padya vidya -- The art of writing poems
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- SrI viSwanAtha acyuta dEvarAyalu
part 2 -- cATuvulu
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We have a series of poems categorized into 'cATuvulu' in our literature.
The meaning of cATuvu is not to be misunderstood for condescending remarks
aimed at a person or his writings by branding it 'tiTTu kavitvam' or so.
"cATuvu" means -- "priyamaina mATa". I don't know when did it acquire the
'not so good' kind of meaning. Well intermixed wit and humor ("camatkAram"
and "hAsyamu"), is the primary characteristic of this class of poems.
"jonnannamu jonna kUDu,
jonnambali, jonna kali, jonnale tappan,
sunnasumI sannannamu
pannuga palnATi sIma prajalandarakun.."
This kandam from SrInAtha mahAkavi from his travelogue of palnADu is
remembered even today mainly because of its form/structure apart from its
BAvam. This POEM also describes the palnADu of that day and its socio-
political situation. Most of the poems in this "cATu" category reveal to
a large extent the social life and culture of the people of yester years.
In scorching SUN and heat and the ArtI coming out of an unquencched thirst
brought out the pun in a form that is truly unforgettable --
"siri gala vAniki cellenu,
taruNulu padiyAru vElu taga penDlADan,
tiripemunakiddarAnDrA,
paramESA ganga viDumu pArvati cAlun.."
These poems portray the wit and humor and those qualities are not limited to
a section of a society or a portion of a literature. They are the elements
that are in everyone's thinking and can be expressed naturally while writing
poems. Many of us can talk equally wittingly and not taking it as far as
personal sarcasm or castigating pun, one can always try to put the idea in
the form of a poem and that is nothing but "cATuvu".
Writing poems is an art and anyone can practise it. This trade of "padya
racana" is nothing less than solving cross-word puzzles or learning computer
programming. A large amount of vocabulary at one's finger tips is neither
MANDATORY nor is it even sufficient to write poems of good quality. Sometimes,
the more simpler are the words you choose, more beautiful the poems are.
"eppuDu sampada kaligina,
appuDu bandhuvulu vatturadi yeTlannan ?
teppaluga ceruvu ninDina,
kappalu padivElu cEru gadarA sumatI.."
What is the eclectic and not-so-easily-understood vocabulary in this poem ??
What is it that a common man/neophyte doesn't understand in the above piece ??
Even mAnDalIka padamulu can be used in writing poems to increase the effect.
Since the above idea is expressed in these simple words, it is being remembered
and is being reproduced with ease by one and all.
Anyone can write poems. Poets who have more vocabulary make their poems sound
STRONG but not knowing too much of vocabulary in a language should not be a
hindrance in expressing one's idea/BAvam. Since "writing poems" is an art
that anybody can practise, it has been profession to write poems in the
old days. Some generations back, those people who adopted this profession
were called "BaTrAjulu". They used to deliver gems of poems filled with
wit and humor improptu, on the occasion of a marriage or a celebration to
entrtain the audience. One of such books in literature is "Andhra nAyaka
Satakamu" which has a bunch of such poems in it. I wonder if there is any
other "cATu padya Satakam" as powerful and as witty as this one from SrI
kAsula purushOttam who used to be a BaTrAju. All this proves is just one
thing, that any one who starts writing poems and starts expressing his ideas
in a musical and beautiful form is all set to become a poet/kavi.
We are all in the category of non-immigrant/immigrant status in this country.
Many of us know about the lives of our fore fathers, poets and other literary
stalwarts through the vast amount of the information that is preserved in the
form of poems. One can similarly expect to pass on the history and also the
legacy of writing poems for the posterity. By translating our ideas into
poems, we will not only be making our mark in the literature but will
be thanked by the future generations for letting them know of our life and
preserving our literary forms, among other things.
KODAK nowadays, is taking the credit for preserving the family history of
many people, in its commercials. They say, by manufacturing a medium (the
negative film and the photographic paper) that preserves information for
generations, they are helping humanity in preserving their history. Even
the highest quality medium of such kind is vulnerable to climatic and
other forces. But if everyone of us starts putting into poems, the every
day special and not-so-special incidents that one would like to preserve
for / pass on to the next generation, that will by far be the BEST of
mediums to protect the information for ages.
By portraying and preserving the family history, life style and the incidents
that are woven around these, in the form of poems, everyone of us will also
be a part of the gigantic task of not ONLY preserving our own culture and
history, but we ourselves will also be making an indelible mark for ourselves
in the sands of history by CREATING literature. Writing poems is an art that
anyone can learn, practise and appreciate and an art that everyone should
enjoy for himself while doing that. Aren't those enough reasons for one start
to writing poems ??
"padya vidya -
evariki vAriki saMtRptini kaligincu vidya
andarU nErva valasina vidya !!"
We'll continue the discussion by learning the fundamentals of telugu meters
also known as - Candassu, in later parts.
P.S. : The original was written in telugu and I tried my hand at the
translation to improve the readability in this forum. You can
send in your comments /questions/suggestions/criticism to --
sdokka@st6000.sct.edu
regards... - Ram(abhadra) Dokka