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INTRODUCTION.

on the principles of the language. It[1] is stated that he executed this work by command of a king of Andhra, named Andhra royoodoo, son[2] of Soochundra who reigned at Siccacollum on the banks of the Krishna. On the death of Soochundra, Andhra-royoodoo quitted the capital of Siccacollum, and established his residence on the banks of the Godavery—possibly at Rajahmundry, which we afterwards find mentioned as the capital of the Kings of the Chalookia race. Many fabulous accounts of the feats of this prince are current in Telingana, and such has been the veneration of the people for his virtues, that they have deified him as an incarnation of the God Vishtnoo, in which character he is still worshipped at the ancient capital of Siccacollum[3] near Masulipatam.

The works of Kunva, of Audharvan Achary, and of several other ancient Grammarians, are not now to be found. All the treatises on Teloogoo grammar, at present extant, consist of Sanscrit commentaries, on a series of concise apothegms written in Sanscrit by a Bramin named Nannapa, or Nunniah Bhutt. The text of Nunniah Bhutt, as explained by his best commentators, has been my principal guide in the work which I now offer to the Public; but as the illustrations, comparisons, and arrangement of these Authors are borrowed exclusively from the language in which they compose, and from a system of grammar the most artificial perhaps ever invented by human ingenuity, I have adhered


  1. కణ్వస్తుయదాహ | ఆంధ్రవిష్ణోరనుజ్ఞాకృతస్య మద్వ్యాకరణస్యద్రోహీ గురుద్రోహీతి ||

    Kunva said, “He who speaks irreverently of my Grammar, composed by the command of Andhra Vishtnoo, shall be considered as guilty of irreverence to his Priest.” Andhra Cowmudi.
  2. ఆంధ్ర నాథో మహావిష్ణుర్నిశంభుదనుజాపహా | పురాస్వాయంభువమమోః కాలేకలియౌగేహరిః | కాకులేరాజవర్యస్యసుచంద్రస్యతనూభవః | అభవత్సర్వదేవైశ్చవేష్టితోలోకపూజితః ||

    Hari The King of Andhra, the great Vishtnoo, the destroyer of the giant Nishumbhoo, formerly, in the Caliyoog of the grand period called Swayumbhoova, was born as the son of the chief of kings Soochundra, ruling at Cacolum. Andhra Cowmudi. Then follows the passage quoted in the first note.
  3. In Teloogoo, the name of this place, and of Chicacole in the Ganjam District, are the same; but the two must not be confounded.