> "Why are these called cATuvulu?"
> "Are all cATuvulu vulgar?" (I don't think so). "Are not they witty?"
> "If they are pleasant for entertainment - Why cATugA ceppukOvaDam,
> pamDitulu siggupaDaDam?"
PALANA gaaru,
My first guess about cATuvulu was also similar (cATugA ceppukOvaDam),
but it turns out that is not correct. I have this book by SrI RangAchArya,
called "cATupadya rathnAvaLi", and he says:
cATu = priyamaina mATa
cATu + ukthi = -do-, or ramyamaina mATa
(hence, pleasing or funny)
My impression from reading this book is that these are typically the works
of aspiring poets. Of course, we also have several famous poets scripting
some too. The topics of the cATuvulu in this book are quite varied:
from prayers to pogAku to (sometimes very vulgar) dooshaNalu -
ofcourse, these dooshaNalu are far from being 'ramyamaina mATalu' to the
person receiving them, but some of them are quite funny to read. :-)
There are also several puzzles and chamtkArAlu with words.
A typical puzzle kind of cATuvu from the book:
paragu panchAksharambula pakshi varuDu
vAni thaladeeya noka kavivaryuDagunu
nathani thaladrumpa vaNijula kavasaramagu
dAni thalagoTTa vachhunu dharaNi dhavuDu
asalu padamunu delpu jOhAronartu.
There are pages full of cATuvulu written by a few authors about
waiting for the doctor in a hospital, a particularly uncomfortable
stay in someone's house, losing one's chEtikaRRa. One thing I can
get from this is that cATuvulu can be about almost anything,
as long as they are funny.
-- regards, vishy
------------------ answers to the above puzzle ------------------
kapOtha rAju
pOtharAju
tharAju [thrAsu, balance]
rAju