[Fwd: Re: Story of Ekalavya - Re : satIsh cander's pancama vEdam - response from a friend..]
Venkateswara Rao Veluri (vrveluri@worldnet.att.net)
Fri, 01 Nov 1996 08:35:29 -0600
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hello friends:
i am forwarding a post by srikanth bandi that has appeared on scit.
i am doing it in the hope he would not have any serious objections!
well! if he has, it is too late and i apologise! - v r veluri
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Path: netnews.worldnet.att.net!arclight.uoregon.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!math.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!infoserver.bgsu.edu!scit
From: srikanth.bandi@zippo.com
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian.telugu
Subject: Re: Story of Ekalavya - Re : satIsh cander's pancama vEdam - response from a friend..
Date: 31 Oct 1996 13:49:41 GMT
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In article <558rmn$e6i@newstand.syr.edu>, kamala@top.cis.syr.edu says...
>
>In article <199610302303.SAA27690@dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu> narayans@dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu (Nasy Sankagiri) writes:
>>Hello all,
>>Coming to the recent remarks from Ram and Madhava, I guess it is they who
>>are missing the point, not the poet. The poem is not about what is written
>>in mahABAratam, not about socio-political situations in BArata time, not
>>whether drONa was right or wrong. The poem is about what happended very
>>recently, what is still happening today. The image (symbolism or whatever)
>>of Ekalavya and his thumb (or the lack thereof) is used to enhance that
>>message - that's all. As regards to the facts of Ekalavya's story as told
>>by vyAsa, I frankly don't think the poet gives a damn, and neither do I as
>>a reader.
>
>can someone explain to me why we are having problems understanding
>or taking the poem at its face value ?! such comparisons, i mean
>using ekalavya's severed thumb to depict the lost opportunities
>of the oppressed, have been used many times in many languages.
>i can quote many many hindi poems that i read as a part of my
>high school curriculum where such symbolism was used to comment
>on current situations...
>
>or is there a larger issue at stake here: that of the deep rooted
>divisions between the haves and the have-nots even though we all
>would like to think otherwise ?! please enlighten me !!!
>
>kamala
My mundane interpretation would be based on the dichotomy between
art on one hand real life on the other. I contend that
- and some people have expressed this already - problem is
arising out of confusing one for the other.
It may be true that art imitates life but both are separated by
a boundary, however amorphous and blurred it may be.
Once real life entities transgress this boundary, they are transformed
into symbols to become 'artistic' expressions.
To give a simple example, take film songs. The interpretation
of a film song with strict adherence to factual authenticity of
real life makes complete non-sense of it. You don't find
a man and woman jumping around trees and gardens however deeply
in love they are. (In fact you are more likely to find them
sitting in a corner and enjoy their solitude). The same principle
applies to dance dramas, or painting, or sculpture or literature
or virtually any other art form. Real life provides a focal point,
but to create an art out of it, the artist has to apply a lens to it
and distort it - albeit aesthetically.
The critics of poem Dr.vEluri posted can live with
these art forms which violate real life logic every minute,
but the former throws them off balance allegedly for its deplorable
lack of authentic history. In my opinion there is only one reason
for this attitude - it's political message.
Since protest politics can not be attacked directly - because
that makes them branded as reactionaries - they complain
that poem is not sticking to historical truths inspite of the
fact that portraying history is not the business of poetry any
more than portraying real life is the business of film songs.
Since film songs are harmless and apolitical by and large they are
acceptable form of art. But above poem is not 'acceptable' as poetry
as long as it carries a political message and hence a danger to
the established order.
-srikanth
(srik@lig.di.epfl.ch)
>
>--
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>2-120 CIS, 111 College Place, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY 13244
>URL: http://www.cis.syr.edu/~kamala/
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