Some time back, while upholding the art of avadhAna prakriya, I said -
enni gItalu ceripitE O' cittaruvautundi ?
enni koTTivEtalatO O kAvyam puDutundi ??
sAvadhAnamgA ceppE kaburlE mahA-kAvyamanukonTE,
avadhAnAniki sAhityamlO sthAnam karuvoutundi !!
dhAraNa, sRjana, AASuvu, alarimpu,
annI kalistEnE avutundadi avadhAnam !
nAkU konni jIvitAla kAlam aruvistE,
vrAsEyaka pOtAnA ?? O "mahA kAvyam"..
I am sure that one and all who had the pleasure of enjoying the recent
ashTaavadhAnam in Atlanta(8/23/96) by brahmaSrI mADugula nAgaPaNi Sarma gAru
had this first hand experience. The event presented by TAMA and the 'sAhitI
sadassu' was well attended and was well admired too. That was a great literary
shower to quench the thirst of every interested soul.
The event spearheaded by SrI pemmarAju vENu gOpAla rAvu gAru, took place in
Dr. B.K.Mohan's place and was attended by about 45-50 sAhitI lovers of all
ages. The video show of 'ANi mutyAlu', a compilation of avadhAni's previous
dwiSatAvadhAna and mahA sahasrAvadhAna performances marked the beginning of
the literary evening and Sarma gAru took off in his own inimitable style
" SrI manmangaLa dhAraNam, Srita jagadwAnchAvaLIpUraNam,
prasannam praNatAnandam, pArvatI sutamASrayE..." and also explaining
" yiyyavadhAna prakriya AndhruladE summu !
yidi gouravimpa rasika maNula sommu..!! "
datta padi : SrI viSwanAth vaDlamAni's query to fill in the four unrelated
words, 'kanTa, panTa, manTa, janTa' explaining Ekalavya's state
after drONAcArya rejected him, shaped the following poem -
" kanTanu pAre kAluvalu kanTakamai gurudEvu mATa rU
panTani dIkshakun, guru mahatvapu rUpamu kaluga jEsi pe
nmanTanu nitya hOmamuga mAnya dhanurvijayaika vidyagAn,
janTa Palammu pondenaTa, satya guru ppraBavaika lavyuDai.. "
varNana : PVG wanted the avadhAni explain (his)cat's situation when the cat was
called on for a visit to swarga lOkam... Yes sounds funny, yet gave
a couple of cute kandams upholding the pRchchaka's pet-sentiment...
" allana vaikunThamanan
callani yI amerikanucu sandhimpa valen,
pillulu kukkalu BOgapu
pallakilO tirugu cunDu bahusukha mulatOn.. "
and the cat even says --
" yajamAniki oka mATanu
nijamuga nE ceppi vattu nijamidi yanucun
Rujuvuga mArjAlamadE
RujanE viDanADu vaidya kRti sukRticE.. "
After ringing the cat's bell, the avadhAni was asked to explain the
meaning of "kRshNuDu calling kRshNa (draupadi) for a talk after the
mahABArata war..." Yes, it is more of a samasyApUraNam than a varNana,
and the avadhAni aptly turned it into another utpalam --
" ninDuga mOhanAkshuni guNincina BOjanamaina mattulO,
unDina nunDakunDina nohOyani pAnDava BArya tO dagan
cenDina kRshNatO palike citramaTancunu ceppinAru mI
ranDaga vENu gOpa vyavahArika nAma 'kalA kathA' vacimpumA.. "
thus, turning the table onto the pRchchaka himself asking him in
return "You are ought to explain us the aucityam of your dreams..:-)"
samasya : I knew that I was getting a juicy poem when I was asking the
the avadhAni to take us to Buvana vijayam by completing my --
"ekkaDi sAhitI saBalu, ekkaDi gOShThulu padya pUraNal.."
