Page:Biographical Sketches of Dekkan Poets.djvu/24

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king of Pratisthana puru or Prayaga like-wise compiled a copious grammar of this language, which is said to have been taught by Skanda, son of Seva, according to Sanhadri Khonda, a part of the Skanda Puran.

Raja Rajnarendra son of Vishu Vardhn, was a prime patron of the Telugu language. About the A. S. 2028, a bramin named Annaparya alias Nannya Bhat wrote a Telugu grammar, and he was encouraged by the above named monarch to translate the Bharat into Telugu: trhee books were written by him, and fifteen completed by Tekkana Somayagi a bramin of Pature. Since this time the Telugu language was particularly cultivated, and numerous dramas and epic poems were written by noted poets, Krishna Deva Roya was also a great patron of this dialect, he retained at his court eight celebrated bards, whom he collectively styled Asta diggajas, which being interpretated, means the eight elephants, alluding to the eight elephants, which according to Hindu