caaTuvulu again!- bheema kavi (1)
Rao Veluri (rveluri@smtpgate.anl.gov)
Tue, 15 Oct 96 18:03:32 CST
Hello Friends:
During the months of June several caaTuvulu were
posted accompanied by some discussion on the 'baggage'
they gather around as time passes by! Picking on that thread,
Sree Sanka Ramakrishna posted a saMskRta caaTuvu that was
attributed to kaaLidaasa.
It was about kaaLidaasa carrying some live fish wrapped around in
a towel, dripping malodorous water and the king bhOja's
interrogation as to the contents of the wrap. Any way,
befitting to the replies by kaalidaasa, the fish finally turned
into raamayaNa mahaakaavyaM on palm leaves. This is the baggage
that surrounds the caaTuvu.
Ever since, I wanted to post some caaTuvulu by the most famous
telugu caaTu kavi, viz., vEmulavaaDa bheema kavi. I could not
remember all of them correctly at that time. Now that I have
found them, I am going to bore the scholars and critics alike.
At least, I hope these posts are benign and harmless and would not
incite the native and 'foreign' scholar-posters to indulge in
unwarranted criticism and castigation.
vEmulavaaDa bheema kavi, they say, lived during the 11th century.
He was from vEmulavaaDa near dakshaaraamaM in East Godavari District.
Born out of wedlock to a brahmin widow, he was the talk of the
town brahmins. Kids in school constantly made fun of him because he
did not have a 'real father.'
One day, he got mad and insisted to learn from his mother who his
father was and she told him that it was none other than the
bheemEswara swaami of dakshaaraamaM. Legend has it that this widow
prayed the Lord for a son like the Lord himself; and the Lord
blessed her with pregnancy; and she conceived! Sort of an
immaculate conception! No religious outbursts, please!
Our bheema kavi angrily went to bheemEswara swaami to confirm his
mother's story, and obtained some miraculous powers from the Lord.
It appears, that the Lord, granted him the boon that 'whatever bheema
kavi wishes happens; whatever he says will become a poem.'
Don't laugh! Of late, some prolific posters on telusaa and scit
believe that whenever they pen broken lines, interspersed with
oft-beaten trite phrases could be sold as poetry; whatever they
'write' as prose is criticism, although we know it is not.
At least, in case of bheema kavi, you could find the ease of flow
and some extremely charming versification skills !
One day there was a traditional feast in a brahmin home. All the
town brahmins were invited, and our young bheema kavi was not let in
because he was born to a widow!
bheema kavi was incensed and uttered these 'words'instantly:
goppalu ceppukoMcu nanu kooTiki paMktiki raaku maMcu ee
trippuDu baapa laMdarunu tittiri kaavuna nokka maaru ee
appamu lanni kappalayi, annamu sunnamu gaaga maarucun
pappunu saakamul pulusu paccaDulun ciru raalu kaavutan.
That's it. annaM turned into sunnaM, appalu turned into kappalu
and the rest of items into pebbles! The brahmin fell on
bheemana's feet and begged for his forgiveness, and he got it.
bheemana kavi retrieved all the food stuffs to their
previous edible state by saying these 'words':
ghanuDau vEmulavaaDa vaMSajuDu daakshaaraama bheemESa naM
danu Dee bheemana yaMcu gurterigi niMdalmaani nan gauravaM
buna nee viprul cooci raMdu valanan poorva sthitiM jeMdi bhO
jana vastu prakaraMbu lanniyu yathaa swasthaMbu laugaavutan.
(Both these poems were in the book 'telugulO tiTTu kavitvaM,
not the imaginary tome, kavi raakshaseeyaM!)
bheemana, when he first visited cokka bhoopaala, sort of a king,
he told him that he could make a barren wooden pole into a tree with
flowers and fruits! cokkana did not believe and challenged in jest to
demonstrate these so-called powers on the pole he was leaning on!
bheemana sang this beautiful poem:
anee taabhyupadaana SruMkhala karaabhyaa laMbita staMbhamaa!
nEnE vEmulavaaDa bheemakavi nEniM citrakooTaMbulO
bhoo navyaapRta pallavOpa latikaa pushpOpa gucchaMbulan
naanaa pakva phala pradaayivagu maanaa! kalpa vRkshaakRtin.
The first line shows bheema kavi's excellent sense of humor!
(Oh! the wooden pole! on you the hand that adorns the
great philanthophist bangle is resting ... etc !)
The pole instantly turned into a huge tree with all sorts
of flowers and ripe fruits, and cokkana's hand got tangled up!
Of course, cokkana begged the poet to revert to status quo
and the poet obliged, again by reciting the following poem:
Sambhu vara prasaada kavi saMgha varENuDa naina naa vacO
guMbhana maala kiMci anukoolata naMdi tanoona bhaavanan;
kuMbhini cokkanaama nRpakuMjaru paMdiTi malle saalakun
staMbhamu reeti nee tanuvu daalici yeppaTi yaTla yuMDumaa!
You do not believe it is possible. Did you ever hear about David
Copperfield, P C Sorkar, and Satya Sai Baba?
There are some more beautiful and easy-to-understand verses,
attributed to bheemana. If interest persists I would post them;
of course with my ciNTaamaNi-subbiseTTi type editorial comments!
After all, that's what I was accused to be capable of, by the
pundits, philosophers and commentators on the net!!
Best regards.
Venkateswara Rao Veluri