CULTURAL CONTRIBUTION OF SOUTH INDIAN DYNASTIES

KAKATIYAS:

Literary Contribution of Kakatiyas

The Kakatiyas were great patrons of learning.

Under their patronage both Sanskrit and Telugu literatures were

enriched.

Sanskrit occupied the first place in the educational system of the

Andhra country.

Most of the kaktiya inscriptions were composed in Kavya Style

Sanskrit is the court language

Parataparudra Yasobhusharam of Vidyanatha was an important

Alankara sastra.

Telugu: Telugu literature appears to have suffered an eclipse for nearly a

century (AD 1060 -1160) after Nannaya Bhatta

Inscriptions in Telugu verse, though mostly anonymous

compositions demand particular attention on account of both of

their literary merit and of their linguistic, grammatical and

prosodical peculiarities.

The intellectual ferment caused by new religious movements like

vaishnavism and Virasaivism gave a fresh impetus to Telugu

literature and works of considerable literary value began to make

their appearance in a continuous stream from the last quarter of the

13lh century AD on wards, if not even earlier.

The two great national epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata,

naturally claimed the attention of the Telugu writers. Several

works on the Ramayana were produced. These fall, according to

the meters employed in their composition into two classes; the

padya and the dvipadya - Kavyas.

The Kakatiyas age also saw the completion of the Andhra

Mahabharata began and partly composed by Nannayabhatta, the

court poet of the Eastern Chalukyas Rajaraja Narendra in the

eleventh century AD.

The work had remained incomplete from the time of its

composition until it was taken up and finished by Tikkana

somayaji.

The Andhra Mahabharata is indeed a great masterpiece of Telugu

literature.

Like the two great national epics the Ramayana and the

Mahabharata the Puranas also attracted the attention of the poets of

the Kakatiya age.

During the reign of Prataparudra Marana produced Markandeya

puranam

The Telugu Kavya perhaps made its appearance about the

beginning of this period.

Ketana translated Dasa Kumaracharitra into Telugu, he was the

desciple of Tikkana. Marna wrote J Markandayapurana

The writing of Satakas were started during this period

The prominent Satakas were

Sarveswara Satakam of Annamayya

Vrishadhi Satakam of Palkurki Somanath

Krishna Satakam by Tikkana

Somanath Satakam by Baddena were important

Artistic Excellence Kakatiyas were great builders. They built number of forts.

The chief among them were Warangal, Raichur, Rachakonda,

Devarakonda etc.

Dance, music and paintings also received patronage.

Music and dancing were in Kakatiyas times can be seen from the

sculptural representation of musicians and dances in some of the

shrines of the age, especially the Ramappa temple at Warangal.

Palkurikisoma enumerates various instruments of music in his

Panditaradhya charita as well as ragas which were in vogue

among the musicians of the day.

Jayarna’s Nritharatnavali, a treatise on dancing has fortunately

survived the ravages of time. It was one of the best works on

nritya.

HOYASALAS:

Literature – Sanskrit Most of the copper plate inscriptions issued by the kings of the

ruling dynasties from the Gangas and the Kadambass down to the

Hoyasalas were written in Sanskrit prose and poetic style.

It is note worthy for the rich crop of Sanskrit literary works,

secular as well as religious.

Pertaining to the first category there flourished a family of scholar

- authors, holding the distinguished title Vidya - Chakravarli.

A large number of literary inscriptions and poetic epigraphs were

written during the Hoyasala rule. They covered on the various

aspects of political conditions, religious facts and social life of the

times.

Music and Dance:

Music, dance and dramatic demonstration influenced the noble

aspiration and high pursuits among the royal and aristocratic families,

without barring similar activities of the other social groups.

Architecture:

In architecture also the Hoyasalas ingeniously adopted the

Chalukya traditions.

The Hoyasala architecture is a spontaneous outgrowth and natural

style of the Chalukya architecture.

The principal constituents of a Hoyasala temple in general are the

Irabhagricha attached vestibule and connecting pillared halls.

It is said that the Hoyasala artist applied the technique of the ivory

worker or the Goldsmith to accomplish his highly finished

decorative skill. .

Throughout the Hoyasala regime the temple building activity was

going on in considerable proportion.

This pursuit attained its zenith in the forty seven years reign period

of Ballala II on a rough estimate about ninety temples exist ih more

or less preserved state to the present day.

Among them the Channakeseva of Belur, Hoyasalesvara of

Halebidu and Kesava of Somanathapur are the masterpieces of

Hoyasala art.

These magnificent and marvelous achievements in art and

architecture for which any nation can feel truly proud and elated

are replete with historical and cultural import.