Palakuriki Somantha

Name: Palakuriki Somantha or Palakurti Somanatha (1160 AD to 1240 AD)
Birth Place and Residence : Palakurthi Village, Palakurthi Mandal, Jangaon District in Telangana State.
Parents: His father was Siva and his mother Parvati.
Teacher : Ivatuuri Somana
Books : Basava Purana and Panditaradhya Charitamu.

In his first book Anubhavasara in Telugu and even in his other Telugu work Basavapurana he mentions his mother is Parvati and father is Siva. 

Somanatha mentions in his Basava Purana Avatarika that he was a disciple of Kattakuri Potidevara. In the Introductory passages of his Panditaradhya Charitra, Somanatha mentions that he was the disciple of grand son of Balideva Vemaradhya.Somanatha's literary guru was Karasthali Viswanatha.

Life Period of Somantha

Maha Kavi Palkuriki Somanatha lived in Palakurthi between 1160 AD to 1240 AD. He was one of the most noted Telugu language writers of the 13th century. He was also an accomplished writer in Kannada and Sanskrit languages and penned several classics in those languages.

The main historical evidence for determining the date of Somanatha, remains his literary works and the works of his disciples like Pidaparti Somanatha, and others.
Basava Purana is a 13th-century Telugu epic poem. It was written by Palkuriki Somanatha. It is a sacred text of Lingayat. The epic poem narrates the life story of philosopher and social reformer Basava or Basavaṇṇa (c.1106–67/8), the founder of Lingayatism. Basaveswara was the Prime Minister in the court of Kalachuri Bijjala (1130–1167 CE) who ruled Kalyana Kataka. Bijjala in turn was originally a subordinate officer in the court of Kumara Tailapa III (1151 - 1156 AD) during the reign of Someswara III (1126 - 1138 AD) of Chalukya dynasty who was defeated and captured in 1137 A.D and later released by Prola II (1116 - 1158) of Kakatiya dynasty. This is clearly known from the Hanumakonda inscription. Therefore It Is evident that Sijjala and Basaveswara, Tailapa and Prola were contemporaries in 1137 A.D Ganapatideva (1199 - 1262) mentioned Somanatha in his "Sivayogasara".

Basava Puranam: In fact, Somanatha was a rebel poet and wrote literary works in original Telugu (Janu Telugu) neglecting the grammatical rules prescribed by Nannaya, the ‘Aadikavi’, during his days. Janu Telugu is Telugu that has the least Sanskrit diction and can be easily understood by commoners. Before Somana, there was no single poetic work in Telugu on contemporary social events. He wrote ‘Basava Puranam’ which was in ‘Janu Telugu’ in Dwipada (two lined verse) with the inspiration of Veera Saivism. It was a masterpiece appreciated by all poets and was translated into Kannada.

Panditaradhya Charitamu: Telugu book written by famous Saiva Poet Palakurki Somantha. This is a biography of saiva preacher Panditaradhya. This book gives some religious perspective during that period.

The presence of the samadhi at Palkuriki indicates that Somanatha led his last days in his native place and after his death a samadhi was constructed and a temple was made on it. Inside this temple a linga and nandi are installed. This linga is known as Somanatha linga.