Reviews

For The Time Being: By Sisirkumar Ghose. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Bombay-7 Price: Rs. 30.

This excellent collection of essays written with incisiveness and understanding of the consequences on life of an age of scientific and technological advance, delights the reader if himself prone to a feeling of non-complacency with the times we are living in. The author is erudite from what one finds from the range of his studies of both our ancient scriptures and works of the modern sages such as Tagore, Sri Aurobindo and Ananda Coomaraswamy; he does not spare our scientists and technologists of what harm in the madness of their achievements they have caused the people of the world. He cannot be a calm witness to the destruction of nature’s gifts to man in the craze for new materials of comfort and enjoyment that advanced technology has abundantly supplied us. Indeed it is really something exceeding our imagination when told that “Already in Los Angeles one can see plastic trees along the Jefferson Avenue in Washington State, there is an entire plastic garden, because the owners are tired of watering the trees.” (P. 68) He adds: “Technological considerations alone determine decisions. By changing and choking nature, technology has created a narrower, a monotonous universe.”

Into almost all branches of human activity he has penetrated with consummate capacity for analysis and suggestion for improve­ment. For instance, in the essay on educational reform, speaking of our country, he draws our attention to what guidance some of our thinkers in the field have already given us. He says: “Luckily, thinkers of modern India, all of them non-academics, bring the same evidence. Vivekananda, Tagore, Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo, to mention only four, have essayed the journey from nationalism to internationlism. Though not on a par, each had a viable image of man and a philosophy of civilization. A cross-fertilization of their ideas could give us as perfect a model as one would hope to get anywhere.” (P. 102)

It will be a futile task to go on adding to the number of his stimulating statements and observations which have a quality of their own in awakening in us a spirit of quest born of dissatisfaction with the present situation. In the concluding essay Crisis on Crisis he opines: “To be worthy of our human destiny we need another destination, another model or thinking, vastly different, more self-filling, post modern, post-logical, post­industrial. Through extremes of anxiety and alienation there lies another journey ahead of us.”

Brilliant as some of these analyses are, still one does not close these thoughtful meditations of a profound realist without a feeling that solutions in a concrete shape for many of the existing problems are not given. May be none can completely anticipate every change ahead of us in a rapidly transforming age.
–K. CHANDRASEKHARAN

The Rounding Off: By Dilip Kumar Roy. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay-7 Price: Rs. 25.

Dilip Kumar Roy, renowned for his poetry and music, had been a great Bhakta in the traditional way. After having been a disciple of Sri Aurobindo for some years, he departed on his own search of the Supreme in the form of Lord Krishna. With an associate, Smt. Indira Devi, later known as “Miraji” because of her constant visions of the saint and sweet-singer of Rajputana, Meera, he organised the Hare-Krishna Mandir in Pune. Together they were responsible for conducting Bhajans; and their influence spread far and wide and many are the chronicles about their visions of the Lord in the child figure of, Gopala.

In these pages we get glimpses of what devotion in intense form could achieve. Frequent references are made to the Bhava Samadhi in which Didi, as familiarly, Indira Devi was called by the Ashramites in Pune, was immersed. Her narration of her experiences of the Lord’s grace are told vividly in letter after letter by Dilip Kumar Roy. Being a writer of distinction himself, Roy has made the events described here an abiding literature worthy of being preserved for their unusual content of God-intoxicated souls.

These letters which give us moments of exaltation of rare God-consciousness, provide material for our own regeneration of spirit. Especially anecdotes where Roy enjoyed the music of Srimati M. S. Subbalakshmi are told here with such an amount of satisfaction and belief in divine gifts, that the reader feels equally lifted up by those sentiments.

Beautifully printed, it is a book to be read and re-read.
– K. CHANDRASEKHARAN

Indian Sculpture: By Stella Kramrisch. Motilal Banarsidass, Bungalow Road, Delhi-7. Price: Rs. 60.

This reviewer studied this book fifty years ago, while pre­paring for his Honours’ examination, and was highly benefitted by it. The excellence and usefulness of this work as a guide and ready-reference book for a proper understanding and appreciation of Indian sculpture from 3000 B. C. to 1300 A. D., still remains unexcelled. Some outstanding qualities of Indian sculp­ture, not pointed out in Indian Silpa Sastras, are herein brought to our notice, in their true perspective, with the aid of 116 neat plates, in a concise and clear manner.

