Imitation by Telugu Writers
RAJENDRA_TUNUG...@opnmail1.corp.hp.com
This is in connection with somebody's posting few days back that
most of the telugu writers imitated somebody-else!!!
Let us examine the telugu literary history. The telugu literary
history roughly started with nannaya who started "andhra maha
bharatam" writing. He had great respect for the kannada a'dikavi
pampa who had already translated mahabharat into kannada by the
name "vikramarjuna vijayam". But, nannaya surely didnt imitate
either pampa or vyasa in his poems. There are few reasons to
substantiate this. First, nannaya & pampa translated mahabharatam
due to different reasons. Pampa, being a jain, translated mahabharat
as an academic interest & he had tried to show his king "arikesari"
equalling to arjuna of mahabharata. Nannaya, being a staunch vaidiki,
translated the epic to bring the folks who are diverting towards
other religions back into hindu. Also, he wrote his kavya with lots
of bhakti. Next, nannaya tried to cut-short already very big (around
1 lakh slokas) mahabharat and make it more simple to read.
Regarding the other two of kavitrayam, tikkana's style is more
elaborate & descriptive. Again, yerrana's style is more descriptive.
The period of kavitrayam is also called the "translations-age".
In the same period, ranganatha ramayanam & bhaskara ramayanam also
came out. In both these kavyas, there have been more indegeneous
style of writing than valmiki ramayan. Few incidents have been
added by these people in their version to make the story more
interesting. Ahalya becoming stone, Jambumali, ka'lanemi like stories
have been added incidents which are not there in original valmiki
ramayanam.
Srinadha onwards the trend has been changed. Poets started writing
not only religious but also other forms of literature. Srinadha
translated many sanskrit dramas not in true form, but in a completely
different way just taking the core story. Potana introduced "lalita-
bhakti-sringaram" into telugu literature. Its very difficult to
find a telugu who doesnt know potana or any of his poems.
The age of prabhandas saw kavyas coming out of poets by just framing
the story which is depicted in very few poems in the sanskrit
original. Peddana's manucharitra came out from just 4 poems of
sanskrit original. Bhattumurti's vasucharitra came out from just 2
poems of sanskrit original.
Pingali surana's kala purnodayam is the first telugu completely
invented story. Surana also wrote first "dhvardhi" kavyam of telugu
ie double-meaning one. He wrote "raghavapandavEyam" which is
having two meaning one towards bharatam & the other towards ramayan.
There is no end to it, if I keep writing about this. So, let's not
consider telugu writers as JUST-IMITATORS!!!!!!!!
Thanks,
Rajendra T.
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sirikim jeppadu sankha cakrayugamum jEdOyi sandhimpaDeD
pariva'rambunu jEra DabhragapatimbannimpaDA karNikAm
tara dhamillamun jakkanottaDu vivAda prOtthita srIkuchO
pari cElAmcalamaina vEDaDu gajaprANAvanOtsAhiyai
Murty Dasaka
call me back with your number and other details. I
came back from india, a few weeks ago, and trying
to contact you since then.
Bye
Murty.
--
_ Murty
Murty Dasaka
RN4 - 38
2200 Misson College Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95052.
Tel: (408)765-7414
Fax: (408)765-5278.