 Palkuriki Somanatha , a native of modern Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh , is considered one of the foremost multi @-@ lingual Shaiva ( or Shiva @-@ following ) poets of the 12th and 13th centuries . Historians are divided about the time and place of his birth and death and his original faith . He was adept in the Sanskrit , Telugu and Kannada languages . He was a devotee of Basavanna ( the founder of the Veerashaiva movement ) , and all his writings propagate that faith . It is generally accepted that he was born a brahmin and later adopted the Shaiva faith , although according to the scholar <unk> <unk> he was born a <unk> ( follower of the Shaiva faith ) . His time of birth has been identified as either the 12th century or late 13th century . In Kannada , his most important writings are <unk> , <unk> and <unk> . His well @-@ known poems , written in the ragale metre , are <unk> ragale , <unk> ragale and <unk> ragale . He is known to have <unk> many Vaishnava poets in debates . 
