By
P. S. SASTRI, M.A., Ph.D.
(
The
new movements in Telugu literature of the second decade of the century were
conspicuously personalistic and lyrical. The writers
of the time wore an amulet of lyrical anguish or pined after a mysterious
spirit which successfully eluded their grasp, thereby leaving them in an
intense subjective sentimentalism. Though they were able to offer a rich harvest,
it was one that only the reflective elite could enjoy. A rigorous objectivity
was lacking in them. They could not look at life dispassionately and
rationally; nor could they rationalise their
imaginative fervour. To achieve this end the writer must needs have a sense of humour
which should not be confused with the comic or with the ludicrous. Such a
spirit of humour was ushered into the Telugu
literature of the period by Mokkapati Narasimna Sastri.
Sastri
has written many plays, short stories and essays besides his great work
‘Barrister Parvatisam’, though his name is
interlinked with Parvatisam. Parvatisam
is a character that has acquired great celebrity
throughout the Andhra area along with Girisam who was
sponsored by Gurazada Appa
Rao. These two characters form a family relationship with Falstaff
and Don Quixote. Only the first part of ‘Barrister Parvatisam’ has been released to the public. Here we
come across the adventures of Parvatisam, a
country-bred innocent braggart, on his way to
It
is the spirit of humour, in fact, that pervades the
entire work of Sastri. There are six plays of his collected in one volume. Some
of them bear traces of European descent though all have gained the distinct touch
of Sastri. ‘Mrokkubadi’ is a short one act play based
on the belief that one can overcome any illness or danger by solemnly taking a
vow to please the deity Venkateswara by offering to
him everything possible. This traditional belief is based on genuine faith 8and
devotiIon. But the sophisticated modern youth
is an egotist who rebels against all ideas of faith and devotion. Woman is by
nature a conservative, a traditionalist, while man is ego-centric. The union of
these two is bound to issue in a serious conflict. The vanity, arrogance and scepticism of man assume the garb of rationalism, only to
crumble down in a moment of crisis. This is too familiar a theme to evoke and
sustain dramatic interest. And when the action. proceeds like the lines of a geometer, there is bound to be
some monotony hovering round the play. The whole play turns melodramatic in the
middle and it is rounded off by dialogue of a semi-serious tone. As a problem
play it pleads for faith, faith in something or other if only to avoid the
cankerous mood of scepticism.
‘Abhyudayam’ (Progress) is again another problem play focussing our attention on the conflict between humanism
which insists on values and the scientific craze for destructive weapons which
annihilates conscience and negates all values. This play was composed in 1940
and the Great War provided the necessary impetus. The sister of the scientist
goes to the extent of shooting down her own brother, thinking that thereby she
is preventing the new scientific invention from seeing the light of day. It is
of course debatable whether a humanist can go to that extent. But she had lost
her husband and child on the battle-field; and this may be her only
justification. From the point of view of stage-craft this is a better play than
the preceding one. It succeeds because it is throughout dynamic
and the action proceeds briskly. As the play proceeds, characterisation
too unfolds itself gradually.
It
is with great relief that we turn from these two to the third entitled ‘Pedda Mamayya’ where we breathe
the fresh air of romance, love, awe and humour.
The ‘elder uncle’ of the entire village is an indispensable institution.
Without him nothing can take place in that village. No one can think or act by
himself. All are his wards. As a guardian he looks after them. He has absolute
rights even in settling marriages and the terms of these marriages. As one
opposed to the system of dowry he proposes successfully a marriage alliance
between two families. The father of the girl pleads his inability to pay five
thousand rupees. He can go up to a couple of thousands only. But the uncle
refuses to agree even to the two thousands. And when the uncle is away, the
marriage is somehow celebrated, since he alone should not know the amount given
as dowry. But at the nick of the moment the uncle returns. And every one is
busy in detaining the uncle at the gate till the marriage is over.
He is impatient to enter. And he enters at last to bless the married couple.
The situation is humorous enough. It is portrayed in a masterly fashion, and
the sure hand of the artist is visible at every step. The situation of the
uncle evokes humour; but he is really in a tragic
situation. It was not he that was being deceived, but the protagonists. The
humorist is as usual isolated from the static institution. As an individualist
he pines for setting things right, for the time is out of joint. But the static
society cannot tolerate a dynamic humorist. Society decays and becomes a victim
of self-deception, since it refuses to see the real nature of things.
