PONNA
1.
Ponna (ಪೊನ್ನ)
2.
ponna
3.
950
A.D.(Approx.)
4.
Vengi Vishaya (
5.
Jaina
6.
Krishn-3
of Rashtrakuta dynasty
7.
kuruLgaLa savaNa, Kavi Chakravarthi, one among Ratna Traya
8.
Ponna ranks among the Kannada poets who received more than their share of
adulation during their life time and subsequently faded in to relative
oblivion. He was considered one among the great Ratnatraya.
(Three great gems of Kannada literature) He was accorded the title kavi Chakravarthi which was
denied even to
Consequent of these facts, Ponnas reputation stands solely on Shantipurana
which is a biographical account of Shantinatha the
sixteenth teerthankara. This is a Champu
work containing twelve chapters. Surprisingly, the first nine chapters are
reserved for a description of the past eleven lives of the teerthankara
and only the last three delineate the life of the protagonist. The story itself
is very ordinary and it fails to interest the reader. Ponna
was motivated by a desire to write an epic fulfilling all the stipulations laid
down for a traditional epic as also the demands of Jaina
puranas. Thus the eight necessary features of a Jaina purana are to be found here
as also Jaina theology and a narration of the
previous lives of the protagonist. (Bhavavali) The
eighteen descriptions and nine rasas are given their
due place. However the soul of poetry is absent. Ponna
is deeply influenced by Kalidasa and makes a tall
claim that he is far superior to the Sanskrit bard. Thus Ponna
is a poet whose work is to be valued for the spate of information it provides
on religion rather than its poetic merit. The fact that his patron Danachintamani Attimabbe got one
thousand copies of this epic made and distributed it among interested readers
goes to prove this fact.
9.
a.
shAntinAthapurANa b. bhuvanaika
rAmAbhyudaya (Not found) c. jinAkshara
mAle
10. References: 1. Shanthi
Puranam, Ed. A.Venkata Rao and H. Shesha Iyengar, 1939,
11. Links
12. Translations.