Two Bhaktas, One District: Revisioning Hagiography and Imagery in Telugu South India

Abstract

The hagiography of the bhakti poet is often times far more elaborate than their compositions and can even determine the interpretation of their poetic productions (Pechilis 2011). The hagiography can exceed the spaces of written or orally composed poetry to shape the visual imagery of the bhakti poet-saint. This article examines two such instances of constructed hagiography and visual imagery in Telugu-speaking southern India, namely those of Siddhendra and Kṣetrayya. Situated within a few kilometres of each other in what is now known as the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, Siddhendra and Kṣetrayya are imagined as paradigmatic bhakti poet-saints whose compositions are integral to Telugu arts and performance. The similarity in hagiography and visual imagery across these two figures is a direct byproduct of twentieth-century Telugu proponents who made concerted efforts to position Telugu arts within a pan-Indian modernist framework of bhakti. Telugu scholars and performers invoke bhakti discourses and imagery to frame both Siddhendra and Kṣetrayya as Telugu bhakti poet-saints. In doing so, Telugu proponents imbue their arts with religious weight, while also positing the Brahmin-dominated areas of the Krishna district as the heart of Telugu performance culture.