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Monday, September 6, 2010

Telugu poets in Indian literature

Telugu poets in indian literature

Nannaya, Tikkana & Errana (11th - 14th century): Known as the Kavya Traya or the 'Trinity of Telugu Literature' these three poets are the composers of the Andhra Mahabharata, a replica of the Sanskrit Mahabharata. Nannaya is acclaimed as the Adi Kavi or the first poet of Telugu literature. Most of Telugu literature begins with this massive epic transcreated by these three great sage-scholars
TIKKANA
NANNAYA

Gonabudda Reddy (13th century): Gonabudda Reddy is known for his Ranganatha Ramayanam which is a pioneering work on the theme of Ramayana in Telugu. The whole work comprises seven khandas (parts). The work has become a part of the Andhra cultural life and is also used by puppeteers for their shows

Srinathudu (14th century): A poet of immense calabre Srinathudu lived in the 14th century. His poetic works include Marutarat-charitra (Tale of King Marutta),Saalivahana Sapta Sati (100 tales of Saalivahana), Palanaati Veera Charitra (Tale of Heroes of Palnatu), Kasi Khandam (Legends of Kasi), Bheema Khandam and Hara Vilasam (The Glory of Lord Shiva) which is considered to be an outstanding piece of literature.

Bammera Potana (15th century): Potana, who lived in the later part of the 15th century is believed to be the author of Narayana Satakamu (The Hundred Verses of Narayana), Veerabhadra Vijayamu (Tale of Victoroius Veerabhadra), Bhogini Dandakamu (The Poem of Bhogini) and also the great classic Andhra Mahabhagavathamu (The Mahabhagvatam of Andhra). It is a Telugu rendering of the Srimad Bhagvatam of Ved Vyasa. This book of Potana is known for its excellent narrative style and the art of versification.

Sri Krishnadevaraya (16th century): A renowned emperor of the famous Vijaynagar kingdom, Sri Krishnadevaraya is also known for his great epic Amukta Malyada (A Garland Dedicated to the Lord). The whole work of Amukta Malyada has a grand poetic style and the work blends the eternal and the temporal in a masterly fashion even as it unfolds an interesting tale.

