One thing that does concern me is the influence of radio and television.
Unless the govt in AP takes an active interest in promoting Telugu as the
medium in which the people of the land are informed and entertained, we
will be culturally colonized. This point, raised by LALANA garu, is a
very important one, but I am afraid it is too abstract for the folks who
govern the land.
I would like to conclude with a couple of comments on a paragraph in Bapa
Rao gari post:
On Mon, 20 May 1996, Bapa Rao wrote:
>
> Then, there is the nature of Telugu itself. I contended once on scit that
> Telugu by nature is a "derivative" language, and that is what constitutes
> its unique genius. It doesn't have its own Silappadikkaaram or Manimekalai,
> the original Telugu classic is a retelling of a Sanskrit epic. Modern
> Telugu literature has drawn a great deal of inspiration from European
> literature. I am far from being a qualified judge, but there is a question
> in my mind whether Telugu has produced modern cultural artifacts
> of the artistic caliber of the great Bengali or Malayalam auteurs. Last
> year I saw the Satyajit Ray retrospective, and I tried unsuccessfully
> to think of a Telugu director who captured the essence of the Telugu
> land with the same clarity that Ray's films did for Bengal. Ironically,
> some of the best popular literature I read in Telugu is the translations of
> Sharat, and Devadas was one of the best Telugu movies I had seen.
> Not coincidentally, whenever I read soc.culture.bengali, most of the
> postings are in Bengali; the same cannot be said of what I am typing now
> ( I mean it is not in Telugu, not that it is not in Bengali.)
I read somewhere that Telugu land being a bridge between the north and
the south, our language was greatly influenced by languages and cultures
from both sides. I am not sure if that is what you mean by "derivative"
language.
About the past, I would not give up and say that there was no
memorable literature before the translation of Mahabharatha. Vemana did
not exist until his poems were discovered! So, there is still reason to
believe, and hope, that future research will uncover more about our
language's past. That of course needs money.
I would also contend that
the much heralded works in Bengali and Malayalam are as much influenced
by western thought as the Telugu works of the time. Sarat's novels,
I believe, reflect the reform movement sweeping Bengal at the time and
the movement was a derivative of western influence.
About works in Telugu that can be compared with those in other languages,
I would list as examples the novels of Bapi Raju, Gopi chand, and Chalam,
short stories of Koku, and KaaRaa, poems of Sre Sri, Tilak etc. I hope I
am not sounding unreasonable or completely misunderstood your point! But I
think there are a lot of original works to be proud of in our
literary heritage.
Regards,
Sitaramayya Ari.