Medieval India Medieval India refers to the era between the fall of the
Gupta Empire in the mid-6th century CE to the rise of the
Mughal Empire in the early 16th century CE. Avadhanam is noted at the time of the
Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent in the courts of the Turks.
Jain poets performed Avadhanam for Mughal emperors and their
subahdars (provincial governors). Those who performed at the court of
Akbar (Mughal emperor 1556 - 1605 CE) included Nandivijay (mentored by monk, Vijayasen Suri) who performed the Ashtavadhana form and Siddichandra (mentored by monk,
Hiravijaya Suri) who performed the Shatavadhana form, completing 108 simultaneous tasks. Both were well received. Siddhichandra was a guest of the Mughal court until late in the time of
Jahangir (Mughal emperor 1605 - 1627 CE).
19th and 20th centuries In the late 19th century, Telugu avadhana was popularized by
Tirupati Venkata Kavulu, the cousin duo Divakarla Tirupati Sastry (1871 - 1919) and Chellapilla Venkata Sastry (1870–1950). Their contemporaries include Kopparapu Sodara Kavulu, who was known for the rapidity of his compositions, and Venkata Raamakrishna Kavulu. Tirupati Venkata Kavulu mentored
Viswanatha Satyanarayana (1895 - 1976), a
Jnanpith Award winner (for contribution to literature), Subbanna Satavadhani and Paada Subrahmany Sastry.
Sathavathani Sheikh Thambi Pavalar (1874 - 1950) was a
Tamil poet. On 10 March 1907, he performed sathavadhanam at
Victoria Public Hall in
Chennai (formerly Madras). On 31 December 2008, Pavalar was honoured with the release of a commemorative postage stamp.
Shrimad Rajchandra (1867 - 1901) , also known as Param Krupalu Dev, was a
Gujarati Jain poet and shatavadhani whose skills impressed
Mahatma Gandhi. Vidwan Ambati Subbaraya Chetty (1906 - 1973) was an ashtavsdhani was an historian, poet, and
independence advocate. Under
British rule, in
Andhra Pradesh, he became the first district magistrate of Indian heritage in
Andhra Pradesh under
British rule. Pandit Veni Madhav Shukla was a scholar and shatavadhani from
Jaunpur. He was a relative of the Indian Hindu religious leader
Rambhadracharya. From 18 February 2007 to 20 March 2007,
Medasani Mohan (born 1955) performed an avadhanam called
Apoorva Pancha Sahasra Avadhanam. It is seen as record breaking and an exemplar of several forms of poetry such as
seesa padya,
champakamala,
sardulam,
mattebhavikriditha, and
thetageetha. The questioners included at least 1000 poets and 4000 scholars. The subjects of poetry included untouchability, AIDs, women's power, the internet, computers, students and so on.
Gadiyaram Ramakrishna Sarma (1919 - 2006) was a poet, social reformer and independence advocate from Alampur,
Andhra Pradesh performed avadhaanam. He is known for his efforts to revive the temples of Alampur. Perala Bharata Sarma was a late 20th century academic in the field of
Sanskrit literature who performed ashtavadhanams.
21st century Telugu avadhanis Medasani Mohan (b. 1955) is referred to as
Apoorva Pancha Sahasravadhana Sarvabhouma for being the first to perform a pancha sahasra avadhanam (an avadhanam with 5000 questioners). He has performed a very large number of a variety of avadhanam.
Garikapati Narasimha Rao (b. 1958) is referred to as
Maha Sahasraavadhani and
Dhaarana Brahma Raakshasa for his achievements
. He is the author of
Saagara Ghosha. Rallabandi Kavitha Prasad (1961 - 2015) was a director of the department of culture in Andhra Pradesh performed many avadhanams of various types and developed the
vidya form.
Osmania University in
University awarded him a
doctoral degree for his
thesis on avadhanam vidya. Prasad wrote an
anthology of modern poetry titled
ontari poola butta and books including
Kadambini. Akella Bala Bhanu is a Sanskrit
lecturer at Aditya Junior College in
Amalapuram. She performed an ashtaavadhanam in
Kovvur, Andhra Pradesh at 18 years of age. Bhanu is the first and only female Shathhavadhani. She is related to Bharatam Srimannayarana Garu and Yeluripati Anantaramayya Garu.
Asavadi Prakasarao (1944 - 2022) was mentored by CV Subbanna. Prakasarao, a member of the marginalised
Dalit caste performed his first avadhanam at 19 years of age. Madakasira Krishna Prabhavathi is a Telugu author who was a principal at the Government Railway Junior College in
Guntakal. Other contemporary Telugu adhavanis include, Madugula Nagaphani Sarma, Amudala Murali, Vaddiparti Padmakar (a tribhasha sahasravadhani who is multilingual), Kadimella Vara Prasad, Gannavaram Lalit Aditya (a Vasma Foundation Yuvasiromani Award winner from the United States), Bulusu Aparna (a Sanskrit Teacher in Tirumala), and Dorbhala Prabhakara Sarma.
Sanskrit and Kannada avadhanis Shatavadhani Ganesh (R. Ganesh) (b. 1962) is a prolific and multilingual avadhani. He introduced
chitra-kavya to the art of avadhanam. Pandit Sudhakar Kallurkar, an avadhani from the Uttarhadi Hindu monastery performed for
Satyatma Tirtha (b. 1973). Vid. Gundibailu Subrahmanya Bhat from
Udupi, is a scholar of the
vedanta philosophy and has achieved a vidwath certification in Hindu classical voice. He performs in Sanskrit and Kannada.
Tamil avadhanis Rama. Kanaga Subburathinam performs sodasa avadhani (one with sixteen skills).
Jain avadhanis Muni Manak Maharaj is a multilingual avadhani from
Sujangarh who was mentored by
Acharya Tulsi. He has knowledge of astrology, palmistry and numerology. Muni Rajkaran (b.
Rajasthan 1927) was a widely travelled monk mentored by
Acharya Tulsi. With knowledge of Jain
Agamas, Sanskrit and
Prakrit he performed 500 or more avadhanams on one day. Muni Mahendra Kumar (b. 1937) became a monk in 1957, a contemporary of Acharya Tulsi and Acharya Mahaprajna. He on the faculty of the Jain Vishva Bharati Institute,
Ladnu. He instructs in
Jain (Preksha) meditation. Kumar is the author of the
cosmology texts including
The Enigma of the Universe and
Vishva Prahelika in Hindi. He has performed shatavadhana at universities and international conferences. Muni Ajitchandra Sagar (b. 1988) is mentored by Acharya Shree Naychandrasagarji Mharaj. He performs samyukta avadhanas, mahashatavadhana, netravadhana (use of the eyes) and ganitavadhana (mathematics). in 2009, he demonstrated the shatavadhana at a Jain Doctors' Federation conference in Ahmedabad. In 2012, in
Mumbai, Sagar demonstrated the dvishatavadhana, hearing 200 questions including puzzles, names of objects, places and persons, Sanskrit shlokas, factual and philosophical questions, foreign language words and complex mathematical problems with closed eyes. Sagar holds the
Guinness world record for being the world's second-fastest speaker. ==References==