Allasani Peddana was a great Telugu poet and fancied himself as 'Andhrakavitapitamaha' or the Creator of Telugu poetry. He was in Krishnadevaraya's court.
We get disturbed by propaganda and exaggerated hero worship when we see it with political leaders. In te age of democracy and equality it seems so baffling. We treat mere men as Gods. This probably has a genesis in the way in a feudal society we treated our kings. They were arbiters of justice, commanders of the army, divine inheritors who lived in the fanciest of palaces. They also had poets eulogising them to the skies.
Peddana's classic 'The Story of Manu' begins with a encomiums to the glory and prowess of the king. Some of it will embarrass even our most praise-hungry modern leaders.
" For one rich in such qualities,
for an expert rider adept at handling any sort of horse,
for one who is quiet at heart,
whose brilliant fame turned all space white,
whose sword is like a snake filling its belly with the life breaths
of enemies trembling the darkness caused by dust
kicked up by his horses' hooves in one continuous charge,
for Karma reborn, a paragon of the art of giving,
for one who is loyal to good people,
for the lover of lady poetry,
for one whose fame rolls like waves to the end of space,
makes the sun redundant,
who captured the son of the Kalinga king
in less than half a minute,
whose mind, with all its thoughts and words, rests at the feet
of Lord Venkatesvara, the ultimate source of kindness."
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