This book is divided into five chapters – the first three deal with ancient, classic and mediaeval sculptures. Essential quali­ties of Indian plastic art, worth memorising by every student of Indian sculpture are presented in the fourth chapter. The fifth chapter is devoted to the explanation of plates. Each chapter is divided again into subdivisions, describing the distinguishing features of different schools of sculptures during a period. Ex­position of the qualities of sculpture is not only descriptive, but chronological and comparative also. Add to all these, a summary of each chapter at its end pointing out the character of form, geography, chronology and inner meaning, Bibliography, 265 notes, an index and a map are there. Thus we have herein a descriptive mirror of Indian sculpture.

This work, and the fourth chapter in particular, is full of maxim-like statements. Plasticity, dynamic coherence     and accountless distribution as well as naturalism, which, according to the author, are the essential and permanent aspects of Indian sculpture are pointed out with proper illustrations. Indian con­cepts of sculpture, naturalism, plasticity, chronology, high and low relief, etc” are explained.

The author makes it abundantly clear with examples, that “certain indelible qualities inhere in the whole of Indian plastic art” and they constitute what is known as Indianess. She also points out that descriptiveness for its own sake is unknown in Indian art, a feature that can be said true of Indian poetry also. An important feature, viz., “Transubstantion” – an idea of which was dominating in Samskrit poetry – is shown to be present in Indian sculpture also, and all credit goes to the author. Out compliments go to the publishers also for having reprinted this min-treasure-work of Indian sculpture, if we can call it so.

–B. KUTUMBA RAO

The Concealed Wisdom in World Mythology: By Geoffrey Hodson. Theosophical Publishing House, Madras-20.

A work by Geoffrey Hodson always commands respectful attention. He was one of the most evolved and mature specimens produced by the Theosophical Movement and he has contributed richly to our understanding of the mysteries of Nature–physical, and supraphysical. The present volume is a deep study of the mythological tradition of the West, especially Greek, with some insights into parallel concepts in the Eastern lore.

The author points out that mythology is not mere folklore. It is a record of the experience and wisdom gained by the leaders of humanity in the course of their exploration into the secrets of man, nature and God, couched in a symbolic language. The symbol is at times transparent, at times opaque. The key to this symbolism is to be found first in one’s own consciousness and then corroborated with the perceptions of others. Dr. Hodson follows four major keys of interpretation in his exhaustive study:

1. The supposedly historical narratives are also “descriptive of subjective experiences of races, nations and Individuals.”
2. Each of the dramatis personae introduced into the stories represents a condition of consciousness and a quality of character. All the actors are personifications of aspects of human character.”
3. “Each story may be regarded as a graphic description of the human soul as it passes through the stages and their intermediate phases, of its evolutionary journey to the Promised Land (cosmic consciousness) –the summit of human attainment.”
4. Certain words and phrases, e. g., Fire, Water stand for definite cosmic principles and corresponding states of consciousness in man.

Rich with several illustrations, this book will always remain an authentic reference manual on the subject.

–M. P. PANDIT

Builders of Modern India: Kandukuri Veeresalingam: By D. Anjaneyulu. Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, Patiala House, New Delhi. Price: Rs. 7.

The very object of the book, one of the series of “Builders of Modern India,” spelt out on the front page itself, is really laudable as it not only records the historic struggles and achieve­ments of the outstanding figure who was instrumental in bringing about Indian renaissance and independence in his own way, but provides the focal points woven through biographical details for fostering the national character.

The author ably handled the subject and rendered him the splendour proper in his comprehensive study. Veeresalingam, a multi-faceted personality, is a pioneer in many fields of service. His place as a social reformer, Telugu litterateur and nationalist got elaborate treatment in the book and the biographer justified the preeminent position his subject occupied in modern India. The whole study divided into seventeen chapters beginning with the dawn of the Modern Age deals with the birth, growth, social service, literary eminence and the eminent place in the enlightened company of national personalities of Veeresalingam. It is as an epoch-maker that Veeresalingam ushered in a New Era of “liberalising processes” in the social set-up of India and particularly in Andhra.

