The series of articles on chandas, and the comments by Syamala Rao,
are well-written, structured, and serendipitous (for me)!
Greetings from Augusta, on the banks of Savana river, home of the Master's.
On my way to Augusta, GA, I stayed overnight at Kovela Sarat's house,
and borrowed couple of books by his father, Kovela Sampatkumaracharya
(KS), a foremost authority on chandas. From his "telugu chandO vikAsamu"
of 1962, "vacana kavita - vividha kavula pathAlu, dRkpathAlu" ('67),
"chandah pada kOSamu" ('77), "vacana padya lakshaNa carca" ('78), "poorva
kavula kAvya dRkpathAlu" ('90), to recent books on literary criticism
"kAvyam-kavi swAmyam" ('93) (announced an award winner in that category
just last week), and several others before, along the way, and after,
he has been busier after his recent retirement. (The above includes but
a few from his prodigious output of works on poetry, chandas, criticism,
and essays on it,...)
In this medium, and elsewhere, I may have wrongly named his book
"telugu chandO vikAsamu" as his PhD thesis. No, the thesis was a book on
"Adhunika telugu sAhitya vimarSa sAmpradAyika reeti", in '81. The first
Telugu PhD thesis from Kakatiya University, Warangal.
BTW, TCV was a book he wrote, when AP Sahitya Akademi held a contest for
a book on telugu chandas. While the award went to giDugu seetApati for
"telugu chandO reetulu", the members of the panel felt that KS's work
merits publication, and supported that effort. The book is an example of
a well-thought-out, carefully planned structured work, showing the
developments in telugu chandas, from pre-nannaya times to the modern.
During the long drive to Augusta, I was reading the book "telugu chandassu
pai konni velugulu" ('93), dedicated to Prof Chekuri Rama Rao, I believe, of
Telugu University.
The funny thing is, it seems that Sampatkumaracharya and "cErA" (as he is
known to many) argued quite vociferously on either side of chandas issues.
Many of the discussions on the nature of free verse (KS prefers to
call it "vacana padyam" instead of "vacana kavitwam") between KS and cErA
were published in bhArati ('72-73), and later came out as a book listed above.
No, it doesn't imply that cErA argued for the abolition or banishment of
chandas. The differences were of another nature. I was impressed by the
dedicatory, acceptance poems, and a comment from Prof. Betavolu
Ramabrahmam. They are,
Ayana nA vale chandah-
Sree yOgA yOga mugdha cEtaskuDu; kA-
vyAyatta rasikatA dhuni;
Ayanakai, snEha madhuvukai, 'cErA'-kai -sampatkumArAcArya
nA salpina chandah kRshi
kAsintE; adi niluvadu; kAnee nilucun
mA souhRdi gurutuga prati
bhA sampat-kRtamu prouDha padyAnkitamun - cErA
siddhAntambula pai noka
rAddhAntame jarugu gAka, rAsikya Sree
paddhatilO RjutA snE-
hOddhatilO meeru maaku nonarina guruvul - bErA
I was putting impromptu bookmarks on many of the pages, as I read them.
I will cite a few observations from the long 77 page introductory
essay in the book.
* If you allow from one syllable to 26 syllables in each line (pAdam)
of a four-line (common) poem, it was calculated that there would be
13,42,17,726 (or, 134,217,726 - 134 million and change) vRttas possible.
26 is an uper limit for the "normal" vRttas, the ones with higher count
being called "uddhura mAlA vRttas". [So, when a Gurajada Appa Rao or a
SriSri comes out with a catchy tune-based poetical structure, the poor
thing has already been codified, and has a name in the database! In fact,
a la, "when you give a poor man a fish ...", the "lAkshaNikas' (one of the
rare times you'll see my usage of this 4-syllabled word rather cavalierly
made fun of in this medium) not only name many poems, but developed a
super-structure whereby you can categorize and classify any item in this
list. The classification methods are many; based on the syllable count,
based on gaNa structure, based on their evocative power. There are several
(I have to look up this number later) names for kanda padyas, based on many
features such as line breaks, proportion of U-I's, similarity between the
lines, etc... - a convention; stuff in paranthesis, whether square or
well-rounded, is mine. And thus subject to corrections by the C]
* The "sUrya-indra-candra" gaNas of telugu are called the "brahma-vishNu-
rudra" gaNas, in kannaDa.
