> Given the fact that english is just
> about as unpopular today among the general laity as sanskrit was in
> its heyday, I don;t understand how using english words in telugu
> is any more excusable than using sanskrit words, if the intent is to
> reach the common folk.
Is English unpopular today? I imagine that you are saying that English is
not well understood among the common people of AP. But there is a welcome
Freudian slip here! That is the admission that Sanskrit was unpopular
among the laity even during its heyday. That was my point too!
Now I don't understand where you found the argument in the thread that
Using Sanskrit words in Telugu poems is bad but using English words is
OK. I don't remember anybody saying something like that. I am also not
familiar with anybody arguing that using some Sanskrit words is bad. It
was just that if their content is so much that I need Tatparyam to
understand the poem, then it is not a Telugu poem.
Since the poet has also to bother about things
> like beauty, brevity and other such qualities, substituting an english
> (or equivalently sanskrit, hindi, urdu) word even if a very sonorous
> telugu word is available is no crime. As long as the poetry retains a
> predominant flavor of telugutanam (hard to define, so I will not;-)),
> using sanskrit/english/hindi/urdu words should not distract us from
> the message.
OK. How about a few lines from Srinatha (Kreedabhiramam):
Sa: Pancharinchina nee payodharamu lasphinthuno; lethabo
mmanchun genjiguraakumovi nnisidhathvartham banushtinthuno; etc.
Do you think the Teluguthvam is retained in this?
I don't know about you, but I have no clue what the guy is saying!
Should we call this Telugu poetry?
Looks like "payodharamu lasphintuno" means - may I touch your breasts?
Somewhere in the second line is the question - may I kiss you!
That is what I gather from S.V.Joga Rao's comments on this poem.
Now who do you think this poetry was written for? Average Telugu folks?
Poetry was written for a club of exclusive boys up until recently.
They did not care if average folks understood it or not because average
folks were not their audience.
That is why I say that the credit for bringing poetry to the people
belongs to the modern poets who, for the first time, wrote poetry with
common folks in mind.
> Maybe we must pay lesser attention
> to the language issue.....
I don't wish to repeat my argument any more than necessary.
Regards,
Sitaramayya Ari.