The chronological landmarks in the life of Veeresalingam, a long list of his works and collections besides the valued opinions of his great contemporaries and the detailed Bibliography that the author meticulously reproduced in the book profitably cap the whole record of life. It is indeed an accomplished exercise and bears testimony to an attempt at an objective portrayal of a glorified life.

That the author is among the chosen knowledgeable few who were entrusted with the rewarding work of writing the lives of eminent leaders of India by the Government of India is an additional proof to his ability in chronicling authoritative biographical accounts as this.

–Dr. P. G. KRIHNA MURTHY

The Discovery of Master Yoga: By “Sarvari.” Master Yoga Academy, P & T Colony, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad. Price Rs. 20.
Master Yoga Darsini: Telugu Translation by K. Nageswara Rao. Sarvari Publications, P & T Colony, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad.

“Yoga” is more or less an household name in Indian families and is swaying the Occident with much speed and sincerity. No doubt, there are many Yogas by different names and expounders–­but the ultimate aim of “Yoga” is realization of one’s own self. This was and has been achieved by many great men, called Masters or Mahatmas. Master C. V. V. is one such illuminating light best suited for the present times and “Sarvari”, meseems, has dedicated his life and energies for propagation and popularization of Master C. V. V’s Yoga.

“Sarvari” begins the book with his brilliant exposition of various subtle subjects such as: What is Yoga and various schools of Yoga, viz., Srichakra, Patanjali Yoga, Karma, Jnana, Hatha Yogas, and makes an interesting survey of glorious Maharshis as Sri Ramakrishna, Ramana, Sri Aurobindo, Mahesh Yogi and J. K. and their views. These will serve to enkindle the enthusiasm of the reader, as a panoramic and kaleidoscopic views are presented here. A perusal of these varied topics indicates abundantly the depth in study made by “Sarvari” on various schools of thought Yogas and his own way or understanding them.

After presenting the various Yogas concisely but comfortably and conveniently, the author takes a plunge into Master C.V.V’s Yoga furnishing briefly the life history of the Master. His Sadhana in this Yoga is abundantly clear from the way he describes with ease the various advantages achievable by C. V. V’s Yoga, and how it is different from the rest of the Yogas. The author affirms, “Like Buddha, Master C. V. V. had tried to put away with disease, decay and death and establish peace, plenty, permanence, perfection at his own will.” “Sarvari” tried to explain successfully how “This is a New Yoga which gives supreme knowledge and the highest awakening in the man” all achievable by means of CVV’s prayer at 6 a. m. and 6 p. m. daily – repeating His name thrice as Mantra. This Yoga is slowly but steadily gaining prominence and there are thousands and thousands of families following this Yoga in Andhra and the continent alike. A chapter on the Master’s mediums or disciples through whom He is still and will ever be working, proving and fulfilling. His promise given to raise those who meditate on Him equal to His stature, would have completed this book more colourfully. May the author keep this aspect in his mind.

In these days of anomalies, a book of this nature is quite a welcome one. This makes a refreshing study of various seers, their paths and preachings and enables the readers to understand and experience how Master’s Yoga is a prolific one best suited to the present times. This book will enrich the reader with new truths an philosophy and Yoga.

For the convenience of Telugu readers, K. Nageswara Rao has translated “Sarvari’s” book into Telugu as “Master Yoga Darsini. The style adopted in translation is quite lucid and placid and makes the reader go through the book at a stretch and ponder over the Master’s Yoga.

–“URUSWATHI”

At the Other End: By Chandrasekhar Patil. Sankramana Prakashana, Dharwad –580 008. Price: Rs. 10.
Broken Images: By D. C. Chambial. Samkaleen Prakashan, 2762, Rajguru Marg, New Delhi-110055. Price: Rs. 20.
Bhuma: By Laxmi Narayan Mahapatra. Vijay Publications, 776. Daryabad, Allahabad-210003. Price: Rs. 10.

