HUMOUR IN TELUGU LITERATURE
M.
SIVAKAMAYYA
Humour
in literature may be defined as the quality which provokes mirth or laughter in
a healthy reader of normal intelligence and imagination. It is of many kinds in
its origin and motive. It is usually the result of the perception of something
novel or queer or unexpected, in the language or the sentiment expressed, or
something incongruous or inconsistent, in the character or situation presented.
It may be employed as a cheap device for providing entertainment, a powerful
agency for social reform or as a humanising and civilising influence by
producing artistic delight.
In
the early periods in the history of Telugu literature when literary work was
more or less confined to translation of the epics and Puranas in Sanskrit and
the composition of Prabandhas or poetical romances, there was very little scope
for humour. Even in the few instances of humour we have in the writings of the
period, such as the boasts of Uttara Kumara in the Gograhana episode in the Mahabharata
or the playful mischief of Balakrishna in the description of his sojourn at
Gokula in the Bhagavata, the humour is of no fine variety or high literary
quality.
But
in the later periods when other popular literary forms were developed, such as
Janapada geyas, or folk songs, and Satakas or centuries of verses, suitable for
the expression of lyrical passion as well as social criticism, we find many
instances of humour, of much variety and high literary quality, for example, in
the popular Satakas named after Ramalingeswara, Andhra Vishnu Kavi Choudappa
and Vemana. But the humour in these verses is all incidental and occasional, an
attractive feature of the composition and not its aim or essence.
Ever
since the commencement of the 19th century, however, when the modern period may
be said to begin, quite a number of compositions
specifically and deliberately aiming at humour have been appearing in Telugu
literature, perhaps due to the impact on the life of the
people, of a powerful alien civilisation and the influence on the men of
letters, of the inspiring models of humorous literature in the English
language. The Prahasanas of Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Ganapathi of
Chilakamarthi Lakshminarasimham, the Sakshi essays of Panuganti
Lakshminarasimha Rao, and Kanyasulkam of Gurazada Appa Rao all belong to
this stage. They are all, to a greater or less extent, modelled upon the
masterpieces of their kind in English literature; and they are all of them
inspired by the common motive of social reform and progress, through satirical
criticism of outmoded and superstitious customs and conventions. The satire is
therefore vitiated by extra literary motives, propagandist zeal, characterised
by severity, and calculated to hurt and insult, and not so much to persuade or
change the heart.
At
the next stage in the growth of humorous literature in Telugu, we find the
motive of social reform kept under restraint and in the background, and humour
of a purer literary quality and aiming at aesthetic effect and artistic pleasure
attempted. The Vatirao Kathalu of Chinata Dikshitulu, Barrister
Parvateesam of Mokkapati Narasimha Sastry, the farces of Bhamidipati
Kameswara Rao, the sketches of middle class domestic life of Munimanikyam
Narasimha Rao, and a host of other talented writers among our contemporaries,
now attempt and very often succeed in their attempts to employ humour for its
legitimate civilising purpose of sweetening life and developing sympathy and
understanding and tolerance among the people through beauty and joy. Most of
them still reveal the influences of foreign models; some of them are also
obviously translations or close imitations or clever adaptations; but they
reveal at the same time the immense possibilities for literary humour in the
language and the genius of the people.
With
the rise in the standards of living and spread of education especially among
women, the progress in the establishment of a democratic way of life and a
socialistic pattern of society, the advancement of culture and civilisation,
which we are hoping, planning, and working for, we have every reason to be
confident that in the future, humorous writing will be more and more popular
and the social situation will afford more and more varied matter for humorous
treatment, and more and greater masterpieces in literary humour will be
produced in the Telugu language.
It
is remarkable that the influence of Sanskrit literature, so marked in all other
respects, should be so meagre in this field. Perhaps the Vidushaka in our early
Telugu drama was modelled to some extent after his prototype in the classical
Sanskrit drama, and the example of the Manipravalika style, of a mixture of
Telugu and Sanskrit, might have suggested the possibilities for humour in a
similar mixture of English and Telugu to Gurazada Appa Rao in his Kanyasulkam,
and of Urdu and Telugu to Vedam Venkataraya Sastry, in his Prataparudriyam.
For the rest, it must be admitted that the growth of humorous literature in
Telugu is almost entirely a modern phenomenon with no great past to boast of,
but an encouraging situation in the present, and a bright future to hope for.