[Telangana]] state as well as in the Kannada speaking region ([[Karnataka]]).<ref name="multi"/><ref name="region">Shastri (1955), p. 362</ref>

==Writings==
;Telugu language
Important among his Telugu language writings are the ''[[Basava Purana]]'', ''Panditaradhya charitra'', ''Malamadevipuranamu'' and ''Somanatha Stava''–in ''dwipada'' metre ("couplets"); ''Anubhavasara'', ''Chennamallu Sisamalu'', ''Vrushadhipa Saataka'' and ''Cheturvedasara''–in verses; ''Basavodharana'' in verses and ''ragale'' metre (rhymed couplets in blank verse); and the ''Basavaragada''.<ref name="ragada">Shatiya Akademi (1992), p. 4133</ref>

;Kannada language
His contributions to [[Kannada literature]] are, the ''Basavaragada'', ''Basavadhyaragada'', ''Sadgururagada'', ''Silasampadane'', ''Sahasragananama'', ''Pancharantna''. Several ''[[Vachana]]'' and ''ragale'' poems are also his contributions to Kannada literature. Somanatha's Telugu ''Basavapurana'' was the inspiration for [[Vijayanagara empire|Vijayanagara]] poet Bhimakavi (c. 1369) who wrote a Kannada book by the same name. Somanatha was the protagonist of a 16th-century Kannada ''[[purana]]'' ("epic religious text") written by the Vijayanagara poet Tontadarya.<ref name="ragele">Shastri (1955), p. 362; Shatiya Akademi (1992), p. 4133</ref>

;Sanskrit language
Important among his Sanskrit language writings are the ''Somanathabhashya'', ''Rudrabhashya'', ''Vrushabhastaka'', ''Basavodharana'', ''Basavashtaka'', ''Basava panchaka'', ''Ashtottara satanama gadya'', ''Panchaprakara gadya'' and ''Asharanka gadya''.<ref name="ragada"/>

==Works in translation==
* ''Siva's Warriors: The Basava Purana of Palkuriki Somanatha'', Tr. by Velcheru Narayana Rao. Princeton Univ Press, 1990. {{ISBN|0691055912}}.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==References==
*{{cite book |last= Various|title= Encyclopaedia of Indian literature – vol 5|orig-year=1992|year=1992|publisher= Sahitya Akademi|isbn=81-260-1221-8}}
*{{cite book |last=Sastri|first= Nilakanta K. A.|title= A history of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar|orig-year=1955|year=2002|publisher= Indian Branch, Oxford University Press|location= New Delhi|isbn= 0-19-560686-8}}
*{{cite book |last= Narasimhacharya|first= R|title= History of Kannada Literature|url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.489059|orig-year=1988|year=1988|publisher= Asian Educational Services|location= New Delhi, Madras|isbn=81-206-0303-6}}

==See also==
[http://www.palkuriki.blogspot.com/ Web page on Palkuriki Somanatha]
{{Lingayatism topics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Somanatha, Palkuriki}}
[[Category:Telugu poets]]
[[Category:Kannada poets]]
[[Category:Sanskrit poets]]
[[Category:Lingayatism]]
[[Category:History of Karnataka]]
[[Category:History of Telangana]]
[[Category:Sanskrit literature]]
[[Category:Indian Shaivites]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:People from Warangal]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:12th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:13th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:Lingayat saints]]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madivala_Machideva
[[Category:Lingayat poets]]

Bharatpedia - User contributions [en]

Palkuriki Somanatha