Poetry is a natural outlet for an Indian teaching English in any of his home universities. Some of these poets (Nissim Ezekiel, P. Lal, Shiv Kumar) have made a mark in Indo-Anglia. Chandrasehkhar Patil belongs to this class, and does quite well. Original thinking in Kannada, if any and the pressures of being a writer in Kannada, are not disconcertingly visible in At the Other End. Selected observations and stray conversations form the material for these verses. No profundities are explored but there is enough wit to while away a lazy hour:

“The fricative you whisper rings in my dream,
Not with a flap, oh, but with a roll
Love is a glide, ah. We’re after all
the two allophones of the same phoneme.”

No illumination marks Broken Images. D. C. Chambial deals with inchoate thoughts and unconvincing verbiage. Laxmi Narayan Mahapatra’s Bhuma is an offspring of Indian culture that is tantalisingly varied. The epic poem too, at times, trembles on the brink of structural chaos. Man is the centre of Bhuma’s universe. From where has he come, whither does he go? Who is his companion in this endless journey? Who are these signposts – Buddha, Asoka, Krishna and Arjuna? What is the significance of this eternal flux?

“There comes light
When the darkness bides.
One appears while the other
Does vanish in a trice.
The death and life fuse
In one point
The great Annihilation comes
and the creation springs again.”
–Dr. PREMA NANDAKUMAR

More Frankly Speaking: By Sushil Mukherjee. Writers Workshop, Calcutta-45. Price: Rs. 20.

This is one of the most interesting publications doing credit to the Series of the Writers Workshop publications. Sushil Mukherjee has already to his credit an earlier publication written in the same vein called Frankly Speaking. This one is a continuation of similar articles reflecting many of the short­comings from which our modern civilization suffers in both the social and the political spheres. No doubt the author starts with an One-Act Comic Play of three of Shakespeare’s three heroines – Cordelia, Ophelia and Desdemona. Being full of his Shakespeare, Sushil Mukherjee cannot resist enjoying the great playwright in his own fashion. The three famous characters are treated with very poor consideration for their virtues, but on the other hand the very virtues are turned to ridicule making the reader more apt to forget himself in the pleasure of appreciat­ing the originality of the present playwright, to create real comic situations of the otherwise serious events in the original play. Again, the “Lament for English” conceived more as a parodying of Shakespeare’s famous speech of Antony in the play of Julius Caesar makes us so much agreeing with the author in everyone of the statements made. The agreeable surprise is how the author could so admirably bring in English to be the victim of a conspiracy and an ultimate murder.

There are about more than twenty such essays here of which everyone strikes us to be almost reflecting the current condi­tion of public life in India. Though somewhat cynical in places the entire writing of this resourceful writer gives the reader on the whole a picture of many of our follies in the context of a fast-progressing scientific age. Not only there is rich humour throughout the pages but often a pathetic endearment endowing many of our slowly-disappearing customs and conventions of social life.

Just as the author begins the book with an One-Act Play he concludes it also with an another One-Act Play revealing how all tall talk of National integration descends to a farce with our linguistic chauvinism and false prides. The realism of the play only adds to the poignancy of our feelings outraged by plati­tudes of politicians. Indeed a book to read not once but many times for its utter frankness.
– K. CHANDRASEKHARAN

The Unrepentant & Other Stories: By Vera Sharma. Writers Workshop, Lake Gardens, Calcutta-45. Price: Rs. 30.

This is a beautiful collection of twelve short stories worthy of being called short stories, because of the thought or psycho­logical involvement contained in them leading to the reader’s immense relief that they are not of the kind found sometimes prepared by Writers Workshop publications. Perceptivity of the author’s mind is really evident in everyone of the stories which demand more than a first perusal to appreciate the significance of the point developed in the narration. Easily running into incidents and dialogues which bear out how naturally sensitive an observation the writer is capable of while dwelling upon the various types of characters who crowd about each one of the stories here.

While all of them are equally good, still it will not be con­sidered overstatement, if “The Shadow”, “The Moth and The Butterfly”, “The Chasm” and “Nothing Venture Nothing Win” do possess material that can make any student of life’s vagaries be completely satisfied that we have here abundant samples of some of the inexplicable knots which destroy domestic peace or society’s tall claim to progressive modernism.
–“SAHRIDAYA”

Drying Tears in the Sun: By Indu Suryanarayana Writers Work­shop, Calcutta-45. Price: Rs. 30.

