Mahabharata in Telugu Literature

Mahabharata in Telugu Literature
The very first literary work in Telugu literature, Andhra Mahabharata which appeared in the mid 11th century, forms the best introduction to classical Telugu poetry.
The Andhra Mahabharata is called the ‘Trinity of Telugu literature (Kavitrayam).
The first poet Nannaya Bhattu left it abruptly in the middle of the Aranya Parva, probably due to death or political reasons. His patron, Raja Raja Narendra (1019-1061)’ of the Eastern Chalukya dynasty, Nannaya was his ‘Kulabrahmana’ or spiritual advisor.
They had to seek the help of his maternal uncle, Rajendra Chola in the South. The great literary undertaking was Tikkana Somayaji resumed the work in the 13th century from Virata parva onwards and completed the Telugu version. The unfinished portion in Aranya parva stands in the name of Errapragada (early 14th century) who was an equally eminent poet.

In their Telugu version they adopted the kavya or poetic style and by skillful abridgement reduced its size to nearly one half of the original by omitting repetitive passages and for brevity in expression.
Nannaya for instance, performed a major poetic surgery by omitting Bhishma’s long eulogy and enumeration of Krishna’s earlier Avataras in the Rajasuya-Sisupala Vadha episode and made it quite crisp and dramatic.
Tikkana required only 70 verses to convey the message of Bhagavadgita in Bhishma Parva.