In 1984/1985 a Telugu translation of vishNu Sarma's _panchatantramu_ was
published, where the author wrote the entire text without using any
punctuation marks, and caused quite a furore in the literary reviews.
The unfortunate part was that all the reviewers were n't (?) aware that in
olden days there was really NO punctuation, and criticised the author for his
unique way of writing. Instead of saying that this could create problems for
the readers not well versed in reading Telugu texts, they blamed the author
for introducing a new approach. Wheres the new approach here?
Over the years I showed it to many people and asked them to read and tell their
opinion, whether they had any difficulty in following/understanding the text.
So far no one had complained. I should also say that all these readers had
higher education (i.e. Batchelors or Masters degree). Probably I should show
that book to school going children and note what they say.
I quote excerpts from foreword, and his reply to one particular review
in aandhra jyOti (18 March 1985).
reply below:
telugu bhaashalO viraamaadi chihnamulu lEvu
anduvalana viraamaadi chihnamulu peTTalEdu
telugu bhaashalO viraamaadi chihnaalu lEvu ii gurtulu lEkunDa chakkani
arthaannicchi aanandaanni kaliginchE Sakti telugu bhaashaku unnadi anduvalla
ii pustakamlO ekkaDa E vidhamaina aDDukaTTalu vEyalEdani vinnavinchu
kunTunnavaaDa
telugu bhaashalO anaadinunDi unna vishayaanni telugu bhaashayokka Saktini
andaanni niroopinchuTaku cheppi induku lakshyamu ii pustakamulO oka prakriya
pravESapeTTinaanu
Probably the above book (in prose) by vEmulapalli umaamahESwararaavu is the
only work in the past 3-5 decades which attempts to present Telugu, as it
used to be; i.e. without punctuation. Are there any other works?
In school days we used to be asked to read the text from "non-detailed" text
books aloud (Every one used to read a paragraph each.). In the first reading
the punctuation marks did n't help much (IMO did n't help at all!) and later
you did n't need them. I would like to hear the members opinions on this
topic.
> Telugu, like many other Indian languages, was introduced to print much
> later than Europe. Most print styles in Telugu were adopated from European
> experience.
BTW, what was the first printed book in Telugu, written by a Telugu? I knew
it before. It was a travelogue on the author's journey to Benares, published
in the first quarter of 19th century. Theres a very informative article on
this topic in aandhra jyOti's _rajata kamalam_ (1987). Does anyone have a
copy of it off-hand? The first book printed in Telugu is Bible.
> sociological, political ....
> hundred years of history of priting? Why was it that books printed fifty
> years ago were more carefully proof-read than books printed these days? Our
> printing standars improved technologically, we have color printing offset
This is an excellant topic to be discussed in detail. While talking about the
careful proof-reading in earlier days, I recall my childhood days, visiting
two publishing houses (with printing presses in house, both don't exist any
more :-() in Tenali with my father, where many of his colleagues, and other
literary lovers used to assemble. The proof-readers were well versed (for
todays standards) in literary matters. It was n't a well paid job either,
and the technology was primitive (most of them used to have very thick
glasses, working in very poor conditions). I have n't come across any
"mudraaraakshasaalu" in vaaviLLa's, baalasaraswato book depot (ONLY those
good old ones!!), venkaTa ramaNa's etc. But today as naaraayaNaraavugaaru
said the texts are in poor quality. As pillamar''r''i raamakRshNagaaru once
wrote (on SCIT), I also plan to dedicate some time in proof-reading and
bringing the mistakes to the publishers attention in near future.
Regards,
Sreenivas