The fourteen stories in this collection are all of them inte­resting each in its own way. In the changed modern technique of a short story, we find more often stories having very little of incidents to lead us to some point of culmination or purpose. They merely represent a patch of life or mental vision and leave the reader to blink as to what exactly he or she derives for understanding. If literature is its own end just as art is some­times said to be for itself, then perhaps such stories justify their existence. Otherwise there will be no gain for the heart or the mind requiring stir towards elevation or chastening.

The present author has sensitivity of observation of life around, especially of the poorer folk, and invariably touches upon some little psychology or idiosyncracy of the individual reader’s imagination and need. In this group, some like “The Miracle of Growth”, “The Dream”, “The Thing Went Wrong” are really of merit to engage us.

For so well got-up books in the Writers Workshop Series fewer proof mistakes could have been tolerated.
–“SAHRIDAYA”

Bhagavan and Nayana: By S. Sankaranarayanan. Sri Ramanashramam, Tiruvannamalai-606603, Price: Rs. 10.

Taking inspiration from the birth centenaries of two of our most revered sages of modern age, Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi and Kavyakantha Vasishta Ganapati Muni (in 1979, 1978 respectively). Sri S. Sankaranarayanan, a prasishya (disciples’ disciple) of no less a person than the Kavyakantha himself, has produced this little but splendid book of great charm. He has achieved in a limited compass what no other writer either on the Muni or the Maharshi has achieved so far. With inimitable skill, he has shown us how the Muni is not merely the mouthpiece of the Maharshi, but his spiritual twin, his tapah phalam (Fruit of his penance) as late Mr. Viswamitra put it. “The descent of the divine brothers,” he observes, “holds for all the world hope and promise.” Uncritical and eminently readable, scholarly and delightful, the book deserves high praise. No significant episode in the life of Kavyakantha is omitted; no important work: remains unnoticed. A talented English translation of Ganapati Muni’s brief but brilliant commentary on Isavasyopanishad is an added bonus to the readers.

–Dr. G. SRIRAMA MURTY

Fruits and Flowers: By Dr. Sankara Srirama Rao. Ramachandra­raopet, Eluru-534002.

Fruits and Flowers is a collection of a hundred verses from the facile pen of Dr. Sankara Srirama Rao who is a very enlightened man, besides being a successful medical practitioner. These hundred graceful verses are like a Sataka, in tradition each an independent one and often subjective. The author himself says: “I must make a confession to unburden my heart.” (P. 9 )

Here is the man:

I enjoy the crowd
But I cannot live in it;
I sympathise with the poor and help them
But I cannot embrace poverty;
I serve the sick with devotion’
But I dread disease and ill-health;
I pity the lowly minds and wish well of them
But I cannot descend to their gutter-level;
I can understand selfishness
But I cannot sacrifice principle for it.

As the Bhagavadgita shaped his outlook on life, he surrenders his life at His lotus feet and dances “His life to His divine tune.” However, he has no use for fatalism which he observes is “the gateway to escapism” and “demoralises man into inaction.” The book contains a number of shrewd observations on Life, God, Nature, Time, Poetry, Friendship, etc.

Consider the following:

“Life is the finest of fine arts”, “Life does not stand to reason”. “You just go through life without knowing anything about/that is the real thrill and joy of life”, “A friend is a life-boat”, “Time is God”, “God alone exists”, “God is a spiritual necessity”, “Man is a victim of circumstances” “that which conceals is not poetry’s that which reveals is true poetry.” As his poetry springs from rich experience and fullness of years, it captures the variegated hues of life. Each poem goes straight to our heart.

As Mr. M. R. Appa Rao has finely said in his foreword, these “Fragrant flowers and delicious fruits are their own recommendation to the Sahridaya.”

–Dr. G. SRIRAMA MURTY

The Heritage: Vol. 1, Numbers 1 to 3 (January to March 1985). Founder: B. Nagi Reddi. Publisher and Managing Editor: B. Viswanatha Reddi. Editor: Manoj Das. Chandamama Publi­cations, Vadapalani, Madras - 600026. Price of single copy: Six Rupees. Annual Subscription: Rs. 72.

