caaTuvulu again! - bheema kavi (2) - Conclusion
Rao Veluri (rveluri@smtpgate.anl.gov)
Wed, 16 Oct 96 17:52:48 CST
caaTuvulu again! - bheema kavi (2)- Conclusion.
An army Captain, saahiNi maarana, once opposed cokka bhoopaala,
a friend and benefactor of bheema kavi. Legend has it that
bheemana planted a curse on saahiNi maarana with the following
poem, setting 'ha'kaara as the eleventh letter. saahiNi maarana
was defeated in the skirmish with cokka bhoopaala.( Strict
prosodaical rules, from bheemana khanDa prohibit 'ha'kaara as
the eleventh letter. If you want your enemy defeated or even
better drop dead, compose a poem with the letter 'ha' as the
eleventh!)
cakkadanaMbu deevi yagu saahiNi maaruDu maaru kaivaDin
bokki paDaM galaMDu calamun balamun gala aa caLukya puM
jokka nRpaalu DugruDayi cooDkula maMTala raala joocinan
mikkili raaja sEkharuni meediki vaccina ritta vOvunE!
(It means something like this: As Siva angrily opened his
third eye, manmatha -maaru- turned into ashes. Like that,
cokka nRpaala's angry looks on saahiNi maarana will
not go wasted! He too would fall!!)
And, it happened!
Similarly, one can curse one's enemy in poetry with a 'ta'
kaara as the sixth letter. The enemy would croak, instantly.
So, those who were attempting at writing chadObaddha poetry,
if they want me to disappear from the net for good, might
as well compose a poem with 'ta' kaara as the sixt letter.
This poem also was attributed to bheema kavi. Syaamala raavu
gaaru once mentioned about this tabu of 'ta' on telusaa.
Any way, once bheema kavi went to guDimeTTa on his beautiful
horse; I suppose a great Arab! bheemana left the horse grazing
and went on to attend to his errands. The zameendaar of guDimeTTa,
one, saagi pOtu raaju loved the horse and he grabbed it. bheemana
asked pOtu raaju to return his horse; potu raaju flatly refused!
(One can imagine, the horse-napper, pOtu raaju with large
whiskers and a big fat ugly tummy! telugu-cinematic, isn't it?)
bheema kavi said this lovely poem:
hayamadi seeta; pOta vasudhaadhipu Daaraya raavaNuMDu; ni
Scayamuga nEnu raaghavuDa; sahyaja vaaridhi; maaru DaMjanaa
priya tanayuMDu; laccana vibheeshaNuDaa guDimeTTa laMka; naa
jayamunu pOtarakkasuni caavunu EDava naaDu cooDuDee!
And, pOtu raaju kicked the bucket on the seventh day!
The Odhra king, raaja kaLiMgagaMgu was disrespectful of bheemana.
He was postponing to give an audience to bheemana; saying
'not now,''not today,'later on,' some other day,' etc. After all,
bheemana was a poet blessed by bheemEswara swaami of
daakshaaraamaM! This gaMgu fellow did not know it!
bheemana was incensed at kaLiMga gaMgu ignoring him. bheemana
composed the following poem, cursing gaMgu to lose his kingdom
on a specific day at a specific time! Lo and behold! They say,
it happened!
vEmulavaaDa bheema kavi vEgame cooci kaLiMga gaMgu taa
saamamu maani kOpamuna saMdaDi teerina venka rammanen;
mOmuna cooDadOsa mika muppadi reMDu dinaMbu laavalan
jaamuna sardhamaM datani saMpada Satrula paalu gaavutan!
Exactly after 32 days and 1.5 hours(half a jaamu) after bheemana
cursed the gaMgu, he lost his kingdom and became a beggar!
One night, the once powerful arrogant king, now a beggar was
walking on a road, probably in Cuttack (sajja nagara?), and
fell into a pot hole. (It could have been any road in
any town of Andhra Pradesh!)
He lamented aloud: " What a wretched life! I could not even
afford a small torch!" Our bheemana, who, we have to surmise has
absolutely nothing to do at that time of the night, was passing
by on the same road and over heard gaMgu's words. He inquired of
gaMgu, who he was! The beggar gaMgu told bheemana, that he was
made a pauper; a result of bheemana's curse. While saying it,
looked at bheema kavi, recognized him and fell prostrated on the
poet's feet.
bheema kavi reversed his curse with the following poem:
vEyi gajaMbu luMDa padivElu turaMgamu luMDa aaji lO
raayala gelci sajja nagaraMbuna paTTamu gaTTukO vaDin
raaya kaLinga gaMgu kaviraaju bhayaMkara moorti cooDa taa
pOyina meena maasamuna punnami vOyina shashThi naaTikin.
And, kaLiMga GaMgu got his kingdom back on the dot!
Just enjoy the clean versification skills, and laugh at
the excess baggage these caaTu padyaalu have acquired
over the years!! Without the baggage, the poems are
just meaningless words!
Now, if you don't like my editorial comments, ignore them!
[Note: I can't worry about those who fall into the category of
gummiDi kaayala doMgalu! If any one believes that my editorial
comments, if any, in the above post or in the previous post on
caaTuvulu are veiled attacks on that person, I could only surmise
that such a person must be constantly suffering from a psychosis
characterized by systematized delusions of grandeur!
Be my guest! Amen!!]
With regards
Venkateswara Rao Veluri