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....

On Syllabic Melody of Nannaya’s Poetry

Salva Krishnamurthi

PROF. SALVA KRISHNAMURTHI

Simplicity of pattern, lucidity, beauty, all-inclusiveness, universality and maadhuryaare fundamental to literary art. Maadhurya is by definition ‘anubhava paunahpunya kshamatva’. In other words, the inexhaustible capacity to yield a pleasurable experience every-time is called maadhurya.

Poetry is the most representative mode of composition in all literary art. In no other mode of composition, not even in drama, are the latent potentialities of language harnessed and exploited so thoroughly and exhaustively. A poetic work of art or Kaavya, as an organic whole has its internal and external aspects. Thus the traditional literary elements can be represented by five sheaths with their internal and external aspects.

Internal                                   External Sheath
Rasa Dhvani                                      Anandamaya kosa
Paaka                                       Sayya                                       Vijnaanamaya kosa
Vritti                                         Reeti                                        Manomaya kosa
Guna Alamkaara                                Praanamaya kosa
Artha                                        Sabda                                      Annamaya kosa

The internal aspects tend to aid more and manifest in the next higher external aspect. Thus consider the numerous arthaalamkaaras, gunas go to make Reeti; Vritti goes to condition the Sayya; Paaka facilitates the comprehension of Dhvaniwhich in turn melts into rasa by caruana. Melody in a poem is maadhuryamentioned above and cannot be restricted to the verbal plane alone though it has its own important part to play. It has to extend to both the spheres of sound and sense. Since melody is an attribute or qualification, a composition of ideal melody can be envisaged when the literary elements are qualified by literary gunas. Bharata considering these gunasas important as praanashas enumerated them into ten. Thus (1) slishta pada (2) prasanna artha (3) guna with a touch of samataa (4) alamkaara with samaadhi guna (5) vritti with maadhurya guna (6) reeti with ojo guna (7) paaka with   pada saukumaarya (8) sayyaa with artha vyakti guna !9) dhvani with udaara guna and (10) rasa with kaanti guna would make for optimum melody when couched in the thirty-six modes of artistic expression called “Lakshanas” by the sage himself. If composed this way the resultant texture of a poem is found to be unique and inimitable as in the case of Vaalmiki in Sanskrit and Nannaya in Telugu.

Dr V. V. L. Narasimha Rao’s “Nannaya Kavitvamu Akshararamyata” is a scholarly attempt to make a perceptive study of akshararamyataof Nannaya’s Andhra Mahabharata comprising of Adi, Sabha parvas and a portion of Aranya parva. This work is Dr Rao’s Doctoral thesis submitted to S. V. University, Tirupati, and awarded the Ph. D. Degree. Before touching upon Dr Rao’s work a few general remarks about Vyasa’s Bharata and Nannaya’s work are necessary.

For the Vedic origins of the story and the three renditions of Bharata, namely Jaya, Bharata and Mahabharata and the times of their authors, Vyasa and others one can profitably refer one self to the book “Bharata caritra Parikshaa” written by the late seer Kavyakanta Ganapati Muni and available both in Sanskrit and Telugu. Suffice it here to say that Bharata was written at a time when the Supreme Lord was called Indra and the highest abode to aspire for was called Swarga. Mahabharata itself says that Krishna after relinquishing his mortal coils went to Swarga. This is useful in avoiding any controversy regarding the main rasaof Bharata, namely deciding between Shaanta and Dharmaveera. Secondly, the telling of the story itself is connected with Janamejaya’s Sarpayaaga and again Saunaka’s Satrayaaga. It is replete with mentioning of Yajnas and Yaagas not to mention Dharmaja’s Raajasuya and Aswamedha in the story. It is essentially Dharmasastra born after the emergence of Yajnikopanishad wherein the word Narayana is found mentioned for the first time to refer to the Supreme Lord. Vyasa has described Bharata as “sukshmaartha nyaaya samyuktaa” meaning that it is full of mimamsaa nyayas. This makes the episodes and stories of the work allegorical making it a Sastra-kavya.

Nannaya was a ritualist and mimamsaka. He described himself as nityasatyavacana, samhitaabhyaasa, avirala japa homatatpara. He undertook to translate Bharata into Telugu at a time when there was complete hostility towards Vedic religion and sacrifices. “Abhilashitaartha Cintamani” of Calukya Somadeva of the same period (11th century) has a sloka which ends with “naasti yajna samoripuh” meaning that there is no enemy worse than a Vedic sacrifice. His literary career came at a time when the preponderance of Sanskrit vocabulary had already established even in Telugu formulating a sonorous style of composition and before the emergence of the Desi movement which was part of a world-wide phenomenon of the Vernacular movement during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. So it will be a folly to delimit the syllabic melody to the verbal plane alone and give full credit to him just because no other Kavya of the contemporary period is available. Inscriptional verses come in the way. Again it is to be remembered that Nannaya made his part of the work also a sastra-kavya and there is positive evidence of it though it is doubtful whether the same can be said of Tikkana and Errana who completed the rest of Bharata.