* There are gaNas with more than three or four syllables, upto six!
* In the early days, with a strong emphasis on the "gait", mAtrA chandas
structures were formed with 3, 4, 5, 7 mAtras in each gaNa, in the pAda.
(sometime later I'll elaborate on this line. I don't think it translated
well). These four 'dESi" structures are called "ragaDa"s. (Hear, DV!)
And these four varieties are differentiated by the names -
haya-pracAra-gati-ragaDa (trisra), madhura-gati-ragaDa (caturasra),
dwirada-gati-ragaDa (khaNDa), and hariNa-gati-ragaDa (miSra). The names
connote two features of these structures; the importance of "gati" or "gait",
and the supposed resemblance to the gait of the associated animal; except
in the case of madhura-gati-ragaDa. (PM- note the usage of the "tALa"
nomenclature)
* yatiyun, prAsamu lEni samskRta kavitwAraNya mandunna bhA-
rata vEdAna badEnu parwamula kAndhratwammu kalpinci, SA-
SwatuDai pOyina tikka yajwaku nivAsambain nellUrikin
natu larpimpumu, snAnamADu mati gaNyambain pennA nadin - jAshuwA
[This poem shows a clever way of the poet taking the reader along a path
for quite a while, and suddenly springing a detour on her! There may be
term for this. One of the famous poems quoted in this context is the
"tala paksha cchaTa grucci bAtuvulu ..." poem by SKD in Amukta mAlyada]
* kAgA, prAceenamaina pATala valananE telugu padyAniki yati-prAsalu
sankramincAyi tappa, marO cOTi nunci teccukonnavi gAni, lAkshaNikulu
balavantamgA ruddinavi gAnee kAvu. [hear, hear!]
* la-gam (IU) "eduru naDicE lakshaNam kaladi". Meaning the gaNa starting
with a laghuvu, followed by a guruvu. la-ga, ja (IUI), ya (IUU) -
pradhAnamgA "eduru naDicE" gaNAlu. ragaDa-lalO eduru naDicE lakshaNam
sAdhAraNamgA kanipincadu! (In bhAminee shaTpadi, a variety of ragaDa now
termed as mutyAla saram, the structure is ABAB in three lines, ABG in the
fourth line, where A is any group of syllables with three mAtras [III/IU/UI],
and B is any group of syllables with four mAtras [IIII/IIU/UII/UU],
and G is U. Note that IUI- ja even though it too has 4-mAtras, is not
allowed, while in A, IU is allowed. Again, the "allowance" is a matter
of "recognition", not "imposition"; "analyzed", not "synthesized" - RSP)
* vaiyaktikamgA nA varaku nEnu anukunEdi - Adhunika chandassu - anEdi
EdainA unTE, adi "vacana padyamE" ani. vacana padyam is not specified by
the traditional syllable, mAtra, gaNa counts. Its "chandO-ness" depends
(actually the word "ASrayinci" was used here; shall we say "relies")
on the bhAva in it. Because of this fundamental difference, I consider
vacana padyam as a modern chando-structure. Please refer to the book
"vacana padyam - lakshaNa carca" which is a compilation of the debates
between Sampatkumaraacharya and Chekuri Rama Rao.
* From time immemorial, there was no poetry without chandas and no chandas
without poetry. Poetry was full of chandas, and all chandas was poetry.
However, as time passed by, some things changed. chandas was sometimes
"used" to give a "poetic stamp" to otherwise unworthy stuff. chandas here
just did "veTTi cAkiree".
Not only that. Poetry was being written without chandas, and it was
proposed that "that" (in and of itself) was a formidable, and great
endeavour.
