Of late, it has become an imperative need to see that almost all the future publications of Andhra Pradesh Government Oriental Manuscripts Library and Research Institute have a brief introduction in English also. Scholars in several languages frequently visit this depart- ment to cousult the Manuscripts Library containing about twentytwo thousand books in about fourteen languages. They eagerly enquire about the content of the books published by the department. It is quite natural that the language of the publication is at times not known to them. Particularly, the scholars from abroad repeatedly experience this difficulty. It is therefore felt necessary that a brief fintroduction in English is also provided for each publication.
The present volume "KAVI CHINTAMANI" of Vellanki Tatambhattu is a rare unpublished work in Telugu. It is now brought out as the tenth publication in the series, Andhra Pradesh Government Oriental Manuscripts Library and Research Institute.
The book is in the verse form with a few lines of prose between verses here and there and it is characteristic of the champu style of Kavyas.
Kavi Chintamani comes under the category of Lakshanagranthas. It mainly deals with grammar, prosody and poetics, copiously illustrating the theoretical aspects of these three inseparable characteristics of the Telugu classical poetry.
Tatambhattu, the author of the book belongs to the period around 1500 A. D. which is the beginning of the golden age of Krishna Devaraya.
Born to a Brahmin couple, Abbaya and Errama, Tatambhattu is supposed to have resided in Vellanki, a village in Nandigama Taluk of Krishna District. This village is to some extent identified with his surname. Even to this day there are Brahmin families of Vaidika cult whose surname itself is Tatambhattu and this bears testimony to the fact that the author of this book might have been their ancestor.
THE WORKS OF TATAMBHATTU
Tatambhattu was a scholar in eight languages and a master of many regional literatures. He has to his credit standard works lika Kavi Chintamani. Kings and scholars alike honoured him as Sahitya chakravarti In his native land and also in Karnataka he was respected as a scholar-poet and an authority on grammar and prosody.
In addition to Kavi Chintamani, Tatambhattu wrote Chandodarpanamu and Samkhepa Bhagavatamu. Chandodar panamu is an incomplete and unpublished work on prosody. The Manuscript copy is available. But samkhe pa Bhagavatamu (concise Bhagavata) is not available now. It is also not known whether it was an original work or an abridged copy of Putana's Bhagavatamu which was popular even by then.
With the title Chandodurpanamu, there are now avai- lable two books. One was written by Anantamatya and the other by Tatambhattu. Both the works deal with prosody. Anantamatya's work was earlier than that of Tatambhattu. Anantamatya's was no doubt a popular work on prosody and was already published while Tatambhuttu's has not been.
The Manuscript of the latter's Chandodar panamu is now available in the Tanjore Saraswati Mahal Library (Manuscript No. 713). This unpublished work of Tatambhattu is incomplete and portions of the beginning and ending of the book are not available. The full text is yet to be searched for.
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