Sumati Satakam

SumatiSatakam

According to many literary critics Sumati Satakam was reputedly composed by Baddena Bhupaludu (AD 1220-1280). He was also known as Bhadra Bhupala. He was a Chola prince and was a Vassal under the Kakatiya empress Rani Rudrama Devi during the thirteenth century. He was a pupil of Tikkana, the greatest writer in Telugu. If we assume that the Sumatee Satakam was indeed written by Baddena, it would rank as one of the earliest Satakams in Telugu along with Vrushadhipa Satakam of Palkuriki Somanatha and Sarveswara Satakam by Yathavakkula Annamayya. The Sumatee Satakam is also one of the earliest Telugu works to be translated in to European languages. C. P. Brown (1798-1884) rendered it in English in the 1840s.

Sumati Satakam has been extremely popular for a long time with parents and teachers who try to teach the right conduct and social values to young children. The language used is very simple. The poems have the musical quality of classical meters. Most of the words are simple Telugu. The use of Sanskrit words is very limited. There are hardly any words unfamiliar to modern readers. The poems do not look anything like the sophisticated compositions using the highly cultivated language of prabandhams. Since the Telugu used by the author is so close to what the common people used, the poems look surprisingly familiar to the users of the Telugu. The poems have an astonishing communication power. All the poems are in kanda padyam meter (Chandas). Being in short meter and being unconnected to each other the poems are easy to remember. Even if one does not remember the entire poem, it is commonplace to quote some gem like statements from the Satakam. Each generation of school children learns some of them during elementary and high schools.