TENALI RAMAN

                           Garlapati Tenali Ramakrishna , popularly known as Tenali Rama and Vikata Kavi, was a court-poet of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 16th century . He was one of the Ashtadiggajas who belonged to the court of Krishnadevaraya in Vijayanagar.  His family had originally hailed from Tumuluru near Tenali in Guntur District. He was also known as Tenali Ramalinga, a Shaiva name. There is a conflict on going in between mahamantri Thimmarusu and Tenali Ramalinga as thimmarusu is vaishnava and he is shiva.It is believed that he later converted to Vaishnavism.
Some scholars dispute whether that he was a contemporary of Krishnadeva Raya. Tenali Ramakrishna's most famous work, Panduranga Mahatyamu, is dedicated to god Panduranga (विठोबा in Marathi), a form of Vishnu, whose main temple stands at Pandharpur in Maharashtra. He was known for his wit. He died due to a snake-bite.
His story was made into a cartoon called "The Adventures of Tenali Raman" by the Cartoon Network (India) in 2001.

 His works

Scholars treat his famous work Panduranga Mahatyamu as one among the Pancha Kavyas. He has dedicated Panduranga Mahatyam to Viruri Vedadri. ^[3] This book is about the Pundarika Kshetram on the banks of river Bhaimi and its legend. He also composed Udbhataradhya Charitram on the story of Udbhata, a monk, as well as Ghatikachala Mahatyam about Ghatikachalam, a place of worship for God Narasimha near Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.

 Style

     He followed the Prabhanda style. He took the theme for Panduranga Mahatyam from the Skanda Purana and enhanced it with many stories about the devotees of God Vitthala (Panduranga).
He is noted for brilliance and wit and for mocking other poets and great personalities. He created a celebrated character called Nigama Sarma akka (sister of Nigama Sarma) and a story around her without giving her a name. He also had written many Chatuvu (extempore poems).

 Titles

• He was called a vikatakavi  (a phonetic palindrome) meaning clown-jester-poet.
• Kumara Bharathi