Mokkapati: Playwright and Humorist

Mokkapati: Playwright and Humourist

By P. S. SASTRI, M.A., Ph.D.
(University of Saugar)

The new movements in Telugu literature of the second decade of the century were conspicuously personalistic and lyrical. The writers of the time wore an amulet of lyrical anguish or pined after a mysterious spirit which successfully eluded their grasp, thereby leaving them in an intense subjective sentimentalism. Though they were able to offer a richharvest, it was one that only the reflective elite could enjoy. A rigorous objectivity was lacking in them. They could not look at life dispassionately and rationally; nor could they rationalise their imaginative fervour. To achieve this end the writer must needs have a sense of humour which should not be confused with the comic or with the ludicrous. Such a spirit of humour was ushered into the Telugu literature of the period by Mokkapati Narasimna Sastri.

Sastri has written many plays, short stories and essays besides his great work ‘Barrister Parvatisam’, though his name is interlinked with Parvatisam. Parvatisam is a character that has acquired great celebrity throughout the Andhra area along with Girisam who was sponsored by Gurazada Appa Rao. These two characters form a family relationship with Falstaff and Don Quixote. Only the first part of ‘Barrister Parvatisam’ has been released to the public. Here we come across the adventures of Parvatisam, a country-bred innocent braggart, on his way to England. The various transformations that came over him make the narration eminently humorous and always interesting.

It is the spirit of humour, in fact, that pervades the entire work of Sastri. There are six plays of his collected in one volume. Some of them bear traces of European descent though all have gained the distinct touch of Sastri. ‘Mrokkubadi’ is a short one act play based on the belief that one can overcome any illness or danger by solemnly taking a vow to please the deity Venkateswara by offering to him everything possible. This traditional belief is based on genuine faith 8and devotiIon. But the sophisticated modern youth is an egotist who rebels against all ideas of faith and devotion. Woman is by nature a conservative, a traditionalist, while man is ego-centric. The union of these two is bound to issue in a serious conflict. The vanity, arrogance and scepticism of man assume the garb of rationalism, only to crumble down in a moment of crisis. This is too familiar a theme to evoke and sustain dramatic interest. And when the action. proceeds like the lines of a geometer, there is bound to be some monotony hovering round the play. The whole play turns melodramatic in the middle and it is rounded off by dialogue of a semi-serious tone. As a problem play it pleads for faith, faith in something or other if only to avoid the cankerous mood of scepticism.

‘Abhyudayam’ (Progress) is again another problem play focussing our attention on the conflict between humanism which insists on values and the scientific craze for destructive weapons which annihilates conscience and negates all values. This play was composed in 1940 and the Great War provided the necessary impetus. The sister of the scientist goes to the extent of shooting down her own brother, thinking that thereby she is preventing the new scientific invention from seeing the light of day. It is of course debatable whether a humanist can go to that extent. But she had lost her husband and child on the battle-field; and this may be her only justification. From the point of view of stage-craft this is a better play than the preceding one. It succeeds because it is throughout dynamic and the action proceeds briskly. As the play proceeds, characterisation too unfolds itself gradually.

It is with great relief that we turn from these two to the third entitled ‘Pedda Mamayya’ where we breathe the fresh air of romance, love, awe and humour. The ‘elder uncle’ of the entire village is an indispensable institution. Without him nothing can take place in that village. No one can think or act by himself. All are his wards. As a guardian he looks after them. He has absolute rights even in settling marriages and the terms of these marriages. As one opposed to the system of dowry he proposes successfully a marriage alliance between two families. The father of the girl pleads his inability to pay five thousand rupees. He can go up to a couple of thousands only. But the uncle refuses to agree even to the two thousands. And when the uncle is away, the marriage is somehow celebrated, since he alone should not know the amount given as dowry. But at the nick of the moment the uncle returns. And every one is busy in detaining the uncle at the gate till the marriage is over. He is impatient to enter. And he enters at last to bless the married couple. The situation is humorous enough. It is portrayed in a masterly fashion, and the sure hand of the artist is visible at every step. The situation of the uncle evokes humour; but he is really in a tragic situation. It was not he that was being deceived, but the protagonists. The humorist is as usual isolated from the static institution. As an individualist he pines for setting things right, for the time is out of joint. But the static society cannot tolerate a dynamic humorist. Society decays and becomes a victim of self-deception, since it refuses to see the real nature of things.

