Bammera Pothana

Category Historic

Bammera Pothana

(1450–1510) was an Indian Telugu poet best known for his translation of the Bhagavata Purana from Sanskrit to Telugu. He was a Telugu and Sanskrit Scholar.His work, Andhra Maha Bhagavatamu, is popularly called as Pothana Bhagavatam in Telugu.

Pothana was born into a Niyogi Brahmin family at Bammera Village, in the Jangaon District of present Telangana state. His father was Kesana and his mother Lakkamamba. He was considered to be a ‘Sahaja Kavi’ (natural poet), needing no teacher. He was known to be very polite and was an agriculturist by occupation. Though he was a great scholar, he never hesitated to work in the agricultural fields.

At an early age he wrote

Bhogini Dhandakam, a poem written in the praise of king Sri Singa Bhoopala’s concubine Bhogini. This was his first poetic venture which had the seeds of his great poetic talents. Bhogini Dhandakam is the earliest available Dhandaka (rhapsody which uses the same gana or foot all through) in Telugu. His second work was Virabhadhra Vijayamu which describes the adventures of Lord Virabhadhra, element of Lord Shiva. The main theme was the destruction of ‘Daksha Yagna’ performed in the absence of Lord Siva by Daksha Prajapathi.