He replied -- " cikkani tEne dhAra vale cikkani mIgaDa jAlu vOle pem
jikkani satkavitvamu racinci vcincina kunce vOle nE
DakkaDa rAyalEriyani, hA ! madi talapOyu vArikin,
ekkaDi sAhitI saBalu, ekkaDi gOShThulu padya pUraNal.. "
What a beautiful thought (impromptu) compared to my pale and prior-prepared
pUraNa --
" nikkamu sAhitI janani, nIriDi kannula yenta yEDceno
kkokka kavISwarunDaTula hOruna mATalu pATalandunan
cikkani bUtulE ciliki cETunu decciri telgu bAsakin
kekkaDi sAhitI saBalu, ekkaDi gOShThulu padya pUraNal.. "
mI praSnaku nA pATa is this avadhAni's special -- yes, the first question in
this category from Smt. kOrapATi ratnamOhini on the amerikA andAlu was very
well answered in madhyamAvati as --
" amerika dESAna andacandAluu..
ennani ceppagalanu kALLaku bandhAlu..
viSAlamou rahadArulu, dArulalO palu kArulu,
Draivinguna paniki rAvu yelakavitala muccaTlu,
vEgammadi perigitE aDugaDuguna TikkeTlu..
eTu cUsina kyUlu, pratidAniki thAnkyUlu,
hellOlU, hAy hAy lU, aDugaDuguna madhupAylU.. "
What a presence of mind and behold, the second question was asking the
description of a funny anecdote from 'tenAli rAmakRshNa and kRshNadEvarAya',
and this was portrayed as a song of discussion between the two characters in
the style of 'kanciki pOtAva kRshNammA, A kanci vArtalEvi kRshNammA.." --
" lingaDu, lingaDu, lingaDA nuvu
lingaDaina vidhamEmi ??
rAyaDu rAyaDu rAyaDA nuvu
kRshNuDaina calavE swAmI !!
vikaTamu nI kavanamani
veTakarimpulElA ??
nEnunDaga sankaTAlu rAlavu nI mrOlA !!
kavulandari lOnA,
nI ghanata yEmi kRshNA ??
prati kshaNamU vinnA, tIradu mI tRshNA !! "
avadhAni also explained that --
" linga nishidhdhakal valaci lingani,
mEcakakandharun triSU lingani,
sangatALi lavalingani,
nIlakacanvidAtR yAlingani,
kRshNa cEluni halungani,
rAmakRshNa kavilingani kIrti hasince dikkulan.. !!
varNana -- A SArdUlamu for our 'vEnkanna' in Atlanta which went as --
" minTancukkalu mEnipai nagalugA mEghambu dEhambugAn,
kanTanpAru dayArasambu, nijamou gangai pavitrambugAn,
kanTinninnu nitAnta kalpa latikan, kaLyANa dhImUrti, a
TlAnTAlO navanIta vInkaTapatI, lAvaNya pAdOnithI !! "
In avadhAni gAri own words, a SArdUlam should be --
" tOrdarpambuna divya Sabda kalanA dOdhUya mAna kriyan,
nirdAkshiNya para: praBAva SakalOnnirmANa dhArAkriyan,
sparthApUrNa kaLA kalApamuna ASAvESamai pongagAn,
SArdUlammunu ceppagA valayu nISA nI kRpAdhAratOn !! "
anuvAdam from SrI AdESwara rAo gAru had the avadhAni translate a piece from
hindi into a nice reading campakamAla as --
" taTataTamai vasantamula tAvula tAkuna gAli andhamai,
aTaniTa lAkulAkulamai palu pulkalu cilkarincagAn,
ceTulatara praBAtamul cAruTa cayyena noyyenandhagan,
kuTilata kuTmalammu vekundenu, nidraku Badra Bangamai !! "
Yes, prabandha padya vinyAsAnni sunAyAsamgA, ASuvugA andarikI ruci cUpistU,
maLLI antalOnE sandarBOcitamgA samAdhAnAlistU, saBanu raktikaTTincina yI
avadhAni gAru saraswatI varaprasAdulanaDamlO sandEham lEdu..
avadhAni gAru handled Chy. PaNikumAr's questions well to make them prastutam,
rather than aprastutam...