“Periodical Journalism”, in its true sense, is rather different from “Magazine Journalism”, as we are familiar with it, which has its eye on the main chance of commercial success, resting on the twin pillars of wide circulation and high advertisement revenue. There is nothing wrong with success as such, provided it is not propped up by sensationalism. Nor is there anything wrong with popularity either, if it is not achieved only by play­ing to the gallery, in season and out.

In the long run, perhaps, significance is preferable to “success at any cost” and perception to mere popularity as the sole aim for the print medium. The Heritage is a periodical with a differ­ence. It has chosen a difficult path for itself in its preference fora character of significance and a quality of perception. In its literary manifesto, the reader is told that “The Heritage” will strive to project all that is good and glorious, creative and ennobling. Even when it will be critical of a situation or an event or a human trait, it will be so keeping its faith alive and strong.”

After three issues, marking a steady improvement in quality of content and variety of subject matter as also elegance of pro­duction, The Heritage is not content to be a promise; it has become an exercise in fulfilment. The totality of fulfilment should wait, if the urge for perfection is to be kept alive and not dissolved in the complacent humdrum of a routine ritual. The challenge thrown at the reader, whose intelligence is not under­estimated, is met by a response that is obviously beyond all reasonable expectations.

The Heritage is deeply interested in the past; but it is not ward-looking. It would like to make out our living past from the dead. The glory of Sanchi (The Great Stupa), The grandeur of the Chola empire at its zenith, the greatness of cricket a century ago, are all taken in the stride. The Heritage does not eschew politics. The birth of the Indian National Congress and the contribution of a patriarch like Dr. Rajendra Prasad are part of yesterday’s politics and today’s history. The Tribal attitude to life and death, the struggle for survival of endangered species, like the Indian tiger, the eternal spirit of the Himalayas, are all captured with precision and sensitivity. Prose fiction, in which the Editor, Mr. Manoj Das, is a name to reckon with, is presented in all its richness and variety. Vivid glimpses of the arts – plastic and performing, are also provided, along with aspects of popular science and medicine. We are promised a whole lot of mythology for the adult.

–Dr. D. ANJANEYULU

SAMSKRIT - TELUGU

Lalitaa Trisati Bhaashyam. Price: Rs. 12.
Subhagodaya Stuti: By Dr. P. Subrahmanya Sastry. Published by K. Vira Raghavasastry. Ramalingeswarapet, Tenali. Price: Rs. 12.

Lalitaa Trisati as its very name implies contains three hundred names of Lalita. There are fifteen letters in the famous Saakta Mantra known as “Panchdasi.” Every twenty names in this Stotra begin with the fifteen letters of that Mantra in order. A recital of this and worship of Lalita Goddess with his Stotra is believed to be highly efficacious. Sri Shankaracharaya – one of the pontiffs of this Math, but not Adisankara according to the author – wrote a commentary on this in Samskrit and it is in line with the system of Sankaraadwaita. This volume gives the text of the Stotra. A Telugu translation of the Bhaashya follows. The translator is a versatile scholar and a genius and his translation is authentic and clear.

“Subhagodaya Stuti” is also a panegyric upon the Goddess and Srichakra written by Gaudapadacharya, Guru of Adi Shankara the exponent of Advaita philosophy. It is a source book to the famous “Soundaryalahari” written by Sri Shankara, and contains fifty-two verses in Samskrit. Lolla Laxmidhara a famous com­mentator on Soundaryalahari was said to have written a commentary on this. Anyhow this text is one of the most authori­tative ones on Srividya, but is not easily intelligible, as there is no commentary upon this available to us now. This authentic and elaborate commentary fills up the lacuna, and meets the demands of the devotees. An introduction of 56 pages gives a biographical sketch of Sri Vidyaranaya. Different readings of some words in the Slokas, and an index of the Slokas complete the text. This is a must for all Shaakta devotees.

–“SANDILYA”

TAMIL

Stvanesanin Sapatham (Sivanesan’s Vow). Short stories in Tamil. By Purasu Balakrishnan. Tamil Writers’ Co-operative Society, 107, Big Street, Madras-5. Price: Rs. 10.

The theorizing intelligence of Purasu Balakrishnan is ubiquitous in his short stories. A craftsman who has remained faithful to this art-form for nearly half a century, Sri Balakrishnan probes the behavioural patterns of ordinary individuals with an extraordinary turn of mind. What was it that forced Sivanesan to take a terrible vow at that very young age? He will touch no woman throughout his life! His wife’s intransigence is not the whole answer nor his guilt-feeling engendered by that single stormy night spent in the house of the courtesan, Nalayini. Inspired by the Peria Puranam story of Tiruneelakantar ‘Siva­nesan’s Vow’ has a dream quality about it. So realistic and yet beyond our theories and thought-processes.

Questions, mostly of a practising doctor, are the ignition for the other tales. Why did the blameless Tirumala Rao reject wedded life? Syphylis? How was there a total change in the attitudes of Dr. Sundaram’s patient? Hardening of the arteries leading to the brain? Why did Guruswamy die? Pneumonia? How was the wife in ‘Akkiramam’ killed? Arsenic? All the while the author records a chosen segment of human experience with imaginative identification. A good story-teller, he never disappoints us. ‘Sashtiabdapoorthi’ has a special appeal. For here is a perfect fusion of realistic atmosphere, intellectual probing and spiritual awakening in Mrityunjaya Sastry’s silent and gentle withdrawal from this world of human affairs.
–Dr. PREMA NANDAKUMAR

TELUGU

Tridasi (A Collection of Poems): By Janamanchi Venkata Ramayya. Copies can be had from Janamanchi Kameswara Rao, Ba-Bapu Bhavan, Rajahmundry-4. Price: Rs. 10.

With the increasing democratisation of literature under the mistaken notion of universal or popular appeal in various genres of writing, there has been a noticeable dilution of literary taste and deterioration of aesthetic sensibility among the readers of modern Telugu literature. In the wilderness of slogan-infested, sex-charged, violence-oriented, eerie and mystifying plethora of present-day Telugu publications, if one rarely comes across a really literary piece of work, one is naturally enlivened and feels it as a breath of fresh air in a suffocating smoky surfeit of stuff passing off as literature.

“Tridasi” (a sheaf of thirty poetic pieces) by late Sri Janamanchi Venkata Ramayya of Rajahmundry, a comradely con­temporary of the literary giants of those days, brings in a whiff of fragrant poetry of the purest vintage, of lofty emotions expressed in chiselled and scintillating terms and word-pictures, of intimations of immortality of man’s yearnings of the spirit divine, his reaching out to heaven through the discipline of aesthetic sensibility with malice towards none and goodwill to all.

Like Bhavabhuti (whose Uttara Ramacharita and Malati Madhavam, the poet had translated into Telugu) Venkata Ramayya finds his poetic expression the best in Karunarasa and the pieces in this collection bespeak his decided proclivity and talent in that direction. The narrative “Karuna Geetam” is a model for that.            His “Sodara Smriti”, (Remembrances of his brother) has a painful and poignant personal note about it with all the intensity of genuine sense of grief and desolation the poet ex­perienced because of the fateful mortal separation from his brother. “Putrasokormi (On the death of a son) is also a moving piece of emotional stirrings of the agitated human heart at such extraordinary sorrow. The poet’s love of Nature – its flora and fauna, as well as its magnificent and multifaceted glories in different seasons, the sights and sounds – is apparent in everyone of the poems dealing with the theme. Underly­ing the poems one perceives the philosophical currents or life’s vicissitudes, joys and sorrows, aspirations and failures, presented by the poet in stoic majesty and peerless poignance, in their plenitude and puissance. A person with a great vision of the human predicament in the terrestrial situations, a warmth of the essential human spirit, and above all a flair for manifestation of the inner depths of feeling of the heart alone could write such poetry. Venkata Ramayya belongs to the Titans in the field.

–POTHUKUCHI SURYANARAYANA MURTY

Sri Adivi Bapiraju Navalaa Sahityaanuseelanamu: By Dr. Mannava Satyanarayana. For copies: Dr M. Satyanarayana, M. A., Ph. D., Near Labour Court, Guntur-6. Price: Rs. 30.

Sri Adivi Bapiraju was one of the Associate Editors of Triveni in the early ’Thirties. He was a very dear friend of the Founder-Editor of Triveni. Sri K. Ramakotiswara Rau. Bapiraju was a novelist, short-story writer, essayist, journalist, lyricist and playwright. However he earned a niche for himself in the Telugu literary world as one of the great novelists. Not only that, he was an artist of high repute. His art piece “Sabdabrahma” is preserved in the Museum at Denmark. His painting “Bhagavatapurusha” is adorning the Maharaja’s Palace at Trivandrum and another piece “Suryadeva”    is in Coochbihar. His famous painting of “Tikkana” (one of the three famous poets who rendered Mahabharata into Telugu) won for him a prize from the Andhra University. Bapiraju is acclaimed with affection by his poet-friends as a great artist and his artist-friends praised him as a great poet.

Bapiraju was a patriot and went to prison during the national movement. He was editor of a Telugu daily from Hyderabad and a fine orator. Above all, Bapiraju was an ideal­ist and humanist and lives in the hearts of many lovers of literature.

The author of the book under review, Dr. Satyanarayana, chose the novels of Bapiraju for his doctoral thesis. Though born with a great handicap of blindness, he is gifted with a keen insight and distinguished himself as a fine interpreter of Bapiraju’s novels. The book is divided into five chapters. In the first chapter he gives a detailed life sketch ofBapiraju; in the second a brief history of the novel in Telugu literature. In the third and fourth chapters the author gives, in brief, the story-content of Bapiraju’s social and historical novels. The last chapter is devoted to the special feature of the novels–­treatment, language, style, etc., –and the high place Bapiraju occupies as a great novelist in Telugu literature. The biblio­graphy which is appended is very useful and enhances the value of the book.

The most noteworthy fact about the book is Mrs. Nirmala­devi, the educated and devoted life-partner of the author, read all the relevant books and other source material for her husband and acted as the scribe for the entire thesis. She made a good job of it and deserves all praise. In spite of the most important physical handicap for a writer, the author has put in tremendous effort and brought out a book of intrinsic worth. It is a valuable book of reference on Bapiraju and richly deserves a place in every library.

–BHAVARAJU

Veluri Sivarama Sastry Avadhana Bharati: By Dr. J. Mahati Shankar. For copies: Srimati Jandhyala Subhasbini, Sivalayam Veedhi, Satyanarayanapuram, Vijayawada-11. Price: Rs. 25.

Late Sri Veluri Sivarama Sastry was not only a versatile scholar in Samskrit but also a great poet in Telugu and Samskrit. He was a student of late Tirupati Venkateswara Kavulu, epoch makers in Telugu literature and “Shataavadhanis.” Sri Veluri Sivarama Sastry also was a Sataavadhani of high achievements. The volume under review contains a collection of six Shataava­dhanams and four Ashtaavadhanams in addition to appreciations of about fifteen eminent scholars and poets including late Tirupati Sastry and Venkata Sastry. A brief life sketch of Sivarama Sastry and a detailed note on Avadhanas appear at the beginning of the text. A comparative study of Telugu translations of Padmapurana including the one by Veluri, by the editor of this compilation is found at the end of the book. A list of about 25 articles published in journals, etc., about Sivaramna Sastry is also included. An index showing the different Samasyas, and descriptions is given. Some notes explaining the “Slesha” used in some verses and some other difficult expressions would have facilitated an easy understanding and appreciation. In all, here is an intellectual and literary treat for all students of Telugu literature to which this volume is a valuable addition.

–B. KUTUMBA RAO

Vyasa Purnima: By Dr. N. Ananta Rama Sastry. Aruna Publica­tions, Pattabhipuram, Guntur-522 006. Price: Rs. 12.

The volume under review contains fifteen essays in Telugu; ten on classical Telugu poetry, two on modern poetry, two on Sanskrit Kavyas, and one on a Sanskrit drama. Two essays on Srinaadha and one on Telugu Satakas are informative. All the essays are useful to Telugu students of degree classes and post­graduate courses also to some extent.

What exactly is meant by the words “Ardha gauravamu” and “Padalaalityam” that are used while describing Magha’s style? A definition of the terms will give clearer ideas.

–SASTRI”