Pingaliu Soorana (16th century): Soorana was a pioneering figure in the field of Telugu classical poetry of the medieaval age. He has to his credit mainly three works Raghavapandaviyam a dyvarthi-kavya, Kalapurnodayam (Full Blooming of Art) and Prabhavati Pradyumnam. Kalapurnodayam has been hailed as the first original poetic novel in Telugu literature.
Paravastu Chinnayya Soori (1807-1861) Who does not know Sri Chinnayasoori among us? He was one of the most famous pandits of the 19th century. He was born in 1807 in Perambur of Chengalpattu distt. and died in 1861. He was a Saivaite. Sri Cninnayasoori was a Telugu pandit in the Govt. college of Madras. He dedicated his entire life to the progress and promotion of Telugu language and literature.
Sri Chinnayasoori wrote the baala vyaakaranamu in a new style after doing extensive research on "Andhra Grammar" which is the greatest gift to all of us. One can not come across any one who has not studied his grammar on the entire Andhra soil. Other well-known writings by Chinnayasoori are: (1) Neetichandrika (2) Sootandhra Vyaakaranamu (3) Andhra Dhatumoola and (4) Neeti Sangrahamu.
Chinnayasoori translated Mitra labham and Mitra Bedham from the sanskrit "panchatantram" as "neeti chandrika". Moonlight of Morals is the English meaning of the Telugu word Neeti Chandrika. Later, Veeresa lingam translated Sandhi and Vigraham . No one translated the fifth tantram, viz., kakolukeyam.
Chinnayasoori's writing style is the most classical one. Several writers tried to follow his style of writing Telugu but failed desperately. The stylistic elegance in his prose is unparallel to any other known, even today. Sri Kandukuri Viresalingam and Sri Kokkonda Venkataratnam followed Chinnayasoori's style of prose writing and wrote Vigrahamu and Sandhi in a different pattern. But, they were unable to provide the depth of style of Chinnayasoori's prose writing to the readers.
Many of us might have read the Neetichandrika as the text book at the high school level. Those who do not have good command over the Telugu language will also be enthusiastic to read the Neetichandrika. Chinnayasoori's intention in writing the Neetichandrika was not only to translate the honey of morals into telugu but to enlighten the readers with the cool rays of Telugu language which is ever glowing. Sri T. Balanagayyasetti was fortunate to publish this famous classic, the Neetichandrika, and above all we are more fortunate to read it. (based on Vidwan Dandipalli Venkatasubbasastri's preface from Neetichandrika in Telugu. Posted in Soc.culture.indian.telugu by PALANA.)
Gurajada Venkata Appa Rao (1862-1915): Hailed as the father of Modern Telugu literature, G.V.Appa Rao blazed a new ttail in play-writing as also in poetry and short story Kanyasulkam (Bride-Price) is one of his outstanding plays. It was the harbringer of modernism of Telugu literature.
Sri Gurajada Apparao was a social reformer, poet, writer, philosopher, and a friend. He was born in 1863 in Rayavaram of Visakhapatnam distt.. He graduated from the Maharaja's College (MR COLLEGE) of Vizianagaram, the so called VIDYANAGARAM of ANDHRA where he synthesized de novo the greatest of his writings which are superb, unforgettable, and immortal. "dESamanTE maTTika'dOy - dESamanTE manushulOy" has had been shacking the hearts of every Telugu soul, whether literate or illiterate.
The style of Gurajada's poetry, neither pedantic nor enigmatic, but was the purest, crystal clear, lucid, and vivaceous. His poems awaken the weeklings even and energize them. Gurajada's intellectual creativity gave us a keepsake, historical landmark, and a precious literary diamond - "KANYASULKAM" play.
It is one and the only book in Telugu in which dedication and preface were written in English (there may be others in existence, but they mushroomed afterwards). On the 13th of August, 1992, "Kanyasulkam" celebrated its 100th birthday, eversince it was staged for the first time.
"Kanyasulkam" centenary celebrations were held at Gurajada's residence in Vizianagaram. Poets and writers from various places in Andhra held literary discourses on Gurajada's works. On the 76th death anniversary of Sri Gurajada, Sri Jonnalagadda Somayajulu and his party performed the "Kanyasulkam" play. Sri Jonnalagadda Ramanamurty, well known for his Girisam role in the play, was honored.
Sri Gurajada wrote the "Kanyasulkam" in 1869 for an excellent cause - social reformism. Girls at ten years of age were married to men of 65 years of age or older in return the girls' parents used to receive a sum of Rs 1000/- or more. This unfortunate act of selling young girls who did not either attain mental maturity or puberty to men (ready to be buried under 6 feet of mud) performed by their ignorant parents can be envisioned in this play, even now. No where in this entire world, a play like this or similar to this, was ever written.
One will be surprised to know that the era of Modern Telugu Literature was born from Gurajada's pen and his "Kanyasulkam". "Kanyasulkam" was performed for the first time by the "Jagannadha Vilasini Sabha" of Vizianagaram in 1892.  (Contributed by Palana)
Unnava Lakshminarayana (1877-1959): Known for his famous novel Mala Palli (The Harijan Colony), Lakshminarayana was also an ardent freedom fighter who launched a crusade against untouchability. The novel combines within itself both social realism and spiritual idealism, a rare combination to be found in a single novel.
RAYAPROLU SUBBA RAO
Rayaprolu Subba Rao (1892-1984): Rayaprolu is hailed as one of the pioneers of modern Telugu literature.Lalitha, Andhravali, Truna Kankanam (Grass Bracelet), Kashta Kamala (Kamala in Distress), Ramyalokam (Aesthetic Perception) and Jadakutchulu (Braid Ornaments) are some of his principal works. Andhravali si considered as the watershad in Telugu literature for its modernity of themes such as naturalism, rural life, platonic love, a sense of history and fierce nationalism.
VISWANATHA SATYANARAYANA
Viswanatha Satyanarayan (1895-1976): Won the Jnanpith award for his Ramayana Kalpa Vriksham and is the author of more than a 100 works. He won the Sahitya Academy Award for his Madhyakkaras and also was conferred the title of Padma Bushan..His Veyi Padagalu (A Thousand Hoods) is the most outstanding of his novels.

Nori Narasimha Sastry (1900-1980): N.N Sastry was a poet, novelist, dramatist, essayist, critic and translator. A versatile and prolific writer, he laid his hands on all the literary genres, but it was the novel and particularly the historical novel which brought him fame and popularity. Narayanabattu, Rudramadevi and Mallareddiare are the major novels penned by him. The uniqueness of his novels is that each novel has a great poet as its central character.
Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao (1909): A prolific story writer, Rao produced 400 stories..His principal works are Chadvvu, Braduku Bhayam, Kalalushastriya Vijnanam, Kalabhairavudu and Karunyam.

GOPICHAND
Tripuraneni Gopichand (1910-1962): Telugu novelist, short story writer, editor, essayist, playwright and film director, Gopichand's writings are ramarkable for an interplay of values, ideas and 'isms' -- materialism, rationalism, existentialism, realism and humanism. He is celebrated for his second novel Asamardhuni Javayatra (The Incompetent's Life Journey).This is the first psychological novel in Telugu literature.