Q) 'brahma dEvuDu saraswatini kAfI aDigitE, AviDa oka kappu istundA,
lEka nAlugu kappulu kaluputundA ??'
A) (amerikA lO ayitE-evari pani vArE cEsukOvAli kAbaTTi)oka kappu (tanaki
mAtram) kalupu konTundaTa.. brahma gAriki kAvAlanTE 40 cups AyanE
kalupukOvAlaTa..:-)
Q) 'Sachin Tendulkar cricket team captain ayyina visEshampai' mI aBiprAyam --
A) mIru kAnanduku santOshincanDi..
Q) 'appiccu vADu vaidyuDu kadA' mIkentamandi DAkTarlu appuliccAru ??
A) 'appiccu vADu vaidyuDu, anagAnE A padyamlO venTahnE -- eppuDu ??' ani
praSna vastundi, andu valana appu anagAnE, eppuDu ani mAtramE aDagAli,
irrespective of the lender being a doctor or some one else...
Q) manishikI, manishikI gala sambandhAlE 'kAnIvanDi', bAndhavyAlE 'kAnIvanDi',
vITilO Edi goppadi ??
A) mIrE cebutunnAru kadA -- 'kAnivvanDi, kAnI ivvanDi' anTU, I kAnIla bandham
lEnidE asalaina sambandham...
When asked to sing a song on the 'saraswatI saBa', our avadhAni gAru went
on a superb 'CREATION' imagining himself as brahma. It was more than pleasing
to hear this avadhAna brahma, singing as 'brahma', again in madhyamAvati --
"brahma nEnu brahmaSrI Sarmanu toli rUpamai,
sRshTiki toli AkAram SrIkAram dIpamai,
toli nALula jaladhulalO alalu talalu yettagA,
vottinAnu saraswatI padamula suti mettagA (SRti mettagA)..
Apadamulu padamulai, parimaLAlu cindagA,
A palukulu taLukulai paruvamuluppongagA..
ningi nunDi nElaku digu, divija lOka gangagA,
angAngam pulakincaga, (yidE) brahma lOkamanipincagA.. "
GhanTA gaNanam was successful with SrI kRshNa srInivas's cooperation as a
pRchchaka and the saBa reached its culmination with these two pieces from
the avadhAni --
sakala satkathA sandhAna cakravarti,
mammu aTlAnTa rammanna madhura kIrti,
vENu gOpAla rAvu vivEka mUrti,
atani soujanya garima kEnu anjalintu..
mOhana rAjyammanduna
snEhammuga yiyavadhAnaSRI nimpangAn,
sAhasamu saPalamayyenu,
sOhammani kavana savana sPUrtulu velugan..
That tETagIti and the kandam were the last pieces of the day but those sweet
moments are still lingering through my ears. It was one of the best avadhAnams
that I have attended and for those who missed this 2.5 hrs of literary
extempore, please try to make it to the first ever 'SatAvadhAnam' in USA,
to be held in New Jersey on 09/07/96 at Mattawan High School, from
8.00 A.M. to 9.00 P.M. For more details, please contact --
Dr. RamakRshNa mUrty ciTTi - (914)273-2247
Dr. KiDambi raghunAth - (908)463-1220
Dr. Pillalamarri SivarAmakRshNa - (410)838-3780
sAhitI sadassu and TAMA thank everyone who made the event a success and let's
all look forward to more evenings of this sort...
regards..
- Ram (Ramabhadra Dokka from sdokka@st6000.sct.edu)
P.S. : Sorry for the long post, but I didn't want to break this review into
two parts. Hope you enjoyed reading it.