Re: Chandas
Subbarao Varigonda (varigond@cems.umn.edu)
Wed, 26 Feb 1997 11:41:42 -0600 (CST)
> Sri Ramakrishna said:
> I think I may have read a passage in the first book that supports the contention
> that a laghuvu before a rEphAksharam MAY remain a laghuvu, or change into a
> guruvu. This applies only to the compound-consonants where the second consonant
> (the main one, though in telugu it is shortened to a vottu) is of ra-persuasion.
Similar experience has motivated me to make the statement which caused this much
furore! I also found instances where that freedom is used for non-repha words.
If it were a modern or not that reputed poet, I coould have taken it as a
poetic exception committed by that poet.
(BTW, I apologize for a misunderstanding on my part. I stated a rule
and simulateneously said it's a poetic exception. But how can it be a
poetic exception when it is within the scope of a rule? I should have said
'an exceptional rule' allows that instead of saying it's 'poetic exception')
> I understand the rule behind the vidhRta, vijRmbhaNa, ... words. Yet, I
> believe (could be a wrong belief!) that I may have read some poems where
> that was not the case. Now, it could be mistake of the poet, which doesn't
> create a new rule, or amend the present rule.
It's very likely that it's a mistake by the poet. I believe, as someone
already said, 'R' is a vowel and not 'rEpha'. So, it can't make the preceding
letter guru. Though I, a layman can't see much diffrence in pronunciation
(R and ru/ri & vowel 'L' and 'lu'), there may be a distiction in linguistic
between these.
I verified some sanskrit sthotras (rAvaNuni rudra vINa and SrI rAmakRshNa
kavi yokka mahishAsura mardini) and made some pertinent observations.
Since they are based on the above articles only, logically my statements
can't be confirmative. But I would like to see if any counter examples
are known.
1. Even in sanskrit, R is taken as vowel only. The preceding letter won't
become guru if R is there in a letter. (Supports the better known telugu
rule).
2. The letter before a repha dvitva is taken many times as guruvu both in long
samaasas and words of separate samaasas. (I felt it a bit difficult to
distinguish between samaasas and non-samaasas because I didn't know the
meanings of many words. I have an RTS version of rudravINa at my website.
Does anybody have knowledge about the dvitvA problem in sanskrit?
eg: one line from rudravINa (jaTA TarIga lajjala pravAha pAvitasthalE...)
is:
# dhvani krama pravartita pracanDa tAnDava SSivah #
The whole sthotram fits into the pattern (1212121212121212) according to
my observation. (I have no knowledge of sanskrit chandas. The discussion
on sanskrit vRttas was enlightening. I could realize the parallels!)
3. SArdUla vRttas in sanskrit: (not in above articles) I didn't observe
praasa in the sanskrit vRttas (yA kundEndu, lakshmIm, kEyUrANi, vyAlam bAla ...
etc). Is praasa specific to telugu literature? Then even if telugu poets
took the liberty of breaking words across lines, they introduced a new
restriction among padas. One loss and one gain. May be we can discuss
about this after we settle the confusions over usage in telugu!
> In an earlier post where I referred to "orthodox grammarians", I am not
> putting them down (if you follow the dhwani there). It was a back-door attempt
> to say that the so-called "rules" are merely "codifications" of observed
> phenomenon.
I quite agree. Many thanks to vElUri gAru for providing info from sulakshana
sAram. I tried hard to get a copy of the same I left in India. But it would
take a long time. He came to the rescue of us.
After reading his final question, I realize how difficult it is to give a
> ps: iMtakee naa saMtakaMlOni raavulO 'vu' guruvaa? laghuvaa?
precise interpretation to those poems from sulakshaNasAram.
We can answer all the questions if we can determine what exactly are
'chaapi paliku','oodi paluku','nilipi paluku' akshramulu.
If it's a matter of pronunciation only, as vAsu gAru replied, if I can read
it fast and produce 'ooduDu' I can take it as guruvu :-)
Even if I try hard and still fail to produce 'ooduDu', I will have to take it
as laghuvu!
> vAsu gAru said:
>
> i) there wasn't much time. so i read it so quickly that
> it was like reading one word/samaasam.
>
> ii)whoever educates me is a guruvu.
In that case, how is the statement that 'there is freedom when a dvitvAkshara
starts a new word' totally incorrect? It might be a simpler representation
for beginners in place of a more complex and exact rules stated in sulakshanasAra.
I have some more observations to spread the confusion (and to support my
statement)!
I think, to validate my statement, I will have to provide usages that
support the four implications of my rule.
The rule is briefly said here again:
> freedom in case of a letter preceding a dvitvAkshara of a new word.
According to sulakshana sAra rules, freedom may be wrong. BUT, I can show
instances where both guruvu and laghuvu are taken.
The four implications are:
1. dvitvam with rEpha, okE samaasam: both laghuvu and guruvu can be taken.
2. dvitvam with rEpha, vEru padAlu(samaasam kAdu): both I and U can be taken
3. dvitvam without rEpha, okE samaasam: both can be taken
4. dvitvam without rEpha, vEru padAlu: both can be taken
Say, the use of guru is subcase A (1A,2A,3A etc) and use of laghu is
subcase B. I am giving the some uses I found in my brief search with
limited resources at hand.
I hope this will include the 'samaasa' issue raised by Sri Bachoti Rao and
Nagulapally Srinivas.
1A. dvitvam with rEpha, okE samaasam, guruvu
mADugula SatAvadhAnamlOni padyAlu. eg 'kavi vipravara' in 'gaNapatiyai'
sanskRta sthOtrAlu mentioned above.
