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Kshetrayya (c. 1600–1680) was a prolificTelugu poet.[1] He lived in the area of what is nowAndhra Pradesh inSouth India. He composed a number ofpadams andkeertanas, the prevalent formats of his time. He is credited with more than 4000 compositions, although only a handful have survived. He composed his songs on his favourite deityKrishna (Gopala) inTelugu.
He was born to Telugu Brahmin family in a village calledMovva (or Muvva),Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh. His parents named him Varadayya. Because of his habit of traveling from one place to another singing his songs at temples, he came to be calledKshetragna orKshetrayya (one who travels). He married Mohanangi (who is a Devadasi). He learned his music from guru VenkaTamakhi (author of 72-melakartha scheme).
He perfected thepadam format that is still used today. Hispadams are sung in dance (Bharatanatyam andKuchipudi) and music recitals. A unique feature of his padams is the practice of singing theanupallavi first then thepallavi (second verse followed by first verse). Most of the padams are of the theme of longing for the coming of the LordKrishna.
He wrote withSringara as a main theme in expressingmadhurabhakti (devotion to the supreme). Sringara is a motif where the mundane sexual relationship between a Nayaki (woman) and a Nayaka (man) is used as a metaphor, denoting the yearning ofjeeva (usually depicted as the Nayaki) to unite with the divine (usually depicted as the man). In most of his compositions, Kshetrayya has used themudra (signature) "Muvva Gopala" as a reference to himself, which is also a name for the LordKrishna in Kshetrayya's village Muvva in Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh State, now called asMovva.
Kshetrayya's work has played a major role in influencing poetry, dance, music of the South Indian tradition. Kshetrayya was intimately connected with thedevadasi women of the temples of south India, who were the subject of many of his compositions. The devadasis traditionally possessed the musical/poetic interpretations of his work for a long period till the devadasi system was abolished and the compositions became more accepted in the musical community as valuable works of art. The musical community owes a lot to the legendaryVeena Dhanammal,T. Brinda,T. Muktha,T. Balasaraswathi and T. Jayammal, who popularized Kshetrayya's songs with their beautiful musical interpretation.
Kshetrayya's padams now form an integral part of the dance and musical traditions of South India, where his songs are rendered purely as musical works or as accompaniments to dance.
Mahakavi Kshetrayya is a 1976 Telugu film produced byAnjali Pictures and starringAkkineni Nageswara Rao andAnjali Devi. The film's soundtrack was sung byV. Ramakrishna and composed byP. Adinarayana Rao.
The life of Kshetragna is depicted in the novelBliss Of Life by M. V. Rama Sarma, professor of English and former vice chancellor, S.V. University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. It is translated into Telugu with the titleKshetrayya.