Question

when did athukuri molla born???

Answer 1

Atukuri Molla (1440–1530) was one of the first poets who defied the existing norms of that era and translated Ramayana from Sanskrit to Telugu. Back in the day where women were scarcely educated, translating Ramayana is a big feat. Popularly addressed as Molla aka Mollamamba, she was born to a potters’ family in Kadapa district. Molla is the second female Telugu poet after Tallpaka Thimakka (wife of Annamacharya) who wrote Rukmini Kalyanam.

Molla’s father Kesana was a potter in Gopavaram, a village in Badvel mandal, eighty kilometres north of Kadapa. Kesana was a Shaivaite and an ardent devotee of Srikantha Malleswara (an incarnation of Lord Shiva). He named his daughter ‘Molla’ also for his ardent devotion to Shiva for Molla, means 'Jasmine', the favourite flower of Srikantha Malleswara. He also nicknamed her as Basavi in reverence to Basaveswara (another incarnation of Lord Shiva).