Page:Biographical Sketches of Dekkan Poets.djvu/129

Rh called Daranala, which is situated in the district called Dupad, in the ceded provinces, claims the honor of being his birth place. Allasani Peddana in his infancy studied the Sanscrit and Telugu languages, in due time, obtained a critical knowledge of those tongues, and was able to compose verses either of them his abilities procured him the situation of Court poet to Nrisimha Roya, on which monarch he wrote several panegyrics. After the death of the above-named King, his son and successor Krishna Roya, patronized our poet, and appointed him as one of his "Asta Diggajas," or eight celebrated Court pundits, in allusion to the eight elephants which support the earth, according to the mythology of the Hindus.

Allasani Peddana was a votary of Rama,and his poems in the Telugu language are much esteemed for their harmony. He composed an elaborate work, entitled "Swarachisha Manu Charitra," in four books. The following are the contents of the poem in question:—A religious bramin, by name Pravarakhya, and an inhabitant of Mayapure fet an ardent desire to visit the sum