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Kannada Literature / 137
Harivamsa, and the story of Bhārata and Nēminātha run parallel to each other. Jinasena-I had popularised this topic in Sanskrit. Adi-Guņavarma made it acceptable and famous in the context of Kannada literature. All the later works of Karņapārya (C. 1145), Bandhuvarma (C. 1165), Nēmicandra (C. 1185) and others are indebted directly to Guņavarma-I, and indirectly to Jinasēna-I.
5.5.4.4. Decidedly Śūdraka was a mahā-kā vya of greater merit. So far about 75 verses are traced of the non-extant Sūdraka epic. It has the distinction of being the first in the series of quasi-historical works in Kannada. The Ganga monarch Ereyappa, (887-919) who had the cognomen of Mahēndrāntaka and Pratirüpa Südraka, the important character in the poem, has been identified with Sūdraka, legendary king of surpassing excellence. Some of the synchronous epigraphical evidences substantiate the remarkable achievements of Ereyappa who had squeezed Mahendra of Noļamba Pallava dynasty in C. E. 897-98. Therefore, it is evident that the poem of historical note was composed in C. E. 900. Gunavarma-I was the earliest known poet-laureate of the Gangas. King Ereyappa (literally meaning the lord') had another title of Bhuvanaikavira, an epithet which adorned Krsna-III and Sankaraganda, incourse of time that prompted Ponna to author a poem of the same biruda. As far as the source of Guñanandi's poem is concerned, it remains to be blurred because there many Sanskrit and Prakrit references to Sūdraka.
5.5.5. Gunanandi (C. 900), a celebrated preceptor of the period of the Rāstrakūtas, was a scholar, grammarian, chief of 300 friars. Dēvēndramuni, prominent among his pupil, was the preceptor of Adikavi Pampa (941), the spanking of all Kannada men of letters. Nañjunda (1525), while listing the early Kannada authors, has prominently included the name of Guņandi. According to him Guñanandi
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