Pingali Suranna

Pingali Surana (16th century CE) was a Telugu poet and was one of the Astadiggajas.

Suranna's exact birthplace is uncertain. He lived in Kanala village near Nandyala.

Suranna's parents were Abbamamba (mother) and Amarana (father), scholars themselves. Surana dedicated a work to Nandyala Krishna Raju, a subject of the Vijayanagara Empire in Krishna District. It is now settled that he was from Kanala village, near Nandyala, on Nandyala and Koilakuntla Road of Kurnool District. There is his samadhi. Potter community celebrates his Jayanthi year after year. There is an old Oriental High School in Kanala, which is said to be the legacy from Pingali Surana. Surana Saraswatha Sangham, Nandyal is a literary organisation in existence for more than 25 years. Dr. G. Sahadevudu, a practicing doctor, Gottimukkala Subrahmanya Sastri, a retired teacher and Koduri Seshapani Sarma, a retired teacher are the President, the Secretary and the Joint Secretary of the organization respectively.

Surana wrote Garuda Puranam, Prabhavatee Pradyumnamu, Raghava Pandaveeyam and Kalapurnodayamu in 1500 CE. He dedicated Garuda Puranam to his father and Kalapurnodayam to the Nandyal King.

Prabhavati Pradyumnamu has been translated into English as The Demon's Daughter: A Love Story from South India by Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman, and published by SUNY Press in 2006.

Two of his works were revolutionary in Telugu and the first of their kind. Kalapurnodayam is more of a novel than poetry and Raghava Pandaveeyam is in dvayarthi (double meaning) style.

Kalapurnodayamu means full bloom of art. Surana used advanced literary techniques in Indian literature such as flashbacks and character transformation. Each poem of Raghava Pandaveeyam references to the stories of Ramayanam or Mahabharatam simultaneously. The entire work is double entendre. His first work Garuda Puranam is in Prabandha style, popular for romantic poems.

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