Andayya

Andayya (or Andaiah, Āṃḍayya, Kannada: ಆಂಡಯ್ಯ) was a notable 13th-century Kannada writer during the rule of the Hoysala empire. Andayya was a Jain by faith and came from a family of accountants. His most important extant work is the Kabbigara Kava ("Poets' Defender") which also goes by the names Sobagina Suggi ("Harvest of Beauty"), Madana Vijaya ("Triumph of Cupid") or Kavana Gella ("Cupid's Conquest") and was written in the 1217–1235 CE period.

Vocabulary

According to the historian Sastri, this writing is considered important in Medieval Kannada literature for its strict adherence to indigenous (desya) Kannada words and naturalised Sanskrit words (tadbhava) only, avoiding assimilated Sanskrit words (tatsamas) entirely. According to the scholar G. Varadaraja Rao of the Sahitya Akademi, Kannada writers of this time, such as Nayasena (author of Dhramamruta), had already begun avoiding the usage of Sanskrit words in their Kannada writings. In his opinion, Andayya's successful completion of this work furthered that cause and hence is a "great achievement".