Sorry. I was otherwise busy. Could not get back to the net sooner.
Sree Jampala Choudary asked for it in public, and some others asked in private
for the meaning and vyaakhyaanaM on the cATuvu I posted some time ago, in
which the
word 'dhammillamu' was used. I thought I gave enough vyaakhyaanaM on the
poem, but any
how, folks! you asked for it, you got it; grin and bear it.
First the poem:
mrudu talpaMbu vikaaraleela digi, dhammillaMbu cEbooni, raa
gada drugjaalamutODa kaunu nuliyaMgaa mOmu maarveTTucuN
vadalaMbaarina neevi paTTukoni, kanyaaratna mapDege, -[ta
tsadana bhraaajita ratna deepakaLikaa staMbhaMbu kreeneeDakuN]
Next the Prelude:
As I have said in my post, a poet-scholar composed the first three lines
and he struck out on the last! He had the foggiest notion what a woman would
do immediately after the sex act!! It was told that the poet's young niece
rescued
him by completing the last line!! I learnt this when I was a teenager from my
maternal uncle who is now 85 years old and still kicking around!! He taught us
several cAtuvulu, when we used to sit round the 'negaDu'( a little fire) and
warm ourselves up!!
Now Teeka:
mrudu talpaMbu = soft bed
vikaara leela = several meanings possible, but I would go for 'mukhaM citlistoo'
digi = got down
dhammillaMbu = knotted hair; maa EloorlO koppu aMTaaru
cEbooni = cEtan + pooni --> cEbooni, aMtE cetto paTTukoni
raagada = I would say valapu (but if the woman is from muMbai red district,
it could be erupu, blood red)
druk+jaalammu = coopula samoohamu ( drukkulu should be enough, but it won't
fit the meter, so some filler words are necessary in
chandO baddha poetry!)
tODa = along with
kaunu = waist, naDumu aMTaamu, telugulO, madhyamu aMTaaru chadastaM perigitE)
nuliyaMgaa = nalagaDamanE ardhaM
mOmu marveTTucuN = peDa mukhamu peTTukoni ( OsOsi! Orayyo, iMtEnaa ani
vekkiriMta gaa kooDaa ceppukO vaccu; actually I am
reminded of a story by calaM on how a gorgeous
washerwoman hurts the macho ego of an inadequate
middle class fellow who secretly lusted her for long! But, I would
relate that powerful story at a later time, when we discuss short
stories, as promised by somebody!!)
vadalaMbaarina = left loose; sadali pOyina anavaccu
neevi = saaree knot ( this knot has a specific name; I asked my wife and
even she does not remember it! What a pity!!)
paTTukoni = holding
kanyaa ratnamu = kanya is used to connote an unmarried 'minor' girl, but in
those days a ten year old girl was probably a wife or
already a widow, who knows! Here it means
'aaDadi.' But this ratnaM business is again filler
word for the chandassu! or literally, gem of a woman, ha! ha!!
apDEge = then went!
At this the poet got stuck. Wher did she go?
tat = that or in telugu, aa
sadana = palace or house
bhraajita = lighted up; prakaasamu poMdinadi ani yardhamu
ratna deepakaLikaa = again ratna is a waste-fill word describing the deepa sikha
staMbhaMbu = if you can't pronounce it, say kaMbamu; the post( the lamp post!)
kreeneeDakuN = I guess it is the shadow underneath the lamp post!
Finally, taatparyaM & vyaakhyaanaM:
The guy had sex with the woman. After the act, she has alighted from the
soft bed,
with her loosely knotted hair in hand, making faces at(mukhaM citlistoo)
with loving glances(or red eye looks! If she was disappointed! Have your
pick). Her waist was folding (!) while walking away looking backward,
nonchalantly or with what-do-I-care-looks. She had her loosened saaree knot
in her other hand and went!
Where? Here comes the bright niece to rescue!!
The house was well lit by the lamp, and she went to the shadow under the
lamp post!
(probably to reknot her saaree and reset her dhammillamu!!!)
I have conculded the original post with a moral: ' After all, a woman always
knows it better!!
Best regards.
-- Venkateswara Rao Veluri
ps: If you need some more poems like this which have absolutely no bearing
on the present societal structure and remain socially noncommittal, just
ask! You will get them!! After all, we all can enjoy the prosodaical beauty,
the waste rhyme and the'waist' rythm and what not in this sort of poetry!
--VRV