Muddana was a Kannada poet, writer a Yakshagana poet. He was also known as Mahakavi or Mahakavi Muddana. His name at birth was Lakshmi Naaranappa. His birthplace being Nandalike, he is sometimes also known as Nandalike Lakshminaaranappa. His best known works include Ratnavati Kalyaana, Sri Rama Pattaabhisheka, Adbhuta Ramayana and Sri Ramashwamedha.He coined the wordKannadam Kasthuriyanthe, where he heartily compares his beloved language Kannada to Kasthuri. Suffering poverty and poor health, Muddana died at the age of 31. His literary works have been used extensively in Kannada literary educational books.
As a young man, Muddana was modesty and shy. He therefore published some of his initial works anonymously. These published literary works include Adbhuta Ramayanam, Sri Rama Pattabhishekam, ಹಾಗೂ Sri Ramashwemedham. Muddana had informed to the publisher that, these works were written by ancient people and that he got these works through his ancestors, and that he did not have any kind of additional information. In the years 1895, 1896 and 1899–1901, these literary works were first published by M.A. Ramanuja Iyyangar and S.G. Narasimhachar of Mysore, Karnataka in their magazines Karnataka Kavya Manjari and Karnataka Kavya Kalaanidhi. Muddana had already sent several of his other works for publishing, in the name of "ancient works", that helped the publisher to believe even these three important works to be of ancient origin and not from Muddana. His authorship was still unknown at the time of his death in 1901. It emerged in 1929, when Central College Karnataka Association in Bangalore published its Muddana Commemorative Edition book. At that time, Muddana's friends, fellow writers such as Panje Mangesharaya, BenegalRama Rao, Hurali Bheema Rao, Malali Subba Rao gathered and aggregated all the information they had about Muddana, and proved that those three literary works were indeed written by Muddana and no one else. In the story Muddana Manorameya Sarasa sallapa, during one night sweet conversation with his beloved wife Manorame, who was requesting him to say romantic stories instead of traditional stories. He heartily compares his beloved language Kannada to Kasthuri., which tells us the love, affection,gratitude he had for Kannada language.He says Kannada smells so pleasantly as kasthuri.
Muddana Jayanti is celebrated every year in Muddana's birthplace of Nandalike in Karnataka. In 1979, under the leadership of Nandalike Balachandra Rao, a cultural board Kavi Muddana Smaraka Mitra Mandali was formed as a memorial for Muddana. Also, Muddana Memorial building was constructed in 1987.
