The Telugu Mahabharatam was begun in the eleventh century, abandoned partway through the third parva, resumed two hundred years later from the fourth, and only afterwards was the gap filled by a third poet. The three are called the Kavitrayam — the trinity of poets — and their joint work is where Telugu literature effectively begins.
📚 The Kavitrayam
Nannaya: 11th c. — parvas 1, 2 and part of 3; called Adikavi
Tikkana: 13th c. — parvas 4 to 18
Errana: 14th c. — completed parva 3, the gap
Order of composition: beginning, then end, then middle
Source: Vyasa's Sanskrit Mahabharata
Significance: the foundation of literary Telugu
📑 Table of Contents
🔢 The Unusual Sequence
| Poet | Century | Parvas | Patron |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nannaya Bhattaraka | 11th | Adi, Sabha, part of Aranya | Rajaraja Narendra, Eastern Chalukya |
| Tikkana Somayaji | 13th | Virata through Svargarohana — fifteen parvas | Manumasiddhi of Nellore |
| Errana (Errapragada) | 14th | The remainder of Aranya | Prolaya Vemareddy |
📌 Why Tikkana skipped the third parva
Telugu tradition holds that the Aranya Parva — where Nannaya's work stops — was regarded as inauspicious to resume, and that Tikkana deliberately began at the fourth rather than completing it. Whatever the reason, the effect is that the work was finished from the end backwards, with the gap in the middle left open for a century, and that Errana had to write into a space bounded on both sides by two very different poets.
💡 What Errana did about it
Errana's solution is admired: he began his portion in Nannaya's style, to continue seamlessly from where the first poet stopped, and shifted gradually toward Tikkana's so as to arrive at the fourth parva without a seam. He also attributed his portion to Nannaya in the dedication. The result is a joint work of three hands across three centuries that reads as continuous — which is why the three are named as a trinity rather than as a sequence.
✍️ The Three Poets
| Nannaya | Tikkana | Errana | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Called | Adikavi — the first poet; Vaganusasanudu, ordainer of speech | Ubhaya Kavi Mitra — friend of both kinds of poet | Prabandha Parameshwara; Shambhu Dasa |
| Manner | Ornate, Sanskritic, measured; establishing a literary register from nothing | Dramatic, direct, strong in dialogue and character; more Telugu in vocabulary | Adaptive; capable in both registers |
| Strength | Diction and prosody — he is effectively defining what Telugu literary language will be | The war and the debate — the assembly scenes, Krishna's embassy, the Karna passages | Narrative continuity, and the Aranya Parva's tirtha and story sections |
| Other works | The Andhra Shabda Chintamani is traditionally ascribed to him | Nirvachanottara Ramayanamu | Harivamsamu, Nrisimha Puranamu |
📌 Why Nannaya is Adikavi
Not because nothing was written in Telugu before him — inscriptions and some verse predate him — but because he is the first to compose a sustained literary work and, in doing so, to fix the conventions: the champu form mixing verse and prose, the metrical repertoire, the handling of Sanskrit vocabulary in Telugu, and the register of the prabandha. Telugu literature dates its own beginning from him for reasons of standard-setting rather than of chronology alone.
📖 Not a Translation Either
Like Kambar in Tamil, the Kavitrayam did not translate. Nannaya states his method in his own opening: to render the sense while abridging where appropriate and expanding where the Telugu requires it.
| What they did | Effect |
|---|---|
| Abridged long genealogies and enumerations | The Telugu moves faster than the Sanskrit |
| Expanded scenes of dialogue and emotion | Tikkana's assembly and embassy scenes are considerably fuller than Vyasa's |
| Adopted the champu form | Alternating verse and prose, which becomes standard for Telugu narrative |
| Localised idiom and simile | Telugu landscape, custom and speech throughout |
| Framed devotionally | Tikkana's dedication is to Hariharanatha — Vishnu and Shiva as one — a deliberate non-sectarian position in a period of dispute between the two |
💡 Hariharanatha
Tikkana's choice of dedicatee is a statement. In a century when Shaiva and Vaishnava rivalry in the Telugu country was sharp, he dedicated fifteen parvas of the national epic to the combined form — and is remembered for it. The title Ubhaya Kavi Mitra, friend of both kinds of poet, is usually read as covering both this and his facility in Sanskrit and Telugu registers.
🏛️ What It Left
Its position
- The Kavitrayam are named together in Telugu literary culture the way the Trimurti are named in theology — the phrase itself is standard.
- Prosody and diction established here governed Telugu poetry for centuries; the prabandha tradition of the Vijayanagara period builds directly on it.
- Studied in schools and universities across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as the foundation of the literary language.
- Avadhanam, the Telugu tradition of literary improvisation, draws on the Bharatam's verses as common ground between performer and audience.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Who are the Kavitrayam?
The three poets of the Telugu Mahabharatam: Nannaya (11th c., parvas 1–2 and part of 3), Tikkana (13th c., parvas 4–18 — fifteen of them), and Errana (14th c., completing parva 3). They are named together in Telugu literary culture the way the Trimurti are named in theology.
Why was the Andhra Mahabharatam written out of order?
Nannaya stopped partway through the third parva, and tradition holds the Aranya Parva was regarded as inauspicious to resume — so Tikkana began at the fourth, and the work was finished from the end backwards. Errana then wrote into a gap bounded by two very different poets, and his solution is admired: he began in Nannaya's style and shifted gradually toward Tikkana's, arriving at parva four without a seam.
Why is Nannaya called Adikavi?
Not because nothing was written in Telugu before him — inscriptions and some verse predate him — but because he is the first to compose a sustained literary work and, in doing so, to fix the conventions: the champu form, the metrical repertoire, the handling of Sanskrit vocabulary, the prabandha register. The dating is by standard-setting, not chronology alone.
Is the Andhra Mahabharatam a translation?
No. Nannaya states his method in his own opening — to render the sense, abridging where appropriate and expanding where the Telugu requires it. In practice: genealogies abridged, so the Telugu moves faster; dialogue and emotion expanded, so Tikkana's assembly and embassy scenes are fuller than Vyasa's; the champu form adopted; and idiom and simile localised.
Why did Tikkana dedicate his portion to Hariharanatha?
A deliberate statement. In a century when Shaiva–Vaishnava rivalry in the Telugu country was sharp, he dedicated fifteen parvas of the national epic to the combined form of Vishnu and Shiva as one — and is remembered for it. His title Ubhaya Kavi Mitra, “friend of both kinds of poet,” is usually read as covering both this and his facility in two registers.
🙏 Conclusion
One epic, three poets, three centuries, and an order of composition that ran beginning, then end, then middle — with the third poet writing his section so as to start in one man's voice and finish in another's. Nannaya is called the first poet not because he was first to write Telugu but because he decided what literary Telugu would be. The language has been working inside his decisions ever since.