Tenugu lenka Tummala vaari Sankraanthi Lakshmi
Sekhar Muddana
in "Pariga Panta". I have liberally used Talluri Sathyanarayana's
explanation.
Among all the festivals, somehow Sankranthi is very special to Telugus.
We don't celebrate festivals with the same enthusiasm as our ancestors.
Undoubtedly, festivals are loosing their significance in the fast moving
world. Things have changed in our village since when I was a kid. Those
days, Sankranthi used to be the most important festival. Dasara and
Deepavali came next. Other festivals we used to celebrate were Ugaadi,
Atlatadde, nagula chavithi, Sriramanavami, Mahasivarathri, Vinayaka
chavithi etc. Somehow for me, other names for samkranthi like Pongal,
Pathang day etc sound very foreign. Same case with Deevali. It is
Deepavali for me. Also Vijayadasami sounds better than dasara. There
are certain things that we can say, are unique to Andhra. The way we
celebrate Samkranthi is one of them.
For any telugu, Samkranthi will bring the meories of Hari dasu, Do Do
Basavanna, Gangireddu, Jangama devara, banthi poolu, chamanthi, mudda
banthi, karabbanthi, kanakambaralu, Aavu peda, gobbimmalu, muggulu
(particularly ratham muggu), kallapi, illalakatam, bhogi mantalu,
thalasnanalu, kothabattalu, ariselu, gaarelu, intallullu, baava
maradalla sarasaalu, Teppa thiranala, pasupu, kunkuma, kodi pandaalu,
gulaam kottina eddulu, gummadi kaayalu, mirapa kaayalu (Gunturu special,
ripe mirapa thota is so beautifully green), pongali, paramannamu,
gorintaaku etc. I bet every word in here have special meaning for every
telugu. Ha, I almost forgot about Sankranthi prathyeka sanchikalu from
Andhra jyothi and Yuva with kotha muggulu (We used to try most of them!).
For myself, each word brings fond memories. I will just talk about Hari
daasu. Hari Daasu starts coming a month before Sankranthi. So for us, it
was a month long festival, not one day. Our haridaasu could be taken as
a model Haridaasu. He was so nice, not young, not old, not lean, not
fat, not tall, not short. He was straight from our 3rd class telugu
text. He would come singing "Harilo ranga harii" from one end of the
street at about 6 in the morning. I and my sister would be waiting for
him. He would stand before the house for a few seconds. We take turns to
put biyyam in his paathra. He goes around the entire village. Even those,
days ,I did some calculation and found that he wouldn't get more than 5 Kg's
of rice per day. He came from a village 4 miles from ours. It was such a
hard work that by the time I was 13 he stopped coming. That was one of the
first indications that things were changing. Since then Sankranthi was
never like it was before. I still remember the day (I almost cried!)
when we waited forever for his arrival. I think he got sick and couldn't
come anymore. I wish someday, I could tell him, he was the reason why
sankranthi was so special. Somehow, I have a feeling that he knew it all
along.
Samkranthi is three day festival, the first day is Bhogi, second day is
Makara sankranthi and the third is Kanuma on January 13th, 14th, 15th
respectively. Sankrathi is one of the few festivals which comes on a
fixed date according to English (Gregarian, to be exact) calendar. The
reason I think is that it is a festival related to the sun and english
calendar is based on the sun. It is the day when Sun enters utharayanam,
(Makara raasi). Remember, Bhishma waited on Ampa sayya for these punya
dianaalu in Mahabharatham.
Sankranthi comes in Margasira or Pushya maasamulu according to telugu
calendar in Hemantha ruthuvu. ( Manaku pannendu nelalu, aru ruthuvulu:
Chaitra, Vaisakha, Jyesthta, Ashaadha, Sraavana, Bhadrapada, Asvayuja,
Karthika, Margasira, Pushyam, Maagham, Phalgunam and Varsha, Sarath,
Hemantha, Sisira, Greeshma, what's the other? ruthuvulu.)
Now about Sankrathi lakshmi. I wonder whether the name lamkshmi is as
popular in other states as in Andhra. Despite being so common, it is
such a beautiful name. How many Lakshmi's do we have! It takes forever to
list them. The statement "Lakshmi laaga undaavu" will make any telugu
girl proud. Here, Tenugu lenka talks about Sankrathi Lakshmi. He wrote this
in 1941. He was one of the few who wrote bhaava kavithvam in graandhika
bhaasha. It will be difficult to read first time but with a bit of
explanation by Talluri ( a little bit of mine too, the way I understood),
we can read it again and appreciate the beauty.
