NAGAVARMA – 1

1. Nagavarma -1 (ನಾಗವರ್ಮ-1, ಮೊದಲನೆಯ ನಾಗವರ್ಮ)
2. nAgavarma-1
3. 10^th Century.
4. sayyaDi agrahAra, Vengi PaLu village
5. Vaidika Brahmana
6. Patronage: a. Chavundaraya a minister of the Ganga king Rachamalla-4 b. Kalyana Chalukya king Vikramaditya-5
7. Nagavarma is an important champu poet and a scholar of the tenth century. He was among the earliest vaidic brahman poets in Kannada. His religious background, his schoalrship and his inclination for Sanskrit as against Prakrit sets him apart from his Jaina contemporaries. He did not follow the patterns established by Pampa and deviced unique means for the expression of his literary genius. The fact that Nagavarma did not choose to depend upon Ramayana and Mahabharata and decided to base his classic on the prose work of Bana (baNa) is another example of his indepndent bent of mind. Karnataka Kadamabari’ is an important work with characters and locales spread between heaven and earth. It is story of characters who shed one existance and move on to the other with facile ease. However Nagavarma makes use of this opportunity to write court poetry of the highest order. His discriptions of nature is no less beautiful than the most intricate details about palace intrigues. He plumbs the depths of human souls and reveals their innermost emotions. His originality comes through in the beutiful poems that he has composed making use of metrical forms adapted from Sanskrit. ‘Chandombudhi’ is a treatise on prosody, the first of its kind in Kannada and also the most authentic. Theoretical elements of Kannada prosody are presented in this text with their historical antecedentd and suitable illustrations wherever neccessary. The chapter on indigenous Kannada meters, which happens to be the fifth chapter in a total of six is the most important part of the book. It delineates the prosodic forms that were practiced in Kannada before the akshara gaNas of Sanskrit and the matragaNas took over. The details provided by Nagavarma go a long way in tracing the Dravidian origins of kannada prosody. They are helpful in recreating the oral traditions of kannada poetry as well. Hence the works of Nagavarma and his poetic personality have earned a permanent place in the history of Kannada literature.
10. 1. ‘Karnataka Kadambari’ 2. ‘Chandombudhi’

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