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and Telugu literature. The oldest works in Canarese were composed by Jains and I believe there are also some Jain books in Tamil. It is very probable that there was a Jain period in Telugu literature also, a supposition which derives additional support from the fact that some of the great Canarese Jain poets such as Pampa and Nagavarma emigrated from the Telugu Country, but, for some reasons which have yet to be ascertained, that literature has not come to light. Let us hope that it is not lost for ever.
A perusal of the text will show that the book is modelled after some of the Canarese classics such as Kavirajamarga, Chandombudhi and Sabdamanidarpana. Some of the points of similarity are noted in footnotes in their appropriate places.
I will now endeavour to give a short sketch of the general principles of Telugu Prosody:—
TELUGU PROSODY.
Syllables:—Telugu prosody, like the Canarese prosody, is based on the Sanskrit model except in regard to the purely vernacular metres. All these systems are founded on the quantitative values of syllables. The unit of quantity is a Matra (Mora) which is the measure of a Laghu (Short). In terms of letters a laghu may be defined as a short vowel
