Nagavarma I

Nagavarma I
Born	10th century CE
Died	10th century CE

Nagavarma I (c. 990) was a noted Jain writer and poet in the Kannada language in the late 10th century. His two important works, both of which are available are, Karnataka Kadambari, a champu (mixed prose-verse metre) based romance novel and an adaptation of Bana's Sanskrit Kadambari, and Chandombudhi (also spelt Chhandombudhi, lit, "Ocean of prosody" or "Ocean of metres"), the earliest available work on prosody (study of poetic metres) in the language which Nagavarma I claims would command the respect even of poet Kalidasa. According to the scholars K.A. Nilakanta Shastri and R. Narasimhacharya, Nagavarma I belonged to a migrant Brahmin family originally from Vengi (in modern Andhra Pradesh). According to the modern Kannada poet and scholar Govinda Pai, Nagavarma I lived from 950 AD to 1015 AD. So popular was Nagavarma I's poetic skills that King Bhoja of Malwa (central India) presented him with horses, in appreciation of his poetic skills.

Nagavarma I was patronised by King Rakkasa Ganga (also called Rachamalla V, 986–999 CE) of the Western Ganga Dynasty. According to the scholar Sheldon Pollock, he is the first among as many as five Nagavarmas' who wrote noted classics in the Kannada language over the succeeding few centuries. Nagavarma I became popular during the classical age of Kannada literature. During this period (9th through 12th century), classics in Kannada language were usually inspired by the great Sanskrit language epics of India, or were didactic in nature and were derived from Jain lore and legend. Writing on themes that were Loukika (secular and historical) and Agamika (religious and legendary) was popular.

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