Since he was a farmer, Sankrathi was very special to Tummala. Without
further delay here is the first of the eight Sisa padayamaulu:
Kosari noorina pachchipasapubootha mogaana
gummadipoo dhumaarammu naddi
kandaregada naarabandi kanpandu vy
poluchu miryapubandu bottu vetti
valipammunaku nokkavaasi hechainatti
nunumanchudheracheera noolukolpi
banthipoovulaku jemanthineyyamu goorchi
kabaribharammuchakkana kudirchi
pantakallalu munu baraabarulu seya
goodugattina thelimabbugoduguneeda
gadalivachchenu Bhaagyalakadali vole
makarasankranthilakshmi hemanthaveedhi
Let us start from the last two lines: Makarasankarathi lakshmi
hemathaveedhina bhaagyaalakadali vole kadali vachchindita. Now, let us
see, how she looks: She has pachchi pasupu pootha on her mukhamu. Ofcourse,
Aadavaallu mukhaana pasupu poosukontaaru. Elanti pasupu? Kosari noorina
pasupu. Kotle konukkochindi kaadu. Noorina pasupu.
Daani meeda Gummadi puppodini addindata. Sankranthi samayamlo gummadi
kaayalu kaasthayi gadaa mari! Aa tharuvaatha, Miryapubondunu boottu gaa
pettukonnadata. Tellacheera gattukonnadata. Elaanti tella cheera? Nunu
manchudheracheera. Sannani, manchu vanti thella cheera. Mari hemantha
ruthuvulo manchu padthundi kadaa! Koppulo(kabaribharammu) banthi poolu,
chaamanthulu chakkagaa koorchindata. We have already talked about banthi
poolu. Raithulu pantakallalapai ninchuni sankranthi lakshmiki swaagatham
chepthunnarata! Well, this is apt because it is the time when farmers
do noorpidi and thoorpaara.
What a beauty! We can see her walking down from the sky as we read!
Actually, any telugu girl wearing all these will look like Sankranthi
Lakshmi!!
Poota kokkasaari podathenchu sankraanthi
kedurusoochuchunna dee jagambu;
inakarali vole nintinta velayu san
kranthi valayu lokashanthi kipudu
[Thummala]
Raithu kavi, Yuga kavi, Tenugu lenka, Hethu vaadi, Deshi kavi, Keerthi
seshulu Sri Thummala Sitharamamoorthy gaariki Namaskarishtu
Muddana veerasekhararao.
P.S: I thank Tummala ramakrishna for the information and books about his
grandfather.
--
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"Hist!" cried Holmes, and I heard the sharp click of a cocking pistol.
"Look out! It's coming!"
Sekhar Muddana
>Sankranthi comes in Margasira or Pushya maasamulu according to telugu
>calendar in Hemantha ruthuvu. ( Manaku pannendu nelalu, aru ruthuvulu:
>Chaitra, Vaisakha, Jyesthta, Ashaadha, Sraavana, Bhadrapada, Asvayuja,
>Karthika, Margasira, Pushyam, Maagham, Phalgunam and Varsha, Sarath,
>Hemantha, Sisira, Greeshma, what's the other? ruthuvulu.)
Aha, Now I remember. Aaru ruthuvulu in order are
Vasantha, Varsha, Sarath, Hematha, Sisira and Greeshma.
Do you remember these with beautiful pictures from first class telugu text:
Chetlu igirche kaalam ------ Vasnatha ruthuvu
Godugulu patte kaalam ------ Varsha ruthuvu
Vennela (?) kaalam ------ Saradruthuvu
Chali vanikinche kaalam ------ Hemantha ruthuvu
Aakulu raale kaalam -------- Sisira ruthuvu
Endalu mande kaalam -------- Greeshma ruthuvu
Sekhar
Sekhar Muddana
>Aha, Now I remember. Aaru ruthuvulu in order are
> Vasantha, Varsha, Sarath, Hematha, Sisira and Greeshma.
The order is wrong. Thanks for the person who pointed this out.
The correct order is Vasantha, Greeshma, Varsha, sarath, hemantha and
Sisira starting from Chaitra masam. Sorry for the error.