Re: "dESabhaashalandu telugu lessa"?
Sreenivas Paruchuri (sreeni@ktpsp1.uni-paderborn.de)
Wed, 25 Mar 1998 13:28:22 +0100 (MET)
> >moments in my teens when I was fond of the dramas staged in the village.
> >drama to associate language with status. It looks like it was a Lakshana
> >of the Sanskrit drama that kings, Brahmins, and upper caste characters use
> >Sanskrit in their dialogues, while women and lower castes use Pali and
Digressing slightly from the above discussion on Sanskrit plays ....
that reminds me the Telugu play "prataaparudreeyam" by vEdam venkaTaraaya
Saastry, from early decades of this century. He was championed by one lobby
for "revolutionizing" the Telugu drama, by using "paatrOchita saMbhaashaNa"
(where the [popular role] washerman speaks in _vyaavahaarikam_ and the lead
characters in _graanthikam_). It doesn't need a genius to tell how
"revolutionary/progressive" vEdam Sr. was, if one has followed those (hot)
debates between giDugu Sr. & vEdam, and vEdam's other writings. The fact is
Telugu drama of early decades (i.e. between 1880s and 1920s) was no big
different from "classical" Sanskrit drama, as far as the language usage
is concerned.
If we keep those popular mythologicals/historicals (of Dharmavaram
Krishnamacharyulu, Kolachalam Srinivasarao, Kokkonda Venkataratnam,
Panuganti, Balijepalli, et al) aside, the "real" socials with, IMO,
down-to-earth language came in only in late 30s, early 40s.
PrajaanaaTyamanDali's "maabhoomi" was a roaring success even in places
like Lucknow, Bombay (at IPWA meetings), and later came aatrEya with his
"NGO" and Kondamudi GoparayaSarma with "edureeta".
> It is very much true that language distinctions were followed. I am not
> even remotely hinting that I know dEvabhAsha - I was trying to read a
ditto!!
> couple of bhAsa's plays (with the help of English tranlation and
> transliteration) some time ago, after reading so much about them in koku's
> aiSvaryaM. in pratimA nATAkam, not only sIta's celikattelu, but sIta
> herself speaks in prAkRutam while rAma holds court in saMskRUtaM. bhAsa is
> dated by some scholars to precede kALidAsa - so, this practice of
> linguistic distinction must have been quite prevalent.
Though I heard a lot of this great dramatist and read the story-versions
of his works in Telugu, my "real" interest started only a year ago. Thanks
to D.D. Kosambi! As an unabashed, die-hard, admirer of DDK, I had to get
hold of the translation of "avimaarka" (J.L. Masson, and DDK). JLM's
intro.¬es to the above play, koku's praisings, innumerable references
to Bhaasa by various literary critics, the authorship contoversy, etc. etc.
all these came together and made me to go little deeper into his works.
Informative are: Bhasa's plays : a crit. study by T. Ganapati Sastri (ed),
Edwin Gerow's and Barbara Stoler Miller's translations of two short plays
(published in: Essays on the Mahabharata, ed. by Arvind Sharma - Leiden,
Brill, 1991) and A.K.Warder's Origins and formation of the classical Kavya
(Vol. 2), where he writes at great length about Bhaasa.
As far as his times are concerned, I understand that there are clear
references to Bhasa in Kalidasa's works. The controversy was more about the
authorship and the authenticity of the manuscripts, found (/discovered by)
TGS in Kerala in Malayalam script.
Regards, --Sreenivas