Exploring Nannaya’s Use of Meter in the Telugu Mahābhārata

This article centers on vṛtta (syllable-counting) and jāti (mora-counting) meters in the eleventh-century classical Telugu text Mahābhāratamu by Nannaya Bhaṭṭa. In particular, we focus on Nannaya’s use of sīsamu, a lengthier jāti meter that is emblematic of classical Telugu poetry beginning with Mahābhāratamu. We analyze Nannaya’s use of sīsamu in various sections in the text and suggest that Nannaya employs the lengthy sīsamu for its flexibility, either to advance the plot of his epic retelling or to provide a lengthy description of a particular figure or an object seen by a character in their surrounding landscape. Through his reliance on Telugu meters such as sīsamu, as well as the mora-counting meter kandamu and prose (vacanamu), Nannaya’s Mahābhāratamu advances a vernacular aesthetics, one that exists within and outside the boundaries of Sanskrit metrical frameworks.