While Tapi was a student at Parlakimedi, Tapi and Gidugu
never got into heated arguments on "gra'mdhikabha'sha". By the time
Gidugu started his "vya'vaha'rika bha'sha" revolution, Tapi was already
a student at the Madras Paccayappa's College in 1908. Gidugu was inspired
by Yates and launced this revolution on vya'vaha'rika bha'sha.
Initially, Tapi could not understand the nature of language and followed
the the then puritans i.e. gra'mdhika telugubha'sha va'dis. In 1910
Tapi already became a strong gra'mdhika bha'sha'va'di and composed the
following poem in a series called "gra'mdhikabha'sha'va'dam":
campakamaa'la:
sthalamukokka gra'myamayi ta'nati camcalayauTa gRshNalO
pala raciyimcu pottamulu paTTi yanardhamulaunu ma'ku ma'
valana gavulracimcunavi va'ralakEni viSa'Ka va'rikEn
deliyuTa kashTasa'dhyamagu dESamunamdali budhdhiyolla lO
Bula kaDanunna sommugati bomdu vina'Samu
and went on and added:
layamu jemda gra'myamunu nikkapu pa'darasambu goorci va
nnela kanakambu ma' telugu niirasamaunaTu jEyakumDa
That's how Tapi appealed to the common folks. This is a clear example
for Tapi's expertise in gra'mdhika telugu and also for his love towards
the so called dEvana'garikatatO nimDina telugu. Berhampur, just like
Parlakimedi, was also a seat of learning and the telugura'ni va'LLu in
Berhampur nurtured the Telugu language and culture more than those telugu
vaccina Bombay va'LLu and Andhra va'LLu. ma' ta'talu nEtulu moojooSa'ru
ma' miisa'lu va'sana jooDamDi anna'ru telugu vaccina pamDitulu. Come on
over to the soils of Vizianagaram, Parlakimedi, and Berhampur. I will show
you scores of hundreds of telugura'niva'LLu who dedicated their lives with
devotion for the evolution, development, and growth of the telugu
language. Tapi with his friends founded the "vEgucukka gramdhama'la".
The first telugu detective story book was published by this vEgucukka
gramdhama'la. You can still see this printing press in Berhampur (I was
a student in Berhampur also) but is sold to an Oriya owner who runs an
Oriya press there. This is a historical press - for telugu bha'sha and
telugu va'LLu. Tapi filled the books published by the vEgucukka
ma'la and also a'mdhra patrika with his writings embodied with
gra'mdhika Telugu. Researchers (who worked for Ph.D.s in Telugu
language and literature) hypothesize the following to explain why
Tapi was a strong advocate of gra'mdhika telugu:
"yeDDa'm amTE teDDa'm - anE rakam ta'pii : ma' ta'taga'ru ceptoo
vumDEva'ru. Tapi always wanted to do something different from
what others used to do. Those days Brahmins were the people who
used to support this gra'mdhika bha'sha and gra'mdhikabha'sha'
va'dam. Tapi felt right from the bottom of his heart that he
was in no way inferior to Brahmins and with this Tapi probably
strengthened his gra'mdhikabha'sha knowledge in order to beat
those pundits." These are opinions of researchers on
Tapi and Tapi's works. Tapi was a strong beleiver of his background
and culture. He supported the gra'mdhika bha'sha for a score and
half years. Tapi opposed the existence and emergence of va'Duka
Ba'sha and vya'vaha'rika telugu point blank. Tapi ridiculed the
Bavakavitvam. Tapi, in the following years, grew leaps and bounds,
and obtained intellectual maturity and evolution. He understood
the nature of language and digested the changing facets of literature
around the world. He was drowned in the holy waters of vya'vaha'rika
telugu Ganges. Finally, Tapi, in 1936 removed the old nib from his pen
(pa'ta pa'Lii), threw it, and replaced it with a new nib (krotta
pa'Lii). Now Tapi became a strong advocate for vya'vaha'rika telugu.
That is intellectual enlightenment. Not everyone is ready to experience
that intellectual enlightenment what Tapi had experienced. One has to
be ready to accept that language like culture and organisms will evolve.
