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<

He was also a Yakshagana poet, i.e., one who composes plays in poetry for the typical theatre called Yakshagana of coastal Karnataka. His works Rathnavathi Kalyanaand and Kumara Vijaya are considered unparalleled Yakshagana poetic works. Apart from these works Muddana had edited and composed traditional songs to be sung on different occasions. He is said to have half finished a modern novel and was compiling an encyclopedia at the time of his death. His relatives who believed that his death was due to his excessive studies, angrily burnt all his unpublished manuscripts after his death. Nevertheless whatever remains today is enough to place Muddana as one of the all time greats of Kannada literature.

Literary Works
Muddana’s most famous literary works include Ratnavati Kalyana (Yakshagana play)
Kumara Vijaya (Yakshagana play)
Sri Rama Pattaabhishekam (Poetry in Vardhaka Shatpadi format)
Adbhuta Ramayanam (Gadya Kavya)
Sri Ramashwedham (Gadya Kavya)

In Popular culture
Muddana Jayanti (“Muddana Birth Anniversary”) is celebrated every year in Muddana’s birthplace of Nandalike in Sri Mahalingeswara Higher Primery School Nandalike Karnataka (1958 to 1979). In 1979, under the leadership of Nandalike Balachandra Rao, a cultural board Kavi Muddana Smaraka Mitra Mandali was formed as a memorial for Muddana. Also, Muddana Memorial building (Kavi Muddana Smaraka Bhavana) was constructed in May 16th 1987.