Mysore Literature - Pre-16th Century Literature

Pre-16th Century Literature

By the mid-16th century, Kannada literature had been influenced by three important socio-religious developments: Jainism (9th–12th centuries), Veerashaivism (devotion to the god Shiva, from 12th century), and Vaishnavism (devotion to the god Vishnu, from 15th century). In addition, writings on secular subjects remained popular throughout this period.

Jain works were written in the classical champu metre and were centred on the lives of Tirthankars (saints), princes and personages associated with the Jainism. The early Veerashaiva literature (1150–1200 CE), comprising pithy poems called Vachanas (lit. "utterance" or "saying") which propagated devotion to the god Shiva were written mostly as prose-poems, and to a lesser extent in the tripadi metre. From the 13th century, Veerashaiva writers made the saints of the 12th century the protagonists of their writings and established native metres such as the ragale (lyrical compositions in blank verse) and the shatpadi.

The Vaishnava writers of the 15th and early 16th century Vijayanagara empire consisted of the Brahmin commentators who wrote under royal patronage, and the itinerant Haridasas, saint-poets who spread the philosophy of Madhvacharya using simple Kannada in the form of melodious songs. The Haridasa poets used genres such as the kirthane (compositions based on rhythm and melody), the suladi (rhythm-based) and the ugabhoga (melody-based). Overall, Kannada writings had changed from marga (formal) to desi (vernacular) and become more accessible to the commoner.