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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1898.
Showere
Some maintain that the poet wanted to please his real and foster fathers, and has therefore entered the name of the one in one of his works and of the other in the other, while in the third no mention is made of either, and that in the Harischandra-Nalopakhyana the mention of the expression Sara pâtmaja' shews that he was the son of Soraparâja, while in the Narasabhupaliya, the mention of 'Venkatarayabhushanasupatru' shews that he was the adopted son of Venkatarayabhushana,
The first of the poet's works is the Vasucharitra, which is an exaggerated description of the loves of king Vasu and the beautiful nymph Girikanyaká. It was dedicated as we have already seen to Tirumalaraya. The following metrical rendering is taken from the second book of the poem, and is supposed to be spoken by Mañjavâņi when she was deputed by her mistress Girikanyaká to Vasuraja :
"O ruler of the world, thy presence bright
Fills each expanding heart with true delight And joy, as when propitious fortane pours Unmeasured treasures down in golden showers, Or when the moon in plenitude arrayed Shoots her bright splendours through the midnight shade. Friend of the world ! O powerful deity! The effulgence of thy penetrating eye Dispels the darkness and the gloom profound, Whose sable mantle covers us around. Thy graceful presence this auspicious day, O king of kings, sends far each care away! With every keen desire and wish possessed Filled to satiety we stand confessed. O sovereign of the earth! Thy heavenly tread Approaching doth with potent blessings shed On mortals immortality and grace, And makes us wise as is the ethereal race. Pre-eminent in good thy virtue pours Like fruitful antamn its prolific stores : Our homage paying we profit by thrift. The rural goddess sheds her choicest gift Exuberant on me and on my friends; with joy In plenty we our happy hours employ, That can a grateful voice onow upraise,
Receive the boon and give eternal praise ?" The Vasucharitra was much admired by the contemporaries of Battamarti, and became model for later poets to follow. The poet was highly rewarded by Tirumalaraya for this and other works that he composed at the command of that monarch. The descriptions of nature and the diction of the poem are excellent. It was written after 1570 A. D. Tirumalaraya, to whom the work is dedicated, removed the seat of his government to Penukonda in 1567 A. D., and his battle with the Moslems after that date is recorded in the poem, and a slight reference is also made to the king transferring the reins of government to his second son Srirangaraya after making him heir-apparent, after the demise of his eldest son Raghunatharaya.
Whoever the writer of the Narasabhüpdliya may be, it is dedicated to Narasaraya, the nephew of Ramarîya and Tiramalarâya. Srirangaraya, the maternal grandfather of Narasaraya, had five sons - Könarâja, Timmarâja, Râmarâja, Tirumalarâja, and Venkatapati
