Nutana-kavi Suranna

Little is known about Suranna's life. He lived in the Vijayanagara Empire,^[1] and claimed to have been born in the family of the famous poet Tikkana.^[2] He highly praises the deity Bhimeshvara of Draksharamam (in present-day Andhra Pradesh).^[3]

Suranna mentions the 14th-century poet Nachana Somanatha in his book. A verse by Suranna is included in Pedapati Jagganna's anthology Prabandha-ratna-karamu (c. 1600 CE). This suggests that Suranna probably lived during the 15th-16th century.^[2] Estimates of his period include 1420–1475,^[4] 1425–1480,^[1] and c. 1550.^[3]

Suranna composed Dhanabhi-ramamu (or Dhanabhi-ramam) and a drama titled Vishnu-Maya-Vilasa. In Dhanabhi-ramamu, Manmatha (the god of love) and Kubera (the god of wealth) debate whether humans care more about beauty or wealth.^[4] In the end, the god Shiva resolves the dispute by stating that both looks and money are equally important.^[2] Besides its literary merits, the work is of historical interest as it provides information about the ornaments and dress of the contemporary period.^[1]