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The original Tanjore Manuscript of Udayanodayamu may not, however, be an impenetrable jungle. But it is undoubtedly a rough path difficult to walk along. If Surana and his son descend from heaven and see this critical edition, I hope, they will be happy to trace a smooth passage to restore the original reading.
However, the indefatigable and unceasing labours of the department for over a period of our year and a half rendered this critical edition possible and it is upto our enlightened readers to judge the nature of the work
For the convenience of the readers and research scholars a number of appendices have also been provided. The abridged and critical edition of “Vanamalivilasamu" included in these appendices may further help the research scholars to have a clear perspective of the gradual maturity of the poet s mind and heart In fact, Surana was a great scholar in many sastras, partucularly in music, astronomy etc Some of his poems bear testimony to this fact Apart from this his poetic imagery, his fancy and imagination, his coinage of compound words both in Sanskrit and Telugu and above all the felicity of his expression in a novel method will no doubt endear him to good many It is perhaps this novel quality which might have misled Sri Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu to conclude (in his Andhra Kavula Charitra) that Surana was a modorn poet. Sri Manavalli, with all his good humour and subtle wit, exclaimed that it would have been better, had Mr Kandukuri kept quiet even without saying that Surana was a modern poet (Vide Manavalli's article published in Bharati, July 1925)
Sri Manavalli is justified in having a very high esteem and regard for the poet. But crowning him as the greatest among all the Telugu poets and ranking 'Udayanodayamu' as the noblest of all the literary works may be a little over-doing.[1] It is enough if it is regarded as one of the good literary works of the times. But the unusual imaginative faculty of Narana Surana displayed the ough his poetic and strikingly novel imageries makes him stand firmly above the head and shoulders of many a popular poet of the prabandha age. The work is now placed in the hands of the literary adjudicators. It is upto them to decide
An Appreciation and Acknowledgement
The Andhra Pradesh Government Oriental Manuscripts Library and Research Institute has sincerely done its job. A word of appreciation may now be necessary for the responsibilities shared by the staff of the department. Mr Kodavali Satyanarayana, Mi K. Vittal Reddy, Mr S Radhakrishna Sastry, Mr K Rama Sastry and Mr B Sanjiva Reddy have carefully discharged the duties entrusted to them in comparing
- ↑ See Manavalli's article published m Bharati, July 1925.
