Re[3]: Virtual Library on the Net
Rao Veluri (rveluri@smtpgate.anl.gov)
Fri, 13 Jun 97 15:07:06 CST
Ramakrishna "ee post anavasaramani nAku anumAnamgA undi" Pillalamarri
on 6/12/97 5:09 PM digresses, digresses, and finally di-versifies:
[ cut ]
>raamakRshNa gaaru swabhaavoktiki praadhaanyataniccE aalankaarikulanukunna!
>vaaridi 'kuntakuni' vakrOkti matamani kalalO kooDaa voohimcalEdu! ayyaa!
---- maranDee, swabhAvOktitO general-gA pani jaragaTallEdu ee madhya.
"aTnunci narukku voccE" kuntakuNNi ASrayincaTamE kshEmamEmO! ayinA ee
mlEccha dESamlO unTU, matAlEmiTi? sarwa-matamU sam-matamE! evarO annaTTu,
"okacO kuntaku noppikondu, nokacO kshEmEndru narthincedan, okacO
Daryanu-vAsi, hElapuri vElUrin samardhicedan ..."----
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
See how one has to mutilate one nice American word and another one,
originally a beautiful Telugu word get massacred by the Sanskrit
chanDa-Saasanaas to fit the futile regimentation imposed by
'chandassu?' Sad! It is so even for the unrivalled 'mattEbhams'
of Telusa!
Elooru was originally known as 'Erula vooru,(implying the several
streams surrounding the town!)' which got abridged into 'Erlooru'
and finally the illiterate plebians or those 'ingileeshu doralu'
converted it into ElUru; not too bad, I guess. But, later the
Sanskrit zealots in their mad pursuit of civilizing (samskarincaTam
anTE samskriteekarimcaTam kadaa mari!) 'us' have forcibly changed a
nice telugu word ElUru to hElaapuri such that it would fit into their
ritualistic chantings easily! It is silly, isn't it?
Sree Raamakrishna gaaru thought he is taking 'poetic liberties' (but
actually succumbed to the prosodaical prescriptions) and called it
hEla puri, for already the bad word, hElaapuri! And, some day some one
will further mess up and call it much worse, may be, hELaNaapuri to
fit his(her)crazy metrical needs! Who cares for the meaning, any way!
MahaaSayaa! 'Erla puri' would fit your meter, without insulting my
town which was the first town in India to felicitate Sree Sree! And,
for #Darien#, going by pronunciation, DEryan (make it 'ajantam' to
sound like Telugu!) would have been much closer to reality!
Coming back to this over sanskritization, I am reminded of a story
atributed to who else, but our good old tenaali raamalinga!
It goes something like this:
Once a sanskrit scholar came to kRshNaraaya's court and said the
following insulting line about Telugu:
"aamdhra bhaashaa mayam kaavyam ayOmaya vibhushaNam" for which
raamalinga has immediately retorted:
"samskRtaaraNaya samcaari vidvanmattEbha sRmkhalam."
[The aamdhra bhaasha kaavyam is like an ornament made of iron;
for the 'arrogant' elephant-like scholar roaming in the
sanskrit woods, that ornament acts as 'hand-cuffs.']
idE imcakkaa maa ammamma bhaashalO, ceppaalamTE,
"maaTaki maaTa tegulu; neeTiki naacu tegulu," ani ceppaccu!
Regards.
V R Veluri