SRI SRI
Srirangam Srinivasarao (1910-1983): Known for the landmark anthology Mahaprasthanam (The Great March), Srinivasarao was a pioneer of the progressive poetry in Telugu. His poetry took an amazing leap and astounding depth when he wrote the Desa Charitralu (History of Nations). He was acknowkedged as Mahakavi of the New Proletarian Age.

Puttaparthi Narayanacharya (1914-1990): Narayanacharya was a front-ranking classical poet, literary critic, composer, musicologist, translator and polyglot. He has about 50 works of poetry to his credit.. Considered an authority on the history and literature of the Vijaynagar period, he has written in Telugu extensively on Sanskrit, Prakrit, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam literatures..He has about 3000 musical compositions in Telugu and Sanskrit to his credit and 200 of them have been notated by himself. He had the unique and ironic experience of having written a poetic work called Penugonda Lakshmi at the age of 14, prescribed as a text when he took the Vidwan examination in his thirtees. Shivathandavam (The Cosmic Dance of Shiva) is the most representative of his genius.

Baliwada Kantharao (1927): Kantharao is the author of many works including Vamsadhara and Daga Padina Tammudu (The betrayed Younger Brother) and also hundreds of stories.
Vasireddy Seethadevi (1933): Seetahdevi is an acclaimed writer in Telugu. She has published around 40 novels and 10 short story collections. Mattimanishi (Son of Mother Earth) is one of her best novels. The novel is a landmark in modern Telugu fiction.
Yogi Vemana :
YOGI VEMANA
Of Vemana's history, little is known. He was not a Brahmin but a capoo, or a farmer; a native of Cuddapah district and born, I believe, in the neighborhood of Gandicotta. He lived in the beginning of the eighteenth century. It is said that in a verse he has fixed the date of birth which is believed to have been his own. This date coincides with A.D. 1652. The date is given in the cycle of sixty years; but which cycle is intended is unknown. Many verses, however, prove satisfactorily that he wrote in the latter part of the 17th century when the Mohamedans were governors of that part of India. His family was powerful, but that he renounced the world and became a sanyasee or ascetic. He calls himself a yogee.
The verses communicate hardly any idea of his history or connections, and like all solitary ascetics (sanyasees or yogees) he has dropped his family name - calling himself simply "Vemana" or "Vema" at pleasure. This solitary life has led him to address all the verses to himself, which, if this be not recollected, certainly looks like the grossest egotism. This practice is far indeed from being peculiar to Vemana.
The names Vema and Vemana do not appear to be used by the Telugus of the present day. Vema or Vemana in Sanskrit signify a loom. I believe these names to have been practical titles alone, without a definite meaning. Thus it is well known that the titles or names of Dante and Hafiz were not original names of those poets; the first of whom was named Durante or Durando and the second Muhammed Shemsuddin.
These poems have attained very great popularity and parts are found translated into Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada. Their terse closeness of expression sometimes renders them difficult to translate with elegance, but such passages exemplify the manly force of a language that in the common dialect is often weak and verbose.
Of his aphorisms many have become common proverbs. Parts of them are evidently close translations from Sanskrit works, particularly the Hitopadesa and Bhagavat Gita. In a few of thes every word is pure Sanskrit.
Vemana was evidently, in philosophy, of the Vedanta school, a disciple of VYASA, whom Sir William Jones has (in the Asiatic Researches, Vol. I) entitled the Plato of India. With the mystic tents of Plato, those of Vemana closely correspond while his moral doctrines as closely answer to those of DEMOCRITUS.

8 comments:

  1. Seshendra is a colossus of modern Indian Poetry.
    His literature is a unique blend of the best of poetry and poetics.
    His poetry website Seshendra : Visionary poet of the millennium
    http://seshendrasharma.weebly.com
    This site presents essence and spirit of the millennium in a powerful poetic style.

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  2. Seshendra Sharma
    October 20th,1927 - May 30th ,2007
    An Indian poet Prophet
    Visionary Poet of the Millennium
    http://seshendrasharma.weebly.com/
    Rivers and poets
    Are veins and arteries
    Of a country.
    Rivers flow like poems
    For animals, for birds
    And for human beings-
    The dreams that rivers dream
    Bear fruit in the fields
    The dreams that poets dream
    Bear fruit in the people-
    * * * * * *
    The sunshine of my thought fell on the word
    And its long shadow fell upon the century
    Sun was playing with the early morning flowers
    Time was frightened at the sight of the martyr-
    - Seshendra Sharma



    Parents: G.Subrahmanyam (Father) , Ammayamma (Mother)
    Siblings: Anasuya,Devasena (Sisters),Rajasekharam(Younger brother)
    Wife: Mrs.Janaki Sharma
    Children: Vasundhara , Revathi (Daughters),Vanamaali , Saatyaki (Sons)


    Seshendra Sharma better known as Seshendra is a colossus of Modern Indian poetry.
    His literature is a unique blend of the best of poetry and poetics.

