This newsgroup had several articles lately focussing on
the topic of 'avadhaanalu', and 'samasyaa pooraNalu'. The very act of
'avadhaanam' is awe inspiring, and I marvelled at mEDasaani mOhan's
display of concentration and memory when he was doing a 'mere'
ashTaavadhaanam. And now, he and maaDugula naagaphaNi Sarma went on
to perform sahasraavadhaanam and mahaa sahasraavadhaanam
respectively. My mind truly boggles whenever I think about the mental
powers required for such a feat. However, when I saw mEDasaani's
avadhaanam, I had a vague disquiet that something was missing.
That disquiet came to the fore again when I came across a
comment by Sri raammOhana raay, a renowned contemporary critic of
Telugu literature (he is the head of Telugu department in Guntur, writes
and lectures extensively on literary topics, and writes an occasional
column for TANA Patrika on literary and cultural happenings in AP).
After congratulating the two avadhaanis on their succssful avadhaanams,
raay says,
"dhaaraNaa SaktilO kampyooTarlanu Jnaapkam cEsE ee avadhaanula
saktiyuktulanu, paanDityaanni, samaya_sfoortini entainaa koni_yaaDa_vaccu.
kaani, avadhaana_vaaNi sahasramainaa. Sata-sahasramayinaa daanni uttama
kavitvamgaa bhrama paDakooDadu. Sree mOhan gaani, Sree nagaphaNi
Sarma gaani intavaraku rasavattaramaina kaavyamEmee racincalEdu'.
It seems that though avadhaanam (and many of the prakriyaas
that are part of the avadhaanam, including samasyaa_pooraNalu) emphasize
cleverness (in addition ot the awesome display of the concentration and
memory of the avadhaani), causing the audience to applaud, they do not
seem to produce poetry with (for lack of a better word) a soul. It seems
more like the work of a clever craftsman than an artist.
I also remember (I will try to post the exact reference later)
that even the great 'tirupati venkaTa kavulu' said something to that
effect.
Regards. --- V. Chowdary Jampala