Equally
humorous is the ‘Asadharana Samavesamu’
(the extraordinary meeting). This too is a social satire breathing light humour and portraying the typical modern associations that
dream of doing great things. An enthusiastic young man brings together a few
persons and they organise an All-India Association
which is ostensibly devoted to the supreme task of improving the lot of the
people in all affairs and in all directions. He is duly elected as its first
secretary. He wants to do something and so convenes an extraordinary meeting of
the association. Slowly the members assemble. Each member is interested in his
own gossip, and every one indulges in self-praise and in abusing others. The
meeting finally stands shelved. This typical characteristic of our countrymen
finds a humorous portrayal. It is developed deliberately while the secretary
stands flabbergasted.
‘Varasatvam’ deals with the longing for a legacy.
Dissatisfaction with what one has, goads the young Venkatarao to quarrel with his wife whose unmarried uncle
has acquired a huge fortune. Venkatarao must have all
that wealth, here and now, without any effort or struggle on his part. The
uncle has no business to postpone the transfer of his property till his death.
One fine morning the uncle arrives as a bankrupt to spend the evening of his
life with this family, and he is received cordially. The easy road to fortune take a sardonic turn.
‘Pativratyam’ is another short play dealing with the
troubles of a young man brought upon modern lines. He finds his wife too
traditional and conservative. She cannot move like the modem society girl; and
his hunger for modernity drives him to flirt with another and to ill-treat his
own wife. Here is the conflict between the western and oriental civilisations; and this clash is focussed
on the problem of the relation between the sexes. This serious problem
effectively treated in the lighter vein.
In
all these, we have a fine play of humour along with
intense imaginative activity. Sastri takes pains to be true to the poetic
heritage inherent in the language of the masses. This is a rich and living
language which presents reality in a natural and comprehensive manner. We do
not have here an intellectual drama, though the dramatist is busy with the modern
social problems. The wildly superb reality comes before us putting us into a
trance. Every speech is flavoured; and every problem
yields, before the touch of the dramatist, all its tender, magnificent and
fiery spirit. The local life, as winnowed by the imaginative humour, takes us away in its swift current of freshness,
joy, serenity, and wistful longing.
Narasimha Sastri has
collected his short stories in two small volumes under the title ‘Kannavi Vinnavi’ (those seen and
heard). Again the emphasis is on realism. These sixteen stories deal with
social, communal, political and cultural problems. Some of them are short
dissertations without a plot; they are more like a series of mental ramblings.
In most of these the substance is intensely tragic, and this tragic mood
invariably takes its awakening in these stories in a mood of humour. ‘Banda Subbadu’ (Stout Subbadu). ‘Labhasati Beralu’ (Profitable Bargains), and ‘Nenu
ma Avidanu’ (I and my Wife) owe their theme to
foreign sources. The rest are original productions.
‘Nenu ma Avidanu’ is a reflective essay narrating the inexplicable
and inscrutable mystery of human life. The husband is a simpleton who believes
that he is great because people respect him and praise him to his face in the
market and elsewhere. But his wife does not find any greatness in him. On the
other hand, she takes him to be a fool and a victim of public fraud. He feels
grossly insulted; and her indifference pains him deeply. In his reflective mood
he asks whether women deserve so much freedom as he has given. The humour here lies in the conclusion and in the selection of
the incidents. While provoking humour, the husband himself feels gloomy and depressed at his
wife’s behaviour.
‘Banda Subbadu’ is a light and successful satire on all those who run after medicines to get their weight increased or decreased. A stout fellow takes to medicines and becomes as light as a feather; and to avoid flying in the air, he has a suit prepared specially for him. The suit grows under the weight of the bottles attached to it and keeps him to the ground. ‘Janma nakshatra phalam’ takes us again to a nagging wife of the unfortunate Kurmayya. Whatever he does is subject to severe criticism. When he saves a drowning child, his wife praises the unknown saviour and ridicules her husband as being unfit to do even one good act; and as she finds out the identity of the saviour, she abuses him for harbouring thoughts of dying and deserting her! In and out of context he must be the victim of abuse. He must only thank his stars for his fate. ‘Labhasati Beralu’ is replete with cynical humour. The whiskers of an arrogant and showy gentleman are purchased because of a discussion on betting and bargaining. The bargain was executed only when the gentleman was on his way to a musical concert. Even then only half the whiskers were taken out; and he was told that the other half would be taken later on. To get rid of such a customer, he had to pay double the amount he received for his whiskers. This appalling triviality has a good deal to say regarding the little vanities and ironies of human life.
