Adikavi Pampa - Vikramarjuna Vijaya

Vikramarjuna Vijaya, also known as Pampa Bharata, is a Kannada version of the Mahabharata of Vyasa. Several poets prior to Pampa had composed poetry based on parts of the epic but had not translated it in its entirety. Pampa's work was written in praise of his patron king Arikesari. He compares the king with Arjuna's character in the epic and centers his work around Arjuna. He says this himself in the 51st verse of the first chapter, Kannada: '... ಕಥಾನಾಯಕಂ ಮಾಡಿ ಸಂದರ್ಜುನನೊಳ್ ಪೋಲ್ವೀ ಕಥಾಭಿತ್ತಿಯನನುನಯದಿಂ ಪೇಳಲ್...' (Kathānāyakaṁ māḍi sandarjunanoḷ pōlvī kathābhittiyananunayadiṁ pēḷal.). Vyasa's original work, however, does not portray any particular character as the hero of the epic.

Pampa made several modifications to the original story. While some of his modifications seem absurd and even erroneous, some others seem to blend perfectly and add shine to the original story. In Pampa's version, Arjuna is the only husband of Draupadi. As polyandry is not considered a virtue, this goes well with the story. On the other hand, to please his king, he refers to Arjuna with the titles of Arikesari at some places. The titles Chalukya Vamshodbhavam "of the Chalukya clan" and Samanta Choodamani "jewel among the feudatories" among others to the greatest archer of the world from the Kuru clan does not seem to go well. After the war of Kurukshetra, it is not Yudhishtira who is crowned king but Arjuna, and his wife Subhadra becomes the queen royal. It is said that Bhima who played such a big role in Vyasa's epic and Draupadi who suffered much humiliation are not given much credit in Pampa's work.