


The advanced and well-developed language used by Nannaya suggests that Nannaya Mahabharatamu may not be the beginning of Telugu literature. He also holds the titles Shabda Sasanudu and Vaganu Sasanudu (Law giver of the language) after his Telugu grammar work Andhra Shabdha Chintamani. He is also known as Adi Kavi in recognition of his great literary work. This grammar followed the patterns which existed in grammatical treatises like Aṣṭādhyāyī and Vālmīkivyākaranam but unlike Pāṇini, Nannayya divided his work into five chapters, covering samjnā, sandhi, ajanta, halanta and kriya. There was no grammatical work in Telugu prior to Nannayya's "Andhra sabda chintamani".

The first treatise on Telugu grammar, the "Andhra Shabda Chintamani" was written in Sanskrit by Nannayya, who was considered first poet and translator of Telugu in the 11th century A.D. This work, which is rendered in the Champu style, is so chaste and polished and of such a high literary merit. Nannaya is held in high regard as the person who revived the Telugu language. 11th century AD) is the earliest known Telugu author, and the author of the first third of the Andhra Mahabharatamu, a Telugu retelling of the Mahabharata. Nannaya Bhattaraka ( Telugu: నన్నయ, sometimes spelled Nannayya) (ca. This article is about the Telugu author for the Mesopotamian goddess see Nanaya.
