Atukuri Molla
Molla | |
|---|---|
| Native name | ఆతుకూరి మొల్ల |
| Born | Atukuri Molla Gopavaram, Kadapa |
| Pen name | Mollamamba |
| Occupation | Kummara (potter) |
| Language | Telugu |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Period | 16th century |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Subject | Telugu Ramayanam |
| Literary movement | Propagation of Sanatana Dharma |
| Notable works | Translated the Ramayanam from Sanskrit into Telugu |
| Notable awards | 'Kavi Ratna' |
Atukuri Molla (ఆతుకూరి మొల్ల) was a 16th-century Telugu poet who authored Molla Ramayanam, a Telugu-language version of Sanskrit Ramayana. Identified by her caste, she was popularly known as Kummari Molla. Mollamamba or Molla was the daughter of Kesana Setti who was a potter by profession.
While earlier historians placed her as a contemporary of Tikkana Somayaji during the times of Kakatiya empire, Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantul - in his Andhra Kavula Charitra - suggests that she was a contemporary of Sri Krishna Deva Raya, which seems to cast doubt on earlier claims that she was the sister of Kummara Gurunatha who was the scribe of Tikkana Somayaji in translating Mahabharata. Her salutations to poets like Srinatha who lived in the periods between the Kakatiya and Vijayanagara empires also suggest that they predated her.