1B. dvitvam with rEpha, okE samaasam, laghuvu
karuNaSrI pushpavilApam lOni oka padyam
u. aayuvu galgu nAlgu gaDiyal kanipemcina tiivatalli jaa
tiiyata diddi tiirtu mu; tadiiya karmmulalOna svEcCamai
nooyala loogucun muriyucumdumu; aayuvu diirinamtanE
haayiga kannu moosedamu aayama callani kaalivrELLapai.
The word 'kaalivrELLU' is a samaasam. A telugu one. I feel.
vigraha vAkyam: kaali yokka vrELLu, shashThI tatpurusha
Though it's a samaasam and hence a single word (as Sri Bachoti Rao
and Srinu validly corrected me), 'li' before 'vrE' is laghuvu and
not guruvu. It should be guruvu according to them and for a laghuvu
they can't be in a samaasam.
I would like to refer to my observation in sanskrit chandas. In
sanskrit samaasas, it's taken as guruvu only. But in telugu
sammasas?
This is one of the two cases Sri Bachoti Rao asked me fortify.
2A. dvitvam with rEpha, vEru padAlu, guruvu
This is the second case Sri BSR asked me to give an example.
I am still looking for one. Since mine is a tougher job,
this might take time. I request you to grant me that. I assure
you if I find my point in this case is wrong, I will still
post it here when I find an answer.
If someone can provide more poems from (and insight into them)
books like sulakshanasaara, that will be great.
2B. dvitvam with rEpha, vEru padAlu, laghuvu
this is not disputed.
'sahajamagu prEma' comes here.
3A. dvitvam without rEpha, okE samaasam, guruvu
undisputed.
3B. dvitvam without rEpha, okE samaasam, laghuvu
This is a sIsa poem (poet unknown to me) on Sarojinidevi sung by
padmaSrI ghanTasAla. The poem itself might be of interest. So I am
typing the whole poem.
bhAratIyula kaLA prAbhava mmolikinci
tIyagA pADina kOyilamma
kamanIya vanga vangaDamella mUrtilO
prasarincinaTTi mEl pasiDi komma
svArAjya vIra vihAra rangamu lOna
kOri dUkina telgu kODalamma
mAnava kalyAna mangaLArati jyOti
cEyetti jUpina cellelamma
prAk paScimAl vistArici prEmimpa (in this line, corrections needed)
pAthAlu nErpina pantulamma
gI. bharata nArI pratApa prabhAva garima
khanDa khanDAlu jalli vikhyAti ganna
divya mUrti sarOjini dEvi vOle
dIksha sUtrAna A dEvi divya suguNa
pushpamula nEri, viridanDa pUrti jEsi
puNya bhAratamAtanu pUja jEsi
ghanata kekkuDi bhArata vanitalAra!
(more than four lines are allowed.)
Now, 'mangalAratijyOti' is a single samaasam. You can't break it as
mangalArati and jyoti. jyOti is related to aarati.
'ti' before 'jyO' is still a laghuvu. So, the exception applies (or atleast,
used) to non-repha also.
4A. dvitvam without rEpha, vEru padAlu,guruvu
i think this is also pretty common. It's not disputed anyway.
4B. dvitvam without rEpha, vEru padAlu, laghuvu
karuNaSrI again in the poem:
gaalini gouravimtumu sugamdhamu poosi; samaaSrayimcu BRum
gaalaku vimdu cEsedamu kammani tEnelu; mimmubOmTla nE
traalaku ha'yigoortumu; svatamtrula mammula svaardhabuddhitO
taaLumu trumpabOvakumu; talliki biDDaku vEru sEtuvE!
In (third line) 'mammula svaardhabuddhitO', 'la' before 'svaa' is laghuvu.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope this summarizes what we are upto. i would like hear from others
explanations for the above.
Bachoti Rao garu!
Thanks for your patience. It seemed to me I was making you impatient. So I
asked for your email just to make sure nothing goes wrong!
Here is response to your most recent mail.
> I think laghuvu and guruvu are not the domains where you want to exercise
> freedom because that defeats the very purpose of writing in chandas.
I agree with your concern. But freedom is not unrestricted. We are discussing
special circumstances. Moreover, as I was told by my gurus (who are not
laghuvus :-) ), this freedom is to be exercised only by established poets.
Not by beginners. I think the idea is, a great poet is anyway capable of
satisfying the rule exactly. If he takes a little liberty to use a more apt
word or combination, it shouldn't be taken as a limitation or mistake by him.
(that's my personal belief).
> Subba Rao garu! This is not fair. You are asking me to make a statement
> so you can go and search for usages that contradict my statement. Rather,
> it is easier to look at specific usages.
You can't be serious! What are you doing to me!? I made a statement and
I am made to fight to defend that against a group of mighty warriors!
I asked for a fairer deal. I asked you to tell me the rule you support
so that I can compare and contrast.
You refused to make a general statement. fine. I am still happy you told
me exactly what I have to provide. Of the two cases, you asked, I already
found one. Searching indefinitely for the second one!
regards,
varigonda subbarao
(couldn't reply quickly 'coz this mail took 2hrs to compose)
(I will be back after at 2pm CST. I have to attend a class!)
--
***********************************************************************
Varigonda Subbarao Present Address
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -----------------
varigond@cems.umn.edu 1209, 8thSt SE Box#144, 46 Amundson Hall
Minneapolis, MN 55414 University of Minnesota
USA Minneapolis, MN 55455
ph:(612) 617-9377 ph: (612) 625-3367
URL: http://www.cems.umn.edu/~varigond
***********************************************************************