The Birth, Growth, and Fate of "aNA" in Telugu Language
PALANA (nparinand@cas.org)
Wed, 23 Jul 1997 11:18:20 -0400
Dhara Nagaram was the capital of Malava Desa. Suryavidhi was one of the streets
in that city, of course part of Nagavasapu Peta. There stood a castle withe
glass windows and doors. On the balcony of that castle, a gemstone-embedded
carpet was lying. A book holder decorated with nicely carved ivory carvings was
sitting on that carpet. A 19 year old beautiful girl was sitting in front of the
book holder memorizing hymns.....
"tAMbUlavalli pariNaddhapUgA svElaa latAliMgitacaMdanAnu
tamAlavatAstraraNAsu raMtuM prasIda SaSvanmalayasthalIma"
Chating, Bhavabhuti and Kalidasu were walking along on the street. They heard
the melodious voice of this girl. The tAMbUla rhyme as sung by that girl
immediately reminded both Bhavabhuti and Kalidasu of tAmbUlam. They noticed that
they didn't have any pan leaves. Bhabhuti then addressed that young girl:
"tUrNamAnIyatAM cUrNam pUrNacaMdra niBAnanE" - "O pretty girl having a face just
like that full moon, please bring some lime (sunnaM) quickly!".
Following Bhavabhuti's request, Kalidasu added:
"parNAni svarNavarNAni karNAMtAkIrNalOcanE!" - O beautiful damsel with those
big eyes extending upto the ears! Please bring those tender gold-colored pan
leaves too!"
The story goes on. The above poem has been in circulation among the poets and
scholars. But, the noteworthy feature of this poem is that there is no mention
about money in this poem. But the poem was cleverly said by Bhavabhuti. In the
line of that poem, "tUrNa", "cUrNa", and "pUrNa", the 3 words ending in "Na"
comprise 3 "Nas" (mUDU "Na" lu). In the line of the poem said by Kalidasu, there
are 5 words, "parNa", "svarNa", "varNa", "karNa" and "AkIrNa", which also end in
"Na". The "Na" in Telugu varNamAla is usually pronounced as "aNa" by the Telugus
- Taa, Thaa, Daa, Dhaa, aNaa. This usage of "aNa" for "Na" is predominant in
almost all schools in Telugu Desa. Ana was a coin. One way, we can convince
ourselves that Bhavabhuti gave 3 aNaas and Kalidasu gave 5 aNaas to this girl
and in return they were provided the hospitality by that damsel.
As a matter of fact, Bhavabhuti and Kalidasu were not together. Were they
Telugus? There are several of the opinion that Bhavabhuti was an Andhra poet.
Whatever those pots' mother tongue might be, this girl should definitely be a 16
aNas Telugu girl as the usage of "aNa" is only prevalent in Telugu Desa and no
where else in India is seen. Upon enquiring the pandits of Banaras, Patna,
Poona, and Mysore, it is known that these above poems were not known to those
pandits at all with relevance to the story. Did Telugu poets cook up these poems
and kept them arcane?
The word "aNa" was not in usage during Bhavabhuti times. A 1000 years after
Bhavabhuti, this "aNa" word came into existence. In the tailend days of Muslim
rule, the 16th portion (in business transactions) was called "anaa". All these
"mUDaNAla vaMtu", "ardhaNA vaMtu" etc came into usage from that period. As all
of us know, one rupee till yesterday was known to consist of 16 aNaas. Brown,
for the first time mentioned that this aNa had 12 dammiDIlu. aNaa is still a
weighing standard to weigh gold - aidaNAla yettu duddulu.
The word "aNa" is a name for a certain type of coin. This has made into several
Indian languages as well as European languages. Sometimes, the word "aNa" has
attained several transformations in many non-Andhra languages. The root word for
"aNa" is "paNa". paNa has something to do with materail or money or property.
The word "paNamulu" is used in Telugu for money. In Kannada, haNa, is a
complementary word for Telugu "paNa". In Kannada, haNa represents 4 aNaas. In
addition, this "haNa" was the 16th part of one varaha those days. This Kannada
"haNa" slowly made its way into Telugu and became "aNaa". In Tulu, aNe is still
there. The Tamil scholars believe that "aNaa" came from Urdu. This is the way
the word "aNaa" has become "padaaraNaala telugu possession".
Scholars tried to link this "aNaa" word to the words in Sanskrit, such as
"aNaka" and "aNava". They even created the word "aNvaka" (sonding) in Sanskrit.
Other Sanskrit wordsmiths tried to relate the word "aNa" with "aDhaka". But in
reality, just on the basis of the nature of the sound, the word "aNa" is far
from these words suggested.
The word "aNaa" is absolutely the creation of Andhras. This word has migrated
from Andhra Desa to other lands.
PS: Based on Prof. Tumati Donappa's "aMdhrula aNaa asalukadha".
References:
Tumati Donappa: telugulO kottavelugulu
Radio Lectures. Vol. 1
This book has a beautiful color painting by A. Pydi Raju.
If you were an AU Campus bird, you would have heard of Pydi
Raju. He had excellent paintings of the total eclipse of 1979
during MR Apparaya Dora's vice-chancelloraajya days. Apparao was
a kaLApOshaka. This book is also available at Navodaya or
Visalandhra. Tumati Donappa's Radio Talks are fascinating.
Try to get them and read them. Donappa is also an excellent
lecturer. His Harikadha Sarvaswam is an unparallel work.
Apology: Hopefully, Prof. Donappa and other scholars would excuse me if I made
any mistakes while representing Donappa's ideas.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed above are mine only