On Telugu meters, part II - English variety

Ramakrishna S. Pillalamarri (pkrishna@ARL.MIL)
Mon, 4 Dec 95 16:23:57 EST

ES: Part I listed all the rules for kanda padyam and showed some
examples. Here the two English kanda padyas recently posted by
Tadigadapa Syamala Rao (TSR) will be "parsed". Part III, the conclusion
is still in the planning, subject matter ill-defined at press time.
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With this background, let me show the two English kandas.

Why you want to have trick original line
vai yU wAnT TU hAv Trik transliteration in RIT
vai yU - wAnT TU - hAv Trik four-mAtra groupings
U U U U U U guru-laghu notation
ga-ga ga-ga ga-ga gaNa indication

Poetry fun when all the beauty of a
pOyeTrI fan venAl di byUTI Af E
pOyeT - rI fan - venAldi - byUTI - Af E
U U U U I U I I U U U
ga-ga ga-ga ja ga-ga ga-ga

Poem lies in gentle
pOyem lais in jenTil
pOyem - lais in - jenTil
U U U U U U
ga-ga ga-ga ga-ga

Doing that has nothing to do with gimmicks!
DUying daT hAz nathing Tu DU wit gimmiks
DUying - daT hAz - nathing Tu - DU wit - gimmiks
U U U U I U I U U U U
ga-ga ga-ga ja ga-ga ga-ga

Another one

Why don't you write free verse?
vai DOnT yU raiT frI vars
vai DOnT - yU raiT - frI vars
U U U U U U
ga-ga ga-ga ga-ga

Why do you rough the Telugu poetic beauty?
vai DU yU raf di telugu poyeTik byUTI
vai DU - yU raf - di telugu - poyeTik - byUTI
U U U U I I I I I I U U U
ga-ga ga-ga na-la sa ga-ga

I don't like this ati-
ai DOnT laik dis ATiT-
ai DOnT - laik dis - ATiT-
U U U U U U
ga-ga ga-ga ga-ga

tude; English can't be used in this mean way!
yUDinglIsh kAnT bi yUzuDin dis mIn wE!
yUDing - lIsh kAnT - bi yUzu - Din dis - mIn wE!
U U U U I U I U U U U
ga-ga ga-ga ja ga-ga ga-ga

Note the preponderance of ga-ga group. This is because of the language's
nature, most of the words ending in a consonant, and thus ending in a
guruvu. Most "nishiddhAkshari" kanda poems would have a preponderance of
ga-ga sequence, with words of two or three syllables, because of a
different reason. That reduces a) the number of times the avadhAni faces a
"ban", and more importantly, b) makes it difficult for the questioner to
"anticipate" the next syllable, and thus ban it.

An incident about nishiddhAkshari, related by mEDasAni mOhan, recently.
It seems that at an ashTAvadhAnam, they were looking for prucchakas, and
somebody, when approached, said "give me that item called nishiddhAkshari.
that would be easy for me. All that happens is, I give him a letter, and
he gives me a letter. What's so difficult about that?"

Ramakrishna (chandam andam kandam lOnE) Pillalamarri