REGIONAL IDENTITY AND BEGINNINGS OF VERNACULAR LITERATURE 23 22. This aspect requires detailed study.^porthe nature of the feudal system in a neighboring regions see Shanna 1965:34,274ff. 23' The first Telugu poet Nannaya is himself the composer of the texts of two copperplate- inscriptions, the Nandamputi and the Manda plates. Both are in Sanskrit. Incidentally, the Nandamputi copper plate records the grant of that village to his friend Narayana Bhattu who helped Nannaya in the composition of the Telugu Mahabharata. 24. See Table 1. 25. For example, inscriptions from Draksaram, Bhimavaram. Sarpavaram, etc., in Radhakrishna 1971. 26. I feel that there is a need to make a more detailed analysis of this aspect. However, see the rise of such a class being indicated by some other clues too in Krishna Rao 1973:127 ft. 27 Most of the early Kannada poets were Jain» (e.g. Pampa, Ponna, Ranna, Nagavanna). In the history of Kannada literature, the early period is often called the 'Jaina Age." See Nayak and Venkatachala Sasliy 1975-81, vols. 1 and 2.