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.