Re: pOtana, His Times and the popularity of Bhaagavatam - 1
V. Chowdary Jampala (cjampala@quark.dayton.net)
Mon, 23 Feb 1998 23:34:26 -0500 (EST)
On Mon, 23 Feb 1998, DEVARAKONDA VENKATA NARAYANA SARMA wrote:
> SriSri in the beginning wrote traditional poetry like kAListOtram or
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> satakam. When he found that it is very difficult to make a mark in
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> traditional poetry he switched over to progressive views and free
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> verse. I am NOT repeat NOT suggesting that Sri Sri is a hypocrite
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> or doubting his great talent. I am only saying it is the circumstances
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> which push a man to be a bhakta or a progressive or a Casanova.
namastE.
I do not know you other than through your few postings on telusa
and there haven't been enough of those for me to understand your views on
various aspects of literature. I could have written this reply to telusa
itself, but decided not to do so. The archieves of telusa are filled with
records of heated battles over remarks made about SreeSree. I would rather
not start another one right now. I also did not want to say anything on
the net publicly that would create a hostile atmosphere for a newcomer,
who may have the potential to contribute a lot to the forum. Hence, this
personal mail.
It is difficult to take your denials at face value given the
phrases you have used. If SreeSree indeed 'switched over' to 'progressive
views' only because he found out he was not getting enough recognition for
his traditional poetry, then he was a hypocrite; and that is what your
first sentence said. If his traditional poetry was not good enough to make
a mark, his great talent should be doubted. I would venture to say that
your post suggests that you doubt both SreeSree's progressive views as
well as his great talent.
Putting that aside, I am not sure that SreeSree either wrote a
kaaLeestOtram or a bhakti Satakam before he started writing progressive
poetry. Though it is true that he wrote traditional vRUtta poetry and
published a 'kaavyam' in that mode, I just checked my sources and they do
not list either a bhaktikaavyamu or a kaaLee stOtramu or a Satakamu by
SreeSree in his pre mahaaprasthaanmau days. The folowing are listed as his
pre-mahaaprasthaanmu publications:
1918: one kandapadyamu + a detective novel, gOkulaayi
1920: a novel, veerasimha vijayasimhulu
1922: saavitreesatyavantam, a padya naaTakamu
1925: a detective novel, pariNaya rahasyamu; his first work to be
printed
1928: prabhava, a kaavyam
1929: sOmulu cheppina katha, a story based on Pickwick papers.
1932: Telugu translation of hareen chaTTo"s poems
1934: mahaaprasthaanam
Obviously, none of the above constitute a bhakti kaavyam or a
Satakam or suggest that SreeSree chose bhakti maarga first and then
swtiched his views because he could not become famous with bhaktimaarga.
What I see is a young writer experimenting with various modes of writing.
If I remember correctly from my various readings and those sources are
truthful, prabhava received good reviews (except for a tepid review from
kompella janaaradana raavu in udayini); hardly a sign of a need for
drastic switch of views just to become famous.
I would appreciate if you can post a correction of your comment
regarding SreeSree's writing of kaaLeestOtram and Satakams prior to his
discovering his own voice.
Regards -- Chowdary Jampala
PS: If you do not mind, I would like to make a suggestion. when you
post to telusa, you do not need to quote the entire message to which you
are responding. Actually, telusa charter explicitly discourages that
practice. Such a practice usually takes up a lot of archival space.
PPS: Incidentally, SreeSree did write a traditional poem (a seesam) in
praise of kaaLi; but that was much later, in 1977 I think, for the moive,
pantulamma. He was plenty famous by then.