Sadaananda gaaru said that the avadhaanam thread went off the track.
I agree. However, aprastuta prasangam has always been an important part
of avadhaanam, hasn't it? :-)
(Just to keep the record straight: I did not bring the Sanskrit Sloka
into this discussion, I only asked if it was Telugu or Sanskrit).
Any way, let us move on with our discussion of avadhaanaalu.
Madhav turumeLLa (and somebody else too, I think) said that
nyastaakshari, dattapadi, and samasyapooraNas are unduly restrictive on
the avadhaani and limit his/her ability to come up with good poetry. I
have to agree too. But, whenever people talk about avadhaanams, the
three main things that I hear discussed are 1) the funny samasya in
dattapadi, 2) the funny samasya (usually laden with a sexual innuendo)
and the avadhaani's cleverness in handling it, and 3) the witty
conversation with the aprastuta prasangi.
Even in our recent discussions where tons of adulation was being showered
on mEDasaani and maaDugula, most of the talk centered on the dattapadis
and the samasyaapooraNas. If dattapadis and samasyaapooraNas are jsut a
variant of chitra kavitvam and not 'true' kavitvamu, then one has to
say that these shouldn't be the main parts of avadhaanamu. But they are.
And, I don't think it is accidental either. Let me elaborate: The main
essence of avadhaanamu is entertainment of the audience. While aaSukavita
and varNana may be more amenable to good poetry, the entertainment
potential of the avadhaanam really lies in the avadhaani's ability to
extricate from the elaborately set traps, his display of concentration
and memory, and in tickling the prurient fancies of the audience. Let's
face it, if avadhaanam was merely a recital of good, even great, poetry, I
suspect that the halls won't be packed as they seem to be these days. And
there lies the trap. The avadhaani is then working the crowd, his
interest at that time is not great poetry, but pleasing his audience -
whether it was in the king's court or in the public auditorium.
veerESalingam pantulu, a social reformer and scholar, who has done a lot for
the modernization of Telugu society and the Telugu literature (he wrote
the first Telugu novel, one of the earliest modern Telugu plays, the
first Telugu autobiography etc), also tried his hand at avadhaanam as
early as 1874. He then stopped doing it. His reasons for doing so in his
own words:
"(ee avadhaanamu) ooraka paamarula vEduka koraku dakka deenivalana
lOkamunaku_gaani, naaku_gaani nijamaina prayOjanamu lEdani bhaavinci
taruvaata nendarenni vidhamula braardhincinanu mEdhassunaku
vEdanaa_karamaina yashTaavadhaanamunu jEya_maanitini" (sveeya charitra).
So, picking up on a question vEloori (venkaTESwara raav, that is) asked
a few days ago, what is it that now fascinates us about these avadhaanams
now a days? Is it a sign of our paamaratvam or is it assuaging to our
sense of nostalgia for the things gone by or is it a sign of new elitism?
Regards. --- V. Chowdary Jampala