In his introductory verses Nannaya has written to this effect: Naonayabhatta, a mine of maxims of the abiding, has, for the good of the world, undertaken the composition of Bharatasamhita in Telugu in such a way that kavindras with foresight would commend the purposeful action embedded in the lucid stories and others would appreciate the akshararamyata. This verse is the starting point for all literary criticism about Nannaya and also a source of controversy.

What many scholars missed to notice is that Vyasa’s phrase ‘sukshmaartha nyaya samyuktaa’ has been changed by Nannaya into ‘rucirartha sukti nidhi’ denoting a personal qualification. Rucirartha suktis are nothing but sukshmaartha nyayas. They are mimamsaa nyayas. By kavindras with foresight Nannaya meant only scholars in mimamsa and not ordinary poets. ‘Sabda , saamaanyam abhideyam; viseshasca arthah –  is a dictum in mimamsa. Though the word kavindras would ordinarily seem to refer to poets only the real reference is to mimamasakas. The words ‘saaramati’, ‘kavindrulu’, ‘arthayukti’, ‘melu’, ‘rucirartha’ used in the verse have, all of them, mimamsa undertones. Do the mimamsakas see poetic imagination in Bharata? They would be interested in seeing how finely each story allegorically represents a mimamsa nyaya or item of interest. So, the reading ‘prasanna katha kavitaartha yukti “ though found in a majority of manuscripts, cannot be accepted, ‘Kathaa kalita artha yukti’ alone will meet the situation. The question arises then as to who are the others that would appreciate ‘akshararamyata’. It is the non-mimamsakas like poets and sahridayas.

Dr. Rao has taken up this ‘akshararamyataa’ appreciated by non-mimansakas for his exploration and study. But what is akshararamyataa? Ordinarily it means syllabic melody, strictly it means ‘the abiding sweetness’ which is nothing but maadhurya spoken of at the beginning.

Dr. Rao makes a beginning by devoting the first chapter to the enumeration of the three major poetic qualities of Nannaya, namely (1) Prasanna kathaa kavita /kalita arthayukti (2) Akshara ramyata and (3) naanaarucirartha sukti nidhitva, examining the opinions of scholars about akshararamyata and deciding who exactly are those ‘others’ that appreciate aksharsramyata. Dr. Patibanda Madhava Sarma’s opinion that akshararamyata comprises of all the poetic elements like Vritti, Reeti, Paaka, Sayya, etc., seems to have helped the author in deciding to extend his exploration to all the items. But Dr. Rao thinks kavindras only as such and in his view ‘others’ are all other scholars and sahridayas. But he has not realised the snag. At the end ofthe third chapter in arriving at a definition of akshararamyata he equates it with Jagannatha’s definition of Kavya which is as good a definition of poetry as of a Kavya. This equation results in akshraramyataa becoming poetry itself. If so, what is it that kavindras appreciate in prasanna katha kavita artha yukti? In the technique of a story sodifficult toappreciate for ‘others’ (non-poets) than the appreciation ofpoetry itself?

The second chapter is naturally devoted tothe nature of syllables (aksharas), their origin and suggestivity, their treatment in grammar, sphota, chandas, alamkarasastra. One section has been devoted to‘akshara samghaata’ one ofthe lakshanas propounded by Bharata. These lakshanas are 36 in number. They are the artistic modes of expression which, though retained by later alamkarikas under the name of naatyaalamkaras, have become obsolete even in Sanskrit literature. Surprisingly this lakshana tradition is found extant in Telugu even as late as the 16th century, for instance in Peddana’s Manucaritra Great service would have been rendered to Bharata as well as Nannaya had the author chosen toexplore the use of other lakshanas by Nannaya.

Akshararamyata is sought tobe defined in the third chapter, wherein Nannaya’s point of view in syllabic composition is considered. Akshararamyata, the imperishable or abiding sweetness is only another name for maadhurya. ‘Akshara grahana’ is a phrase commonly used by mimamsakas in the sense of ability to recite Veda properly without any external help. Nannaya would have easily coined the compound ‘akshararamyata’ on analogy. However, the author is unable to postulate any principle in Nannaya’s point of view regarding akshara sannivesa. Yet holds it to be not-unpremeditated. The definition of aksbararamyata is nothing but a bald equation of it with Jagannatha’s definition of Kavya. It was not the intention of Nannaya to write like other poets concentrating on “mrudu madhurya rasa bhava bhasura navartha vacana racana.” He was rendering pancama veda in Telugu. He wanted his verses to be memorable, easy to commit to memory, just as Veda is committed to memory. It was more for this purpose that he configured akshararamyata.

The author is on much better and solid ground in chapter four where some good comparative study of Nannaya and Pampa, the Kannada poet, is done. He is right in concluding that Nannaya has not imitated the Kannada poet. As for Narayana Bhatta’s works this reviewer has heard that he is the author of a Bharata in Kannada.

