author, and sometimes occurs, though rarely, among the Telugus of the present day. His family name he never discloses, and I hence imagine him to have been a Zangam: the sect of Sudras known by this name are seceders from the common religion ; they Worship Siva alone, and, on embracing the Zangam sect, they give up their family appellation, and are then usually called by the name of the sect alone. Their creed also corresponds with that taught by Vemana, and this is the only one not satirized by him.
Of his birth-place and circumstances very slight traditions have been preserved. He was by birth a capu or farmer. Some assert that he belonged to the family of Ana Vema Reddi, a chief in the candanul (or Curnool) country ; and the brother of the poet is said to have commanded the fort of Gandicota. Some believe him to have been a native of Crishtipad in Candanul; others, of Inaconda in Guntoor : and I have also heard it said, that he was born at Chitwel in the Cuddapa district; but I have had opportunities of enquiring at all these places, and have after all gained no information whatever. Yet his dialect in a few passages renders it probable that Vemana was a native of the south-western parts of Telingana, where these towns are situated : and it is believed that he lived about the beginning of the seventeenth century of our era.
This author is in Telugu literature what Lucian is in Greek - a familiar writer, useful to a beginner, though neither poetical nor classical. Very different indeed from the numerous refined compositions that adorn the lan-
