Andhra Folk-lore - A Word to Students

Dear Mr. Ramakotiswara Rao,

I have gone through almost all of the numbers of the ‘Triveni’ and I am very much impressed with the neat execution and the valuable articles it contains. The selection of fine frontispieces is a regular delightful feature of your esteemed ‘Triveni.’ The Andhra public sincerely feel grateful for the admirable part your Journal is playing in the cultural revival of India at large. I hope that you would try to maintain the same dignified standard in future, even though I am sure that it will inflict a heavy financial sacrifice for a year to come. The long-felt want of the Telugu country which required a high-class English magazine to voice its aspirations and to communicate its cultural achievements to a wider public remained unfulfilled until the ‘Triveni’ came into existence, and it is not too much to hope that the Telugu country would put into practice its usual generosity and see your noble venture a complete success.

Times have changed and with the times the traditional values. Any nation which cannot adapt itself to the inevitable changing conditions of life is sure to be superseded and utilised by the more adventurous nations of the world. This fundamental law of evolution whose keynote is the struggle for existence can never be overlooked at least in the present stage of the world’s moral progress. A nation, like an individual, grows and ripens into old age. When the vital sap is run out, it becomes disorganised and crumbles into insignificance. But the same nation, after a period of rest, is revitalised into active life by the repetition of the cyclic law which operates through external circumstances. Foreign contacts are not bad even when the prime motive is selfishness. By the contact of the aggressive civilisation of the West, our age-long lethargy was shaken to its roots, though followed by its attendant evils, and a new vista of the golden future is presented to our sight. The destructive and reconstructive forces are now awakened to their legitimate duties and a receptive atmosphere has been created allover India for the inauguration of the new era. Our Telugu country too is not slow to respond to the call of progress, even though the softer notes of the cultural Renaissance seemed to be drowned for a while in the trumpet voice of the political agitation. We behold everywhere in the Andhra country the signs of a healthy life. New standards of education which culminated in the establishment of the Andhra Jatheeya Kalasala, a new school of painting which owed its genesis to the creative genius of the late Damerla Rama row, and the modern school of poetry which had for its pioneer the famous Gurazada Appa Row who led a crusade against the sanscritised Telugu of the classics, and many other activities of importance go to show that our contribution to the present cultural upheaval of India is by no means insignificant.

One of the signs of life is growth and expansion. The growth presupposes assimilation. Any undigested material causes disease and decay, apart from the wastage it entails. As the discriminative adaptation and assimilation of whatever is conducive to our national well-being in other cultures are the essential factors of social and intellectual elevation and progress, our false sense of patriotism should not deprive us of the new possessions and advantages. Conservatism in any branch of human activity may be economical, self-preservative and useful up to a certain stage of growth as an outer shell of a seed, but if it persists in taking an undue advantage of its own good intentions, it is sure to prove detrimental.

When two nations with divergent civilisations are brought together by some historical happening, it is the weaker nation that is more influenced than the stronger. Then again, the weaker nation passes through the four stages of development, namely, imitation, adaptation, assimilation, and independent creation. We have completed the third stage and are on the threshold of the fourth. No nation in the world has escaped this ordeal and we are no exception.

Anybody who is acquainted with the march of science and invention in modern times cannot think of keeping himself aloof from the rest of the world. Time and space have been conquered by the inventive genius of the West, and the religious, social, and political differences are being minimised every day. If I am not accused of poetical idealism, I can safely predict that there will come a day when all the peoples of the world will join together as a family of nations and work in concert for the commonweal of mankind. The day may be far off in the hazy mists of the future. But, who knows–a happy dream of today may be a realisation of tomorrow! If religion and science are wedded together, the remote possibility of the brother-hood of man can be brought down to the plane of practical politics.

When I say that we should move abreast of the times, I do not mean that we should lose our individuality as Andhras. We had a glorious past of which we can legitimately feel proud and the responsibility of making the present worthy of the past rests with us. We can only maintain our individuality and justify our existence as a separate unit of the human race when we can independently contribute our quota of art, poetry, drama, and the sciences to the store of the world's culture. It was only for the preservation and propagation of that individuality we wanted a separate University. But, alas! it has ended in a pompous fiasco after arousing hopes which were never meant to be fulfilled.

As the Universities are the centres of refinement and learning, and as the public spirit of the student community is yet untainted by selfish motives, I wish to suggest a few things for the consideration of our student friends. Generally, the pioneer of any new movement bears the brunt of the struggle and makes the path easier for his followers. At first he is suspected and discouraged. But afterwards a few minds of similar nature gather around him and every inch of their way is fought heroically and won. It is only such movements that startle the world one fine morning with their greatness. It was the same case with the Gaelic revival and the literary movement of modern Ireland ed up by men like G. W. Russel (‘ A.E.’) and Yeats who is now one of the recipients of the Nobel prize. The commendability of the movement consists in its going to the ancient folk-lore of the country and bringing to light in a new garb the most characteristic features of the Irish genius. A new school of drama was created from the vital currents of Irish social life by dramatists of a new order like Synge and others, and a new stage was invented to suit the requirements of the new type of drama. As the poet reaches the most sensitive part of his nation through the medium of the drama, the movement started by Yeats proved a potent factor in bringing about the cultural revolution of his country, from within, with lightning speed. But there was a time when the young Irish poets of the new movement could not get a publisher for their books. Dr. James H. Cousins of Adyar, who is devoting his entire life to the cultural emancipation of India, has the full experience of the Irish literary revival as one of its participants, and is accessible to all who are willing to be benefited by his advice. His critical evaluation of India's ancient heritage as well as the modern achievements is as sympathetic as it is genuine. His saintly life is a living force which is influencing the very outlook of many of the students who come into close contact with him.

What I wish to suggest to my friends is that with such a practical example of the Irish young men before us, we can start a movement and organise the students of the colleges into small bands of literary workers who will have ample leisure in the vacations to collect the available folklore and publish it. It is not a work to be carried out by any single individual, even though our enthusiastic Pundit Veturi Prabhakara Sastri has been collecting the folk-lore whenever he could snatch an opportunity in his official tours. On account of the rapid modernisation of villages the folk-lore is disappearing, and even now it is not too late for an organised attempt to rescue it. I trust my student friends will respond.