Tikkana

Nannaya Bhattaraka, the first, translated two and a half chapters of Mahabharata. Tikkana translated the final 15 chapters, under the Kakatiya's tributary Cholas of Nellore but did not undertake translating the half-finished Aranya Parvamu. The Telugu people remained without this last translation for more than a century, until it was translated by Errana. Also called Tikkana Somayaji, as he completed the Somayaga. Titles were Kavibrahma and Ubhaya Kavi Mitrudu.

• Name — Tikkana Somayji • Pen Name — Tikkana (Thikka Sharma) • Born — 1205 • Birthplace — Paturu, Kovur, Nellore district, Kakatiya Kingdom • Died — 1288 • Place of death — Paturu, Kovur, Nellore district, Kakatiya Kingdom • Occupation — Poet • Notable Works — Andhra mahabharatam

Tikkana was born in 1205 in Patur village, Kovur, Nellore district during the Golden Age of the Kakatiya dynasty. During this time conflict occurred between the two sects of Sanātana Dharma, Shaivism and Vaishnavism. Tikkana attempted to bring peace to the warring Shivaites and Vaishnavites.

Tikkana was a minister of the Nellore Choda ruler Manuma-siddhi II. In 1248, Manuma-siddhi II faced multiple rebellions, and lost control of his capital. He faced Tikkana as an emissary to the court of his overlord, the Kakatiya king Ganapati-deva. Ganapati received Tikkana warmly, and sent an army that re-established Manuma-siddhi II on the throne of Nellore.

His writing style was mostly Telugu, unlike Nannayya whose work was mostly sanskritized. Tikkana used Telugu words even to express very difficult ideas. He used Telugu words and parables extensively. In the colophons of his work, Tikkana calls himself "a friend to both [kinds of] poets" (Ubhaya-kavi-mitra). The meaning of this phrase is not clear: it may refer to Sanskrit and Telugu poets; or Shaivite and non-Shaivite poets; or Brahmin and non-Brahmin poets; or folk poets and scholarly poets.