The suggesting of music and prosody, musical element and melody in Nannaya’s composition, are examined in the fifth chapter. Preponderance of either lyrical element or intellectual element is not enough justification to classify poetry into poetry that sings and poetry that speaks. It is the maadhurya that sings. Again it is the maadhurya that reverberates the theme in continuum which the author calls akshatanaada. This postulate of akshatanaada is not academic and cannot be accepted for the simple reason that there is no objective test for verification. The author if on a tenuous ground here. Does a single reading justify acceptance and a critical postulate of doubtful existence? Why not the same yardstick elsewhere?

The most satisfying and adequate part of the book is the sixth chapter wherein prosodaical beauties, Nannaya’s yatis, praasas, variety of his metres, aksharaa chandas, maatraa chandas are studied. This is rewarding to all students of Telugu literature.

Coming to the more literary part of Nannaya’s Bharata it may be convenient to touch upon chapters 9, 8 and 7, in this order.

The ninth chapter describes the intention of Rajanarendra and Nannaya’s desire in writing Bharata, Nannaya’s Iswaraagama bhakti, his unswerving faith in the Vedic path, Karmajnanamargas and his attitude to literature as a literary sacrifice. This chapter is more communicative to the reader. But what did Rajanarendra want from Vyasabharata?–the real thing or the verbal meaning? The author is perhaps not wise in accepting the variant reading ‘bharata sabda nirupitaartha’; ‘bharata baddha nirupitaartha’ ought to have been accepted. The following sloka will justify the contention:

Mantra hradaat kathaa kulyaa vidyaa kedaaramaagataa
mokshasriyah prasoor madhye peeyate karma maargagaih.”

Vedamantras are like a lake from where canals in the form of small stories flow and irrigate the field of wisdom and result in rearing moksha. On the way those who are on the path of action drink the waters (to quench their thirst). In the small episodes and stories of Bharata is embeded or framed the Reality like water in canals. This is the reason for Nannaya’s compound “prasanna katha kavita arthayukti.” Rajanarendra wanted the encased Reality. The author is not correct, again, when he interprets the word ‘abhipraaya’ as religion; it means caturvargaphala. Sri Sankara in Vishnu Sahasranama commentary writes thus: ‘abhiprayah abhipreyate purushartha, kaankshibhih aabhimukhyena’; we know purushaarthas are four. Dr Rao is right in identifying ‘pratismrti vidyaa’ as pratyabhijna; yet it is not clear why he tries to infer the existence of paasupata vidya in Bharata where there is an explicit statement about it: “nyaaya sikshaa cikitsaa ca daanam paasupatamtathaa” commendable is the section on Iswaraagama bhakti wherein the story of Nala and Damayanti is commented upon.

Rasaraamaneeyaka of Bharata, Nannaya’s secular and vedic styles, etc., are treated in chapter eight. The main rasa is shaanta as proclaimed by Dhvanikaara. The author upholds it even in Nannaya’s work. Dr Patibanda Madhava Sarma opined that in Andhra Mahabharata the main rasa could be Dharmavira. No one has so far clearly expressed himself in this regard. While Nannaya Bharata is a sastra-kavya shaanta-oriented, the same is not certain about the other two. Not being sure whether Andhra Bharati could be called a sastra-kaavya Dr Sarma had called it itihasakavya. It is uncharitable on the part of Dr Rao to take Dr Sarma as if he said Vyasa Bharatha was not an itihasa. In discussing the main rasa Dr Rao has taken up “shadvidha linga vicaara” which is proper for a sastra or sastra-kavya. He is not correct in interpreting the critical apparatus. ‘apoorvataa’ is not and cannot be ‘navinata’. Nannaya himself has touched upon this in his introductory verse “Eyadi hrdya mapoorvam beyadi’, etc. Upakrama, upasamhaaras apart its apoorvata is being a Kavya on mimamsa; wisdom result; hrdyata its upapatti.

Guna, alamkara, vritti, reeti, paaka, sayya, rasaucitya dhvanimaryaada in Nannaya’s work are dealt with in the seventh chapter. The author holds that prasaada is the kavyaguna is Nannaya’s composition. He seems to have been carried away by the occurrence of the word ‘prasanna’ in Nannaya’s compound “prasanna kathaa kalitaarthayukti.” If not he should have shown the preponderance of lucidity over mere intelligibility which is found in any kavya. Is not Nannaya’s Vaidika saili a hindrance to prasada? Treatment of alamkara section is adequate. In deciding Nannaya’s kavya vritti he follows Bhoja and calls it madbyamaa vritti which is not enlightening to the reader. Since the main rasa is Shaanta, the vritti in all Nannaya’s composition is Bharati; this is justified by the mimamsa orientation of the work also. Reeti is, of course, vaidarbhi. Paaka and sayya are touched upon. It would have been much better had the author not compounded Rasa, Aucitya and Dhvani into one whole. Separate treatment would have been more illuminating.

The last and tenth chapter suggests some problems for investigation. Appropriate and useful indices are appended.

The book is well-written and good in parts so far as the subject on hand is concerned. It is valuable for any student of Telugu literature for its sheer sweep of various branches of learning touched upon. Recommended for educative and serious reading.


* Sree Visweswara publications, Governorpet, Vijayawada.2, Price: Rs. 40.

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