Equally humorous is the ‘Asadharana Samavesamu’ (the extraordinary meeting). This too is a social satire breathing light humour and portraying the typical modern associations that dream of doing great things. An enthusiastic young man brings together a few persons and they organise an All-India Association which is ostensibly devoted to the supreme task of improving the lot of the people in all affairs and in all directions. He is duly elected as its first secretary. He wants to do something and so convenes an extraordinary meeting of the association. Slowly the members assemble. Each member is interested in his own gossip, and every one indulges in self-praise and in abusing others. The meeting finally stands shelved. This typical characteristic of our countrymen finds a humorous portrayal. It is developed deliberately while the secretary stands flabbergasted.

‘Varasatvam’ deals with the longing for a legacy. Dissatisfaction with what one has, goads the young Venkatarao to quarrel with his wife whose unmarried uncle has acquired a huge fortune. Venkatarao must have all that wealth, here and now, without any effort or struggle on his part. The uncle has no business to postpone the transfer of his property till his death. One fine morning the uncle arrives as a bankrupt to spend the evening of his life with this family, and he is received cordially. The easy road to fortune take a sardonic turn.

‘Pativratyam’ is another short play dealing with the troubles of a young man brought upon modern lines. He finds his wife too traditional and conservative. She cannot move like the modem society girl; and his hunger for modernity drives him to flirt with another and to ill-treat his own wife. Here is the conflict between the western and oriental civilisations; and this clash is focussed on the problem of the relation between the sexes. This serious problem effectively treated in the lighter vein.

In all these, we have a fine play of humour along with intense imaginative activity. Sastri takes pains to be true to the poetic heritage inherent in the language of the masses. This is a rich and living language which presents reality in a natural and comprehensive manner. We do not have here an intellectual drama, though the dramatist is busy with the modern social problems. The wildly superb reality comes before us putting us into a trance. Every speech is flavoured; and every problem yields, before the touch of the dramatist, all its tender, magnificent and fiery spirit. The local life, as winnowed by the imaginative humour, takes us away in its swift current of freshness, joy, serenity, and wistful longing.

Narasimha Sastri has collected his short stories in two small volumes under the title ‘Kannavi Vinnavi’ (those seen and heard). Again the emphasis is on realism. These sixteen stories deal with social, communal, political and cultural problems. Some of them are short dissertations without a plot; they are more like a series of mental ramblings. In most of these the substance is intensely tragic, and this tragic mood invariably takes its awakening in these stories in a mood of humour. ‘Banda Subbadu’ (Stout Subbadu). ‘Labhasati Beralu’ (Profitable Bargains), and ‘Nenu ma Avidanu’ (I and my Wife) owe their theme to foreign sources. The rest are original productions.

‘Nenu ma Avidanu’ is a reflective essay narrating the inexplicable and inscrutable mystery of human life. The husband is a simpleton who believes that he is great because people respect him and praise him to his face in the market and elsewhere. But his wife does not find any greatness in him. On the other hand, she takes him to be a fool and a victim of public fraud. He feels grossly insulted; and her indifference pains him deeply. In his reflective mood he asks whether women deserve so much freedom as he has given. The humour here lies in the conclusion and in the selection of the incidents. While provoking humour, the husband himself feels gloomy and depressed at his wife’s behaviour.