    Diversity and depth of his literary interests and his works
    are perhaps hitherto unknown in Indian literature.

    From poetry to poetics, from Mantra Sastra to Marxist politics
    his writings bear an unnerving print of his rare Genius.
    His scholarship and command over Sankrit, English and Telugu Languages has facilitated
    his emergence as a towering personality of comparative literature in the 20th Century World literature.
    T.S.Eliot , Archbald Macleish and Seshendra Sharma are trinity of world poetry and Poetics.

    His sense of dedication to the genre of art he chooses to express himself and
    the determination to reach the depths of subject he undertakes to explore
    place him in the galaxy of world poets / world intellectuals

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  3. Ramayana, a replica of Vedas
    S. VARADARAJAN
    There are several versions of the Sri Ramayana, one of the two greatest epics. Following Sri Valmiki Ramayana several editions have been published in various languages, besides scores of commentaries written across centuries. Late. Gunturu Seshendra Sharma, scholar poet of 20th Century unearthed secrets of the Ramayana through his popular Telugu book “Shodasi”.
    The novelty of nomenclature Shodasi , called Sri Vidya is reflected , in the 16th Chapter . Sharma’s intellectual depth comes forth in analyzing Sundara Kanda specially through Kundalini Yoga . The author highlights hidden truth in Valmiki’s thought that is similar to Vedas and says that Trijata’s dream in Sundara Kanda reflects Gayatri Mantra of 32 Syllabi in 4 lines. Sharma pays rich encomiums in the description of Lanka surrounded by three impregnable borders. He compares these three borders with Trikuta viz... Shakti , Kaamaraaja , Vagbhava Kutas with those of Sri Vidya in Kundalini . A staunch believer of Vedas, the author feels that Ramayana is a replica of Vedas and oriented towards the character of Indra . He concludes that in Ramayana the mentioning of the supreme God is Indra and not Vishnu, as the presiding deity of valour in Vedas. Utterances of the word Vishnu were considered to be imaginary overstatements in the author’s view.
    This book lends a new perspective to the Ramayana by adding the dimension of Kundalini Yoga .
    The foreword by Vishwanatha Satyanarayana adds credibility to the book. The current work is an English translation of the original by Gurujada Suryanarayana Murthy , a scientist by profession . His proficiency in the subject is evident in the translation throughout that doesn’t swerve from the original’s purport.
    The Hindu
    (Friday Review: 2nd October 2015)
    ---------
    www.facebook.com/shodasi/

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  4. Namaste
    Please read this article:

    https://telanganatoday.com/poetry-way-life-sons-touching-tribute-litterateur-gunturu-seshendra-sharma

    Regards

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  5. THE BURNING SUN
    I am the drop of sweat, I am the sun
    Rising from the hills of human sinews,
    Hearts are my friends
    I live in the city of sufferings
    Although in my fist, I hold an ocean of history
    I sculptured man silently –
    Wings that carried birds
    Did not bring them back;
    I am drinking thick darkness
    In the haunts of those forests
    Which cry out in agony for the birds
    That did not return;
    Clutching at the garment woven of memories
    I twine myself to the feet of my country.
    Heads that were hanging to the trees
    Smile as flowers today in the branches
    Hearts that received the bullets
    Ring in temples of our land like bells;
    Blood of theirs nights squeezed and offered
    By how many to bring forth this day;
    They are hanging like icicles
    On the ridges of our roofs;
    Look, it is an iron fist I have;
    I shall excavate the flame of light
    From the rocks of time –
    I will set fire to the sleep of resisting centuries –
    To the rivers that run in passion after the sea
    I cry halt, command them
    To paint the colourless arid lands in green,
    Invite back the smile which fled away
    In terror from this land,
    To the butterfly trudging hungrily for a flower
    I shall give a garden –
    Come children, eat
    Bits of nights dipping them in moonlight,
    I shall not allow the sun to cheat this sacred day;
    If he wakes not on the horizon of this land
    I shall tear my burning heart
    And put it in its place
    With the scarlet of my living flesh
    Illuminate the earth
    I am the drop of sweat, I am the sun
    Rising from the hills of human sinews –
    - Seshendra Sharma http://seshendrasharma.weebly.com
    https://www.facebook.com/GunturuSeshendraSharma/
    -This is the 1st poem in Seshendra Sharma’s second anthology of prose poems titled “The Burning Sun “
    - In his intro to The Burning Sun Seshendra says there has been an uninterrupted undercurrent in his life as a poet , that is his life nerve and that has assumed total expression in this poem



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