Adikavi Nannaya

Adikavi Nannaya, court poet of Rajaraja Narendra and the first poet of Telugu, who began the Telugu Mahabharata.

Technical data Notes Condition

Date of issue November 1, 2017

Denomination Rs. 5

Quantity printed 500000

Printer Security Printing Press, Hyderabad

Perforation 13¾

Watermark No Watermark

Colours Multicolor

Printing process Wet Offset

Credit Shri Kamleshwar Singh, Ms. Nenu Gupta

Catalogue codes Michel IN 3225 Stamp Number IN 2972 Yvert et Tellier IN 2916 Stanley Gibbons IN 3369

Themes Authors, Commemoration, Famous people, Literary People (Poets and Writers), Literature, Men

Notes

Keep your own notes on this stamp, for yourself or to share with other collectors. Sign in

Notes from collectors

No public notes on this stamp yet.

Record the condition of the stamps in your collection. Sign in

About this stamp

The First Telugu Poet

As Valmiki is the first poet of Sanskrit, so Nannaya is the first poet of Telugu, hailed as Adikavi and Nannaya Bhattaraka. He was the court poet and family priest of the Eastern Chalukya king Rajaraja Narendra (1019–1061), who ruled from Rajamahendravaram, and a scholar of the Vedas and Vedangas.

The Andhra Mahabharatam

With the help of Narayana Bhatta, Nannaya began the Telugu rendering of the Mahabharata, the “fifth Veda”, in a style the brochure calls chaste and pleasant, drawing on the inscriptional style of verse and prose. His work, later completed by Tikkana and Errana, opened the Telugu literary tradition.

India Post issued three ₹5 stamps on 1 November 2017 for Kavi Muddana, Adikavi Nannaya and the Draksharamam Bhimeswara Temple. They were designed by Kamleshwar Singh and printed by Security Printing Press, Hyderabad: 550,000 of the Muddana stamp and 500,000 of each of the other two.