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Kannada Literature / 143
where the author bathed in his balya. Similarly few authentic details of Pampa's life are forthcoming in the kavya.
5.6.1.3. Though Pampa, with all his humility states that he follows in the wake of the great sage Vyasa, still his work is no direct translation or adaptation of the Sanskrit original, even though Vyasa-Bharātam is the main source. Pampa admits that he is not equal to Vyasa. With the touch of his magic wand, Pampa imports into his narration the color and tone of his time and region.
5.6.1.4. Arikesari-II (930-55) of Vemulavāḍa branch of Calukya dynasty, a feudatory of Rāṣṭrakūta king Kriṣṇa-III (935-65), had the honor of two of the contemporary luminaries being the court poets. The illustrious Kannada poet Pampa as the senior writer adorned the court of Arikesari-II alias Ariga, and the celebrated Somadevasūri (950-83), author of Yasastilaka and Nītiväkyāmṛta, a junior of Pampa, adorned the court of Arikesari-III, the grand son of Arikesari-II. A moving, though out spoken, portrayal of the pleasures and adventures of love, of travel, of penance, of struggle and the great war of Arjuna are properly attributed to the patron Arikesari. Pampa depicts a number of episodes pertaining to his patron and the story of Bharata by skilful analogy with Vikrama-Arjuna, the hero of the epic, the exploits of Arikēsari.
5.6.1.4.1. Referring to the happening of Venisamhāra, Pampa's supremacy is seen in dramatizing the situation and focussing Bhima :
The vengeance Draupadi wreaks for the indescribable humiliation she has suffered evokes from Bhima this tribute, 'Earth-shaking is the impact of your hair unbound. An empire extending to the ten quarters of the sky and shielded with the whole umbrellas of countless vassal kings has had its most violent shake-up. The entire line of the Kurus had sunk without a trace in it. It had added fresh vigour to my valour.
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