‘Banda Subbadu’ is a light and successful satire on all those who run after medicines to get their weight increased or decreased. A stout fellow takes to medicines and becomes as light as a feather; and to avoid flying in the air, he has a suit prepared specially for him. The suit grows under the weight of the bottles attached to it and keeps him to the ground. ‘Janma nakshatra phalam’ takes us again to a nagging wife of the unfortunate Kurmayya. Whatever he does is subject to severe criticism. When he saves a drowning child, his wife praises the unknown saviour and ridicules her husband as being unfit to do even one good act; and as she finds out the identity of the saviour, she abuses him for harbouring thoughts of dying and deserting her! In and out of context he must be the victim of abuse. He must only thank his stars for his fate. ‘Labhasati Beralu’ is replete with cynical humour. The whiskers of an arrogant and showy gentleman are purchased because of a discussion on betting and bargaining. The bargain was executed only when the gentleman was on his way to a musical concert. Even then only half the whiskers were taken out; and he was told that the other half would be taken later on. To get rid of such a customer, he had to pay double the amount he received for his whiskers. This appalling triviality has a good deal to say regarding the little vanities and ironies of human life.

‘Gazupalem Gandhi’ takes us to the awkward situations created by the imitators of Gandhi’s technique. This pseudo-Gandhi is ready to fast unto death if any one gives dowry in that village. The story was written at the time of Gandhiji’s fast at Rajkot. Justas Gandhiji left the people and the ruler of Rajkot in the middle, the pseudo-Gandhi too leaves the families of the bride and the bridegroom to settle their dispute about the dowry amongst themselves. Equally topical is ‘Akasa Saudhalu’, written at a time when Rajaji was introducing the sales-tax, entertainment tax and other taxes. In this reflective skit Sastri offers novel schemes of taxation. Walking on the marina after young ladies, stoutness, possessing whiskers and beards, westernised dress of women, and many more things can easily be taxed to yield great revenue to the State. At every step the author provides valuable exceptions which remind us of the activities of the Congress. Beards are to be taxed; but never those of the Muslims. Stout people must pay fines; but never actresses, poets and artists. To the humorist the activities of our politicians appear crazy and immethodical. He sees that these activities are directed towards a set of false values that negate humanism. He has very little concern for parties and groups. He cares more for the value and integrity of the individual. This insistence is again the theme of ‘Ma Bava maradi Pelli’ (The marriage of our brother-in-law). Marriage as a social institution has become a force for chaos in the countryside. Large numbers move to the house of the bride; and by the time the marriage is over, the bride’s father turns bankrupt. Yet every one cpntinues to harbour complaints against the unfortunate father of the girl. If you add a troupe of dancing folk to these occasions, it is definite that no one will care to know what is happening to the newly married couple. Conventional formalism smothers the free individual. This tragedy is conveyed through a few delicate strokes of humour.

‘Ranga grama simha Rattayya’ is the story of a young man who reluctantly becomes an actor and thereafter dreams of making the stage an effective and realistic institution. He cultivates the conventional stage formalism even in ordinary life. He behaves like an actor to his wife, children and friends. This inevitably makes people take him to be a madcap. Life becomes unbearable to his wife. Stage formalism is too static to withstand the dynamism of life; and the humorist who has a vision of this dynamism laughs serenely at the stumbling-block universe of rigid formalism which refuses to change with the times. ‘Ade Modatisari’ (That was the First Occasion) is a light humorous skit on a vainglorious young man who claims intimacy with the film studios and who is to take the author to one of the studios at the time of shooting a picture. ‘Anukoni Avantaram’ (Unexpected Happening) is an account of a film director’s plea for realism on the screen. This cost him the flight of his hero and heroine, who feel that in an intense realistic state of love they cannot speak anything. Their elopement compels the director to close down his studio.

A more mature art appears in the six stories collected in the second volume. ‘Ma Padma’ is a moving tragedy of a young married girl who was ill-treated by the parents of her husband. The tragedy is too poignant and bitter for words or even tears. For once Sastri reveals himself as a master tragedian. ‘Nyayam’ is another deeply moving tragedy of a rickshawalla who has to suffer imprisonment because he cannot allow an Anglo-Indian or a Canadian or anyone to seduce his wife. But the law does not recognise his marriage; nor does it believe that a man with a white skin is capable of committing heinous crimes. The law is for the privileged classes, not for the poor and the downtrodden. ‘Akharu Mata’ (The Last Word) is a moving narration of two significant crimes committed by a father. He foists a theft on a poor beggar and thereby becomes responsible for his death. He seduces a young maiden who has lost her way one night. The depths of the soul where spiritual evil galls the core of the human being find a masterly treatment which at times is reminiscent of Dostoievsky. But Sastri’s realism does not allow him to dilate on punishment, for he does not enter deeper still into the recesses of the human heart. The humorist can afford to go only half way. He cannot delve deep into the inmost sanctuary; for, there awaits reality and no man can face reality and yet live calmly.

