Kavi Muddana – Nandalike Lakshminarayaniah

Kavi Muddana whose real name was Nandalike Lakshminarayaniah (1870-1901) is considered as the Harbinger of Renaissance in modern Kannada literature. He is called the Dawn Heralding Cock of Modern Kannada Literature by discerning critics. He heralded the new era of prose by claiming that poetic genre was dead and ‘prose was dear to human heart’ in his prose epic Shree Ramashvamedham.

Muddana was born in Nandalike, a small historic village Karkalju Udupi district in Karnataka on 24 January, 1870. He passed away on 15 February 1901. He was dejected, friendless, penny less and less known when he breathed his last in the small town of Udupi. He was suffering from tuberculosis which was a killing disease in those days. He was one of the best writers and scholars of his day; but unfortunately this was not acknowledged during his lifetime.

To a great extent, he himself was responsible for this as he had submitted his great works for publication saying that he had found the manuscripts of works by a comparatively ancient poet called Muddana in the possession of some unknown people. Reason for this impersonation is believed to be his fear that the publishers might reject the manuscripts written by a ‘drill master’. However after his death, great tribute was paid by the Kannada literary world to this luckless master poet. After the death of Nandalike Lakshminarayaniah the admirers and the general public of the Udupi district gradually began to realise that Muddana was none other than Nandalike himself. Muddana has written three modern epics called Shree Ramashvamedham, Adbhuta Ramayanamand Shree Rama Pattabhishekam.