* "... There is a mystery I don't understand yet. Hasn't Appa Rao seen
any of these (ragaDas, and such)? Did he have to derive mutyAla saram
from some kind of a pharsee ghazal? What is the extent of truth and
braggadacio in this? All of you, stop your iconoclasty for a while,
and let the truth out without fear, please! -cErA"
* (after some preamble) in all of this, when one sees some thing in
four lines, with an equal (roughly?) number of syllables, one intuitively
considers it "poetry". That opinion may change after reading it, bu
does get formed initially, albeit erroneously.
I'll end this rather long (unplanned), rambling note, with some of his
vacana padyams.
inTlO unna biyyam bAgu cEsukOlEka,
cEsukOvaDa manEdi cEta kAka,
prakka iLLakE kAdu -
pai, A pai iLLakU baduLLaku pOvaDamU,
iccina cOTallA aDukku teccukOvaDamU,
teccukunnadi saddukOvaDam kudaraka
cellA cadaru cEyaDamU,
unna kAstA vanDaDam cEtakAka
naluvAyi(*) kUDu mohAna koTTaDamU - {* caddi-annam?)
idee nitya kRtyam
ee inTlO virAjillE satyam ... (cEtanAvartam, 2nd volume)
anubhavam kannA anubhavOha bhayAvaham
anubhavam kannA anubhava-smRti mudAvaham
pratyaksha prati mAnasamayyE anubhavam kannA
UhA-smRti yugaLAnikE, endukO janamlO balam
caitanyOjjvala divya neela maNi sAshamyAspadA!
mAtRva-ccEtassundara!
sattwa mandira!
madukti swAdu bhAvAdarA!
SwEta dweepa calad-vineela mRdu rOcir-nATya rangAyitA!
prAtah prAthamikAmSu veekshaNA!
yateendrA! vyAja rAmAnujA!
(No, it is not free verse! SArdUlam arranged this way
for Jampala's preference!)
and bassul gAlcuTa, raiLLu gUlcuTa
jana-prANammulan deeyuTal
kassum-bussula viplavammulivi,
sanghammun samAnincunA!
hissA kOsamu campulADukonu (hissA - share [of the loot])
tAmee nAyakul mAku
SrEyassun tetture? nammuTeTTulu!
yateendrA! vyAja rAmAnujA!
and dESa kAlA samAjAla tripuTi
anniTikee kEndramaina vyakti
ananta vaividhyam gala manah pravRttee,
anni daSallOnU mAnava samagra vikAsam -
Adhunika bhAva caitanya vinyAsam -
ninAdA-DambarAlu lEni vidhAnam
"ijAla" visha valayam ceelci vaccE nijam
ubhayam lOnU ErpaDE sAmeeceenyam
AvESAnni anoucityam pAlu kAneeyani AlOcana
avyAvahArikatanu nirAkarincina vivEcana
antar-bahiranga samanvayAla samAlOcana
bhAvam
dAni abhivyakti lOni vaividhyam
sAdhanAla samyak-sammELanam
oucityam bhAvanA sandhANam -
Ananda bhAvana, anubhUti prasAraNa
ananta jagat-caitanya-avagAhana -
nA kavitaku prEraNAlu
spandanalO dOhadAlu
Thanks for the patience.
Ramakrishna "I can go on like this, but won't" Pillalamarri
PS: Prabhakar mentioned a variety of not-usually-seen metrical
structures. In them, there is one structure "vasanta tilaka",
which practically (no, delete that qualifier) everybody has
heard, countless times. Now take this as an exercize. Take that
structure, "UUI UI IIUII UIUU" is the way I'd put it; you can
say it is bha-bha-ja-ja-ga-ga, it's a matter of intuitive/parsimonious/
uniform representation. is matta-kOkila ra-sa-ja-ja-bha-ra or
3x(ga-la,bha)+ra? - and hum to yourself, and see if you can find the
gait/gati in it, and remember what other verse you have heard
"countless times" that it resembles. TSR/VP/BSR - please don't reveal
for a while. Thankj