‘Agni Pariksha’ is a bitter short story on the massacres enacted in the streets of Calcutta in connection with the Muslim League’s Direct Action Day. It is as realistic as it is bitter and humiliating. Here too Sastri focuses our attention on the loss of values that has unleashed this ghastly spectacle. ‘Jagannathuni ratham’ is another tragic account of a young maiden, the wife of a low-paid worker. She dreams of a variety of comforts which her husband cannot afford. Slowly she comes into the clutches of a notorious brothel-keeper, who is a member of a vigilance, committee set up to root out brothels and corruption. She is taken away from her husband, made to lead the life of a prostitute, and is kept aloof. She has no friends and those who visit her by night feign to be ignorant of her by day. She was prepared to leave this wretched life. But a moral wretch in his passion strangles her. This is a tale which is not unfamiliar to those who see misery and immorality forced on many an innocent maid because of the lure she has for the false formalism of the modern urban vanities.

‘Nirhetuka Vairam’ is the last in this collection. This story is woven round the Brahman-baiting prevalent in the country. The Brahman is hounded out of society, only because he is a Brahman. He is even to be killed. He should have no place to live in. His customs and manners cannot be tolerated. And so he must leave his hearth and lands in the village, and migrate to some other place as the Jews have done recently. All this is done by the leading polticians of the villages. The ghastly murder of a social worker coming from the Brahman community is movingly told in this short story. It is a murder that is motivated by a motiveless malignity. Yet the murderers are counted among the rulers and progressive intellectuals and statesmen.

This brief survey of the major work of Narasimha Sastri clearly shows the new atmosphere he brought into modem Telugu Literature. He has made literature an objective statement of certain universal experiences. This objectivity was achieved through a spirit of humour which has been foreign hither to the literature of the country. Self-control, personal identity, rationality, sympathetic insight and awareness of the tragic depths of human life are the essential ingredients of this humour. Through this humour he has been able to emphasise the value and dignity of the individual, and the essentially human values. His humour avoids the incongruous and the improper which have no place in the aesthetic world. It sets things in their true perspective. It sets up thinking. In this humour we dissociate the individual from his supposed static context and observe the naked fact as such. This fact or reality, when it is made objective, makes us realise what man in reality is. Thus is initiated a self-examination which developes into a self-ridicule when it is pushed to its logical conclusion. Then humility takes the place of fear and respect. In daily life we can perceive anything only in relation to something else, so much so a non-relational or supra-relational entity or event appears ridiculous. And truth is always stranger than fiction. Truth when it is charged with humour appears palatable to human beings. This is Sastri’s major achievement.

Moreover, Sastri’s work tells us that all intellectualist theories of humour are faulty. The perfectly happy man does not laugh; he has no need to laugh. He can at best smile. It is laughter that takes us to the human level where sorrows and joys are intertwined; and if humour is valuable to us, it is because of its realism its poignancy, and its rich and intense criticism of life conveyed through sympathy. Sastri takes us through this humour even when he is offering penetrating studies of the tragic in life. Starting from the national institution called Parvatisam, Sastri has been developing the various phases of humour, always keeping his eye fixed on the individual and on the values. His characters evoke sympathy in us and draw us closer to humanity. Their follies and frailties are intertwined with simplicity and a common humanity. They enable us to give up, at least for the time being, our dogmas and prejudices for the sake of the higher light of truth and wisdom. While dance is the spirit of beauty, humour is the spirit of truth. And truth and beauty make life real and therefore significant, by making it spiritual.