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NOVEMBER, 1898.)
THE TELUGU LITERATURE
301
self with great tyranny, so that the chiefs conspired to dethrone him, but with the assistance of Ibrahim 'Â dil Shâh he was enabled to maintain his authority. On the retreat of his Musalman allies, the Hindu nobles with Râmarajn at their head again rebelled, defeated the usurper, and besieged him in his palace in Vijayanagara; when finding his fortune desperate, he destroyed himself. Rama then became Raja.
Now, comparing this with the Hindu accounts, we should be disposed to identify Hoji Trimmal with Achyutarâya. Some of the Hinda accounts, as above noticed, concur with the Muhammadan as to the murder of the young prince, and in Salika Timma we may have the slave of Râmarâja, although the part assigned to him in both the stories does not exactly coincide. Râmaraja, both agree, was obliged to resign the authority he held after Krishṇaraya's death, and the only irreconcilable point is that Hindu accounts specify the appointment in the first instance of Sadasiva. But the weight of evidence is unfavourable to their accuracy, and Sadasiva was probably made Râja by Ramaraja and his party in opposition to Achyutaraya. This will account for the uncertainty that prevails as to his connection with Krishnaraya, as well as for his being taken, as some statements aver, from the family of the former Rajas. At the time of the demise of Kțishṇaraya, the kingdom of the Carnatic Lad reached its zenith, and Achyutarîya who succeeded him in 1530 A. D. added to the empiro by subjngating Tinnevelly and other places.
We shall next enquire in detail of the poetical merits of the Achyuta-uiggajas (!), who formed the beacon-lights of the court of the Andhra-Bhoja. The foremost of them was, as we have already seen, Allasani Poddana. He was a Nandavarika Niyogi Brahmay, the son of Chokkana. He was born in the village of Dôranála, in Dapad taluk, in the Bellary District. He was, as we have already been, the Laureate at the court of Krishṇadevaraya. In his infancy he studied the Sanskrit and Telugu languages, and in due time obtained a critical knowledge of both those tongues, and was able to compose verses in either of them. His abilities procured him the situation of court poet to Nrisimharkyn, on which monarch he wrote several panegyrics. After his death, his son and successor, Krislaņaraya, patronized him, and appointed him as one of his Ashta-diggajas.
Peddana's Telaga poems are much esteemed for their barmony. Ho composed an elaborate work, entitled Svarðchisha Manucharitra, or more shortly Manucharitra, in four úsrásas. The poem deals with the following subject. A religious Brahmar, Pravarakhya, an inhabitant of Mayapuri, felt an ardent desire to visit the summit of the Himalayas, and as it was impossible to proceed there by human ingenuity, he was anxious to satisfy his desire by some supernatural agency, and in consequence stopped every sannydsin and traveller that he saw journoying thither, in order that he might obtain from them the secret, by which they were able to surmount all difficulties, and go to the mountain-top. He was in the habit of inviting these people to his house, and courteously to entertain them in hopes to obtain from them the secret. In this way there came a devotee to his abode, and as his manner was more than usually complaisant, the Brahman strenuously besought him to furnish him with the menns of proceeding to the summit of the Himalayas. The devotee ncceded to his entreaties, and gave him the juice of a plant, which he rubbed on bis feet, and desired him to soar up into the ethereal regions, repeating the name of the goddess. Pravarakhya immediately soared up into the skies, not for a moment thinking how he was to return home, and when the juice on his feet was dried up, he lost the power of flying, and roamed about the beautiful gardens on the mountain-summit. While he was thus strolling about, he heard certain soft sweet notes, and proceeding thither, saw a beautiful Gandharva damsel, wat op to her, and besought her to direct him in the right track. As he was very comely, and the damsel had never before bebeld a human being, she fell in love with him, but was resolved to behave with reserve, so that te migat not discover her real sentiments. She, therefore, reprimanded him for entering her bower without her permission, and told him to find the road out as well as he could for himself. The Brahman, discouraged at the harsh tone in which the dameel spoke, made a precipitato