That is a natural phenomenon. Afterall, the inanimate machines like
the computers (which our telusa Ba'shaBima'nulu always use) evolve
everyday (simple Dokku became a 286, then hard drive came, then 486
came and then Pentium came and one day penTiyamma will arrive and
some day penTalamma will appear!). Don't those computer geniuses-cum-
gra'mdhikabha'sha puritans of the present day realize this fact?
Afterall university given education is to sharpen the intellect.
University degrees should help to bring out the superhuman from
a mortal human who struggles for his/her narrowminded dogmas.
Tapi was not an ordinary human. He was a premier among his equals.
Tapi was a puritan first and an ordinary va'Dukabha'sha' va'di
next. He did tremendous service to the telugutalli while she
was in paTTu ciira and also while she was in na'ra ciira.
In 1936 Tapi became the chief editor of the "janava'Ni"
Telugu magazine. For the first time he adopted vya'vaha'rika
telugu as the language of that magazine. He immediately wrote
a letter to his the then teacher, Gidugu Ramamurthy stating "
He was an ardent advocate of gra'mdhika telugu. But he had
been reformed into a vya'vaha'rika bha'sha'Bima'ni. He is
born again as a telugu biDDa." According to Arudra, Sitapati,
the son of Gidugu, disclosed the contents of this letter.
Unfortunately that letter was never found. One can not imagine
the sad state of Gidugu's property. A lot of documents and books
disappeared, were destroyed and never cared for. People (both
back home and here in USA) should try to do something to gather
such documents from the shattered homes of literary geniuses of
Andhra dESa. Just ridiculing each other here on Telusa will not
solve anything but will fill everyone's heart with anger and hate.
Let us do something about that. Launch a project to gather
literary artefacts. Let us start a museum for Telugu culture and
Language in the USA. That is worthy effort. BTW, the maharajah
of Pithapuram founded the janava'Ni magazine for gra'mdhika bha'sha
and vya'vaharika bhasha found a safe abode in that magazine after
Tapi took over as the editor. This was a victory for Gidugu who
was a rival of the Maharajah of Pithapuram.
Tapi Dharmarau is regarded as the Biishma'ca'raya of Andhra
dESa. He was a versatile genius and unparallel alrounder. Tapi
was a poet, actor, play writer, and a strong advocate for
progress of Andhra Ba'sha.
---pAlana
References:
1) Tirumala Ramachandra : telugu patrikala sa'hitya sEva
2) Gidugu Venkata Ramamurthy}
Boodaraju Radhakrishna }: nETi telugu - nivEdika
3) H.S. Brahmanamda : Gidugu Venkataramamurthy
4) Etukoori Dharmarau: ta'pii dharma'rau jiivitam -racanalu
*5) Tapi Dharmarao: ra'LLoo rappalu
6) Arudra: samagra a'mdrha sa'hityam
7) Tapi Dharmarao: kotta pa'Lii
8) Tapi Dharmarao: pa'ta pa'Lii
9) Tapi Dharmarao: sa'hitya mormora'lu
10) Tapi Dharmarao: inupa kaccaDa'lu
11) Tapi Dharmarao: vijaya vila'samu - hRdayOlla'sa vya'Kya
12) Tapi Dharmarao: a'limDiya aDukkunE va'LLa maha'saBa
13) Paranandi Jagannadhaswamy : na' guruvulu maha' pamDitulu
Srii giDugu vEmkaTa ra'mamoorthy
14) Paranandi Jagannadhaswamy: Series of Articles on Tapi's
dEva'laya'lapai bootubommalemduku.
This battle went on for a long time
between Tapi and Jagannadhaswamy in
the then top telugu magazines.
No one won it. Both were students
of Gidugu. Jagannadhaswamy was senior
to Tapi.
*ra'LLoo rappalu: Want to know about Tapi? Read this book.
Excellent account of his life was given by the author.
In that book he said "nEnu parlakimiDi ka'lEjiilO caduvukonnappuDu
Dr. Chilukoori Naryayanarao, Dr. Gidugu Sitapati, Dr. Tekumalla
Kameswararao, Dr. Pranandi Jagannadhaswamy vamTi hEma'hEmiilatO
sahava'sam cEsina va'Dini" - Don't teach me what to do was implied
in that sentence. That was probably his pride. Yes! He has
all the right in the world to say that. Tears came out of my eyes
while reading that sentence. I am afterall a son of that soil.