hAla's poems

Most of our classical literature is on gods, demons and kings. We find very little in it on the common man, his joys and sorrows as well as his feelings of love and longing. The only exceptions to this trend can be found in the old Tamil literature as well as in the poems of hAla, the SAtavahana emperor of the first century AD. Poems by him (and others) exist in the form of an anthology known as gAthAsaptaSati (Seven hundred poems in the gAtha metre). They are some of the finest poems in world literature. These were written in the prAkRta language called mahArAshTri (from which originated the present marAThI language). I have translated 106 poems from this collection into Telugu and English. Interested persons may read them at http://www.eemaata.com/em/category/library/gathasaptasati/ . I thoroughly enjoyed this exercise. Regards! - mOhana