‘Gazupalem Gandhi’ takes us to the awkward situations
created by the imitators of Gandhi’s technique. This pseudo-Gandhi is ready to
fast unto death if any one gives dowry in that village. The story was written
at the time of Gandhiji’s fast at
‘Ranga grama simha
Rattayya’ is the story of a young man who reluctantly
becomes an actor and thereafter dreams of making the stage an effective and
realistic institution. He cultivates the conventional stage formalism even in
ordinary life. He behaves like an actor to his wife, children and friends. This
inevitably makes people take him to be a madcap. Life becomes unbearable to his
wife. Stage formalism is too static to withstand the dynamism of life; and the
humorist who has a vision of this dynamism laughs serenely at the
stumbling-block universe of rigid formalism which refuses to change with the
times. ‘Ade Modatisari’
(That was the First Occasion) is a light humorous skit on a vainglorious young
man who claims intimacy with the film studios and who is to take the author to
one of the studios at the time of shooting a picture. ‘Anukoni
Avantaram’ (Unexpected Happening) is an account of a
film director’s plea for realism on the screen. This cost him the flight of his
hero and heroine, who feel that in an intense realistic state of love they
cannot speak anything. Their elopement compels the director to close down his
studio.
A
more mature art appears in the six stories collected in the second volume. ‘Ma Padma’ is a moving tragedy of a young married girl who was
ill-treated by the parents of her husband. The tragedy is too poignant and
bitter for words or even tears. For once Sastri reveals himself as a master
tragedian. ‘Nyayam’ is another deeply moving tragedy
of a rickshawalla who has to suffer imprisonment
because he cannot allow an Anglo-Indian or a Canadian or anyone to seduce his
wife. But the law does not recognise his marriage;
nor does it believe that a man with a white skin is capable of committing
heinous crimes. The law is for the privileged classes, not for the poor and the
downtrodden. ‘Akharu Mata’ (The Last
Word) is a moving narration of two significant crimes committed by a father. He
foists a theft on a poor beggar and thereby becomes responsible for his death.
He seduces a young maiden who has lost her way one night. The
depths of the soul where spiritual evil galls the core of the human being find
a masterly treatment which at times is reminiscent of Dostoievsky. But Sastri’s realism
does not allow him to dilate on punishment, for he does not enter
deeper still into the recesses of the human heart. The humorist can afford to
go only half way. He cannot delve deep into the inmost sanctuary;
for, there awaits reality and no man can face reality and yet live calmly.
‘Agni Pariksha’ is a bitter short
story on the massacres enacted in the streets of
‘Nirhetuka Vairam’ is the last in
this collection. This story is woven round the Brahman-baiting prevalent in the
country. The Brahman is hounded out of society, only because he is a Brahman.
He is even to be killed. He should have no place to live in. His customs and
manners cannot be tolerated. And so he must leave his hearth and lands in the
village, and migrate to some other place as the Jews have done recently. All
this is done by the leading polticians of the
villages. The ghastly murder of a social worker coming from the Brahman
community is movingly told in this short story. It is a murder that is
motivated by a motiveless malignity. Yet the murderers are counted among the
rulers and progressive intellectuals and statesmen.
This
brief survey of the major work of Narasimha Sastri
clearly shows the new atmosphere he brought into modem Telugu Literature. He
has made literature an objective statement of certain universal experiences.
This objectivity was achieved through a spirit of humour
which has been foreign hither to the literature of the country. Self-control,
personal identity, rationality, sympathetic insight and awareness of the tragic
depths of human life are the essential ingredients of this humour.
Through this humour he has been able to emphasise the value and dignity of the individual, and the
essentially human values. His humour avoids the
incongruous and the improper which have no place in the aesthetic world. It
sets things in their true perspective. It sets up thinking. In this humour we dissociate the individual from his supposed
static context and observe the naked fact as such. This
fact or reality, when it is made objective, makes us realise
what man in reality is. Thus is initiated a self-examination which developes into a self-ridicule when it is pushed to its
logical conclusion. Then humility takes the place of fear and respect. In daily
life we can perceive anything only in relation to something else,
so much so a non-relational or supra-relational entity or event appears
ridiculous. And truth is always stranger than fiction. Truth
when it is charged with humour appears palatable to
human beings. This is Sastri’s major achievement.
Moreover,
Sastri’s work tells us that all intellectualist
theories of humour are faulty. The perfectly happy
man does not laugh; he has no need to laugh. He can at best
smile. It is laughter that takes us to the human level where sorrows and joys are
intertwined; and if humour is valuable to us, it is
because of its realism its poignancy, and its rich and intense criticism of
life conveyed through sympathy. Sastri takes us through this humour even when he is offering penetrating studies of the
tragic in life. Starting from the national institution called Parvatisam, Sastri has been developing the various phases
of humour, always keeping his eye fixed on the
individual and on the values. His characters evoke sympathy in us and draw us
closer to humanity. Their follies and frailties are intertwined with simplicity
and a common humanity. They enable us to give up, at least for the time being,
our dogmas and prejudices for the sake of the higher light of truth and wisdom.
While dance is the spirit of beauