Triveni Journal

1927 | 11,233,916 words

Triveni is a journal dedicated to ancient Indian culture, history, philosophy, art, spirituality, music and all sorts of literature. Triveni was founded at Madras in 1927 and since that time various authors have donated their creativity in the form of articles, covering many aspects of public life....

Vasu-Raya, Poet of Andhra

J. Satyanarayana Moorti

BY J. SATYANARAYANA MOORTI, M.A., B.L.

In the recent history of India, the one man that has taken the best from the West and assimilated what is of utmost value in the East is Rabindranath Tagore. He had the rare luck of remaining outside the portals of universities, untouched by the contagious influence of several of those who hugged the Occident and derided the Orient, who looked askance at eternal truths and ran after fleeting shadows. He fixed his gaze on the resplendent ideals held up by Rammohan Roy, the father of Modern India, found an ideal Guru in his father, drank deep at the fount of Vaishnava literature, revolved in his mind the great truths of the Upanishads,sank deep in contemplation, and became a devotee of the Muse in Santiniketan.

Vasu-Raya began plying his pen when Rabindranath was yet in the cradle. Whereas Tagore was brought up in comfort amidst bright ideals and the light of the Upanishads under Devendranath’s roof, Vasu-Raya’s cradle was woven with worries and many sorrows.

Vaddadi Subbaraya Kavi is the oldest of the living poets in India. His early life was spent at Korangi and Vegayammapeta, away from the land of the earliest expression of modern Indian Renaissance, untouched by the great thought-movements which gave Bengal new life and vigour and invested the same with the nimbus of glory. It is difficult even after studious delving to find many intellectual influences during his childhood, though his father was a pandit and a poet of some repute. When young Vasu-Raya was just able to gaze at the world and no older, he was left helpless weeping over his father’s dead body. His adventures were from the straw-bed to the thorny. He had not the melancholy privilege of gaining access to the modern system of education. He moved on to Rajahmundry, the abode of the Andhra Muse, entered with folded hands the pantheon of the mother-tongue, felt in its vestibules the living presence of immortal poets and pronounced his prayer with devotion and enthusiasm. He was near and dear to Viresalingam when the latter was emerging into our literary horizon, and he remained an orthodox pandit notwithstanding. He did not set his heart on reform, religious or political, social or literary. If the lack of English education has withheld from him the fruits of a new culture, it has also saved him from a blind mimicry of Western literary modes. If he lost the opportunity of gaining by new influences, he had at any rate the advantage of keeping invulnerable his faith in the rich literary traditions of the East. The lamp of Life ever shines through creative genius, spreading its beams in the wonderland of Art. Only those who are blind to its light, regard yesterday’s transcendent production as out-of-date this forenoon.

The greatest of Telugu poets spent their lives in communion with ancient Sanskrit poets and savants. Historical compulsion kept them as translators for decades. But they did not bury their originality in mere translation. Genius (pratibha) does not choose to remain as an intellectual slave. The productions of poets like Tikkana are not so much faithful reproductions of the original works as individual artistic expressions.

Our gifted Vasu-Raya followed the tradition and spent considerable time and energy in the study and interpretation of the ancient classics. The most successful of his translations is ‘Veni-samhara.’ The hero of the play is Bhima and the heroine Draupadi. It is full of stirring episodes and lofty sentiments. It reveals the dynamic personality of its author Bhattanarayana, and it is a product of strong emotion. Next comes the translation of ‘Bhamini-Vilasam’ composed in Sanskrit by the famous Andhra Poet, Jagannatha Pandita-Raya, who adorned the court of Shah Jehan and won admiration for his matchless gifts. On a careful study of his works, one is amazed at the imaginative faculty of this literary artist. The scenes and pictures displayed before the mental vision are achieved by flights of genius. After a critical study of Jagannatha’s talent, Vasu-Raya succeeded in making his translation really magnificent. The book should have been hailed as one of the richest contributions to Telugu literature but for the prevailing poverty of critical appreciation. The tears showered in memory of his beloved by Jagannatha, drew sympathetic tears from Vasu-Raya who suffered the loss of his Annapurna. Like his contemporaries Viresalingam and Venkataraya Sastri, Vasu-Raya translated the most important works of Kalidasa, ‘Sakuntala,’ the greatest of Sanskrit plays, being one of them. Vasu-Raya tried his best to avoid recondite phraseology and gave a remarkably lucid presentation of the genius of Kalidasa, adding adequate critical notes. His translations of ‘Vikramorvaseeyam’ and ‘Meghasandesam,’ done fifty years ago along with ‘Veni-samhara’ received the encomiums of pandits. Early in 1891 the Poet translated Krishnamisra’s famous drama ‘Prabodha-chandrodaya.’ Misra, who flourished in Bihar, was a follower of Sankara’s school of philosophy. His aim was to discourage Buddhistic propaganda. So the drama was a reflection of the social and religious conditions of the people in Magadha in the seventh century. Abstract qualities are represented as dramatis personae. Good qualities, good actions, good religions, and good scriptures pitted themselves against bad qualities, bad actions, alien religions and scriptures, and attained victory. The play is a remarkable illustration of the triumph of the human spirit and of the sovereign power present in self-realisation. The magic touch of the poet’s pen metamorphosed abstruse meta-physics into a marvelous play. Without leading himself astray like his predecessors in translation, Nandi Mallayya and Ghanta Singayya, Vasu-Raya skillfully maintained the dramatic complexion of the work. Next comes his translation of Kshemeswara Kavi’s ‘Chanda-Kausika.’ The author followed the story of Harischandra as it appeared in ‘Markandeya-purana.’ But the account as given by ‘Skanda-purana’ and adopted by the famous Telugu Poet Sankara-kavi and his successors became very popular, so that Vasu-Raya’s translation could not cleave its way through settled views, albeit his production reveals a motive for Viswamitra’s cruel behaviour. Unlike other authors, the Poet gave some scope for the emotion of Love in this play.

As Milton is said to have slept over the Bible and awoke to dictate the greatest poem in English literature, so Vasu-Raya fixed his wistful gaze on Bhavabhuti’s ‘Malati-Madhava,’ fell into a trance for a while and woke up to produce this gigantic work. He translated six Acts several years ago. Recently he translated the remaining four Acts, maintaining perfect unity of thought and style. The dignity and majesty of style which reigns as the fundamental characteristic of the writings of Vasu-Raya is markedly visible in this work. The ordinary run of readers who want mirth and entertainment only, and who are not used to deep reflection, cannot tarry for a moment on any work of Vaddadi Subbaraya Kavi whose diction is the pride of Telugu literature. Vasu-Raya also translated with distinction Mayura-Kavi’s ‘Suryasatakam’. The Poet’s recent translation is from Dingnagacharya’s ‘Kundamala.’ Critics will feel interested to compare ‘Veni-samhara’ translated when the Poet was nearing thirty with ‘Kundamala’ written when he was nearly eighty. The onrushing flood of ideas and the strong and vehement style of ‘Veni-samhara’ gave place to a mellifluous flow of ideas and a facile and spontaneous style in ‘Kundamala.’ It is interesting to note that at each of these stages of life Vasu-Raya selected the work which was most congenial to his age and his mood. The thought and expression of ‘Kundamala’ has every affinity with the idealism and phraseology of ‘Uttara-Ramacharita.’ Vasu-Raya felt urged to take up the present work a decade ago when he translated the first Act of the magnum opus of Bhavabhuti, whom research hails as an illustrious Andhra savant that flourished in Central India.

While poets of the Prabandha age chose to tickle the senses, Vasu-Raya endeavours to touch the soul, realising that Art is divine. The circumstance that he is a great devotee of Vishnu is writ large on his life-work. Devotion flows like a running stream in all the utterances of the Poet. ‘Nandanandana’ and ‘Apaduddharaka’ Satakams (centuries of verse) speak of his attachment to Sree Krishna, and his recent publication ‘Artharakshamani’ is an illustration of his devotion to Rama. The tearful and extempore apostrophes addressed to Nrisimha at Mangalagiri when the thought of his dear departed son Prahlada stirred his soul, are examples of great emotional utterances. His ‘Viswarupa-sthava’ is an anthology of the rapturous strains of the blind Kaurava King Dhritarashtra when for a while that monarch was blessed with sight of the Cosmic Form of the Lord. His ‘Bhagavat Kirthanalu,’ ‘Bhakta-chintamani’ and the devotional pieces incorporated in ‘Daivabhakti,’ ‘Bhaminivilasam,’ ‘Sati-smriti’ and ‘Chatu-prabandham’ are instinct with spiritual fervour; and these together with ‘Artharakshamani’ embody the best expression of the Poet’s originality. As we go through these pages; we find lines of rare splendour and a succession of uplifting thoughts, and we hail Vasu-Raya as a profound thinker and a distinguished poet. If there is any work in Telugu which by virtue of its religious idealism, fine imagery, and wealth of ideas can make some approach to ‘Gitanjali,’ it is Vasu-Raya’s celebrated ‘Bhakta-chintamani.’

His description of the Godavari in high floods and the excursion on a steam-launch is a gem of poetry, by reason of the limpid flow of verse and the nobility of sentiment, though slightly marred by the monotony of form in a heavy-laden ‘champaka-mala’. His ‘Sugunapradarsakam’ is a tiny cluster of moral lessons couched in pithy poetic expressions intended for the young. His ‘Suktivasuprakasam’ is a bunch of nice poems. The Poet casts one glance into the heart of man and another into the heart of Nature. He finds similar feelings, similar thoughts, similar sentiments. These are strung in suitable similes which are woven into the multi-coloured tapestry of the poem. ‘Suktivasuprakasam’ is a treasure-house of worldly wisdom gleaned by the enquiring gaze of the Poet–a treasure-house such as the poetry of our immortal Vemana is. Few have realised the importance of this book, though, frankly speaking, it is not possible to find another book of this type in recent Telugu literature.

To have a comprehensive view of the Poet’s talent as revealed in the various periods of his long career, one should stand on the threshold of his ‘Chatu-prabandham’ and peer into its rich contents. His descriptive poems clearly indicate that he is a child of Nature. He was born at Pasarlapudi-lanka, a veritable island-Eden in the heart of the Godavari. He was brought up at Korangi, whose natural beauty attracted many a youthful wanderer. For seven years he was immersed in contemplation in the smiling fields of Vegayammapeta, and as a pilgrim of beauty and wisdom he passed six decades on the banks of the Godavari at Rajahmundry, drawing inspiration from its poetic past and from its suggestive surroundings. So he was never away from the picturesqueness of the divine river; and his soul ever perched on the emerald beauty of this wonderland. We have glimpses of these poetic surroundings in certain chapters of ‘Chatu-prabandham.’

Several of the great poets of the world are rebels. Their souls hunger for freedom and their stirring songs set many a revolution on its swift career. Vasu-Raya, however, was no revolutionary. On the other hand, he has been a conventional loyalist in Indian politics. But we are perhaps not justified in trotting out judgments on the past personal politics of the aged Poet, who had not the benefit of being young when our great national movement came.

His ‘In Memoriam’ poems, ‘Satismriti’ and ‘Sutasmriti’ on the death of his wife and son, reveal the greatest faculties of the Poet, and can be ranked with the best in Telugu literature. They are conspicuously free from rugged phraseology; and each of them is, as it were, a literary receptacle overflowing with indescribable pathos. Suffering has been the constant companion of the Poet; and suffering is the mother of great poetry. The loss ofhis parents at an early age and that of his wives and, more than all, the sudden death of his gifted son Prahlada are responsible for these outpourings.

Traditionally, the Andhras are lovers of verse. Anything which does not appear in verse, however stiff and ponderous, gained no recognition in the republic of Telugu Letters. Some of our mathematical works too were crowded into verse forms. This defect, which has been weighing upon a language hailed as the Italian of the East, was to some extent remedied by Chinnayasuri and Viresalingam Pantulu. Vasu-Raya would not break new ground. Sixty long years of literary labour could see but three tiny works of his in prose. His defence of classical Telugu, his lecture on ‘Devotion’ which appeared in two pamphlets and his ‘Sumanomanojnam’ which is a very succinct prose version, in three parts, of ‘Bharatam’ indicate that he is capable of writing musical prose, in spite of his inordinate love of the inflexible old grammar. If he had written more of prose, he would perhaps have been hailed like Viresalingam as another Tikkana of Prose. Very few in Andhra-desa seem to trouble themselves with an analysis of the inevitability of the ancient, medieval, and modern stages in the development of any language, or with the fact that like every great and growing language Telugu has also absorbed words from other languages owing to divers historical causes.

Vasu-Raya’s abilities have been recognised to some extent only in his home province, though his fame deserves to have crossed its boundaries. The Andhra Research University conferred on him the title of ‘Kavi-sekhara’ and the public of Rajahmundry honoured him with the title of ‘Sookti-sudhanidhi’ at the instance of Dr. P. Gurumurti, a great lover of great minds, and a true friend of the poor. The latter event gained great prominence on account of its being associated with the presence of our distinguished countryman, Sir S. Radhakrishnan.

Subbaraya-Kavi was a Telugu Pandit for several years in the Government Training College and the Government Arts College, Rajahmundry. His long association with students made him a friend of young men, and it has kept up his freshness and enthusiasm. The young men who were once his students are now old men themselves, but they still approach their great Guru with love and devotion, and sit at his feet to hear his wise words and often to note down with ineffable delight whatever is uttered by him. One of these chelas is Mr. Nidamarti Jaladurga Prasadaraya, a distinguished lawyer of Rajahmundry and a scholar of repute. Not only old students but also new pupils daily approach him and gain inspiration. The aged Poet always feels happy in their company. The present writer deems it his privilege to belong to this fortunate band.

If, like Potana, the poet of the Andhra Bhagavatam, Vasu-Raya is a great devotee, like him too he attaches the highest value to self-respect. Vasu-Kavi does not struggle for honour, recognition or advertisement. He is frugal and contented, simple and unostentatious. He loves his children and his happy home. He is ‘strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find.’ He sees his Benares in Rajahmundry, his Ganges in the Godavari, his Viswanath in Markandeya-Swami, and prays constantly for peace and blessedness. He does not provoke others, nor does he provoke himself, and he never plunges into the vortex of controversy. His patience is his wealth, his contentment his strength. Does not the Gita say that the true mental tapas is that which consists of clarity and calmness of mind, sweetness, composure and purity of nature?

May Vasu-Raya live for many more years and realise the fruit of a life of consecration to the Highest!

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