Let me say at the outset, that I have no clue as to why suddenly the
surge in ashTAvadhAnAlu "across our beloved telugudESam". However, why
should that prevent me from speculating?
When an Olga Korbut, or a Nadia Komaneci wowed people across the world
with acrobatic and gymnastic feats, there was indeed a surge of
interest in that area, and Mary Lou Rettons and other assorted little
bundles of energy developed soon after. Why, the famous (who is that
saying infamous) coach, Bela Karolyi (I paused here to recall the
name, could be a bit off) emigrated to the land of gold-paved streets
and set up his camp here, and is training prospective olympians.
So perhaps, when a person "happens" who has a mastery over this
linguistic gymnastics and literary acrobatics (you ask, what is the
difference? I don't know; sounded nice to me!), a great surge of
interest develops. Perhaps this is true in the case of many other
arts, not to mention sports.
In my current hometown of Baltimore, Cal Ripken has energized a whole
slew of youngsters who idolize him, and would love to achieve a bit of
what he has. Probably Anand Viswanathan (again, did I get the name
right?) ignited such a spark in many regarding chess. Probably grad
students in CS would take a peek at developing better algorithms for Deep Blue because of what happened last week.
So, am I correct in speculating that such a phenom happened in the
recent past, and that's why the sudden surge of interest?
But all of the above is not what I really wanted to say!
There are two aspects to samasyA pUraNam. One an intellectual, logical
part, and the other, a technical part. Looking at what appears to be
an impossible statement, one would first attempt to resolve the
"seeming inconsistency" by one of several (I came up with five to six)
ways, thereby taking the "sting" out of the last line. Then, couching
this "resolution" in the appropriate meter, following all the rules of
chandassu, is a mere technical feat, although it requires a certain
technical expertise in the language, breadth of vocabulary, etc... I
have often wanted to post a note to the effect that people should take
advantage of this distinction, and attempt the pUraNas, without
feeling that they cannot do this unless they can do it in the "form"
of a poem. Actually, a variation happens many times here, where we see
a solution, someone spots a minor mistake in a word, or a violation of
the rules, brings it to the attention of the poster, sometimes
suggesting a way in which it can be corrected.
So, "novices" AK and AP can attempt these riddles, with as much
facility as "experts" VP and TSR do. How about that?
Ramakrishna