If I may add -
In any poetry author does not just report the facts but leaves some to the
imagination of the readers through the choice of the words which sometimes can
be mistaken for filler words. Here is my reading of the poem.
vikaaraleela - leela is generally used for playful sport indicative of the fun
(here the actual fun was over). But the author qualifies with the word vikaara
and the whole thing is a qualification for digi. One has to imagine her
precarious position (being a kanyaaratnam) while getting down from the
mrudutalpam, of course in contrast from the Khatinatalpam! This vikaaraleela is
supported by the rest of the description too in terms of holding with one hand
her dhammillambu while kounu nuliyanga - She has to slowly pull herself out of
that bed.
Drugjaalam - jaalamu means a net. I donot#think it is a filler word for chandas.
Simple drug will not do for our kanyaaratnam. The net is for catching. Either
she is catching the whole episode in her mind by looking at the scene that she
is leaving or she does not want to leave yet catching the scene with the sweet
memories with it. She is kanyaaratnam - by qualifying her as ratnam, the author
said more than the word - and again I do not consider this as filler word
either. For any kanya it may be a simple feminine act. But by qualifying as
ratna the whole episode need to be understood not as unwilling or unsatisfied
partner in the act.
tat sadanam is illumined by just with deepakalikaa - by putting qualification as
ratna for deepa- he or she gave the impression even that deepakalikaa which
cannot be study but is blinking. The act was not done in the full light nor in
the pitch dark -one can see yet one cannot see. That is why she need the
drugjaalam ta catch the vision. All justify the image of kanyaratnam and her
feminine grace that even in the blinking light she prefers to go behind the
staMbham to tie her self together. (She is not like the heroines of chalam)
staMbhaMbu kreeneeDakun - This gives us the position of the deepa kaLika with
respect to the staMbhaM - I would not call this as lamp post. She is trying to
get all the privacy she can get to tie herself in that blinking light! Because
she is kanyaaratnam!
Personally I donot see any filler words here.
With regards
Sadananda
> 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 around 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 concluded 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
>
>
> --=====================_835344185==_
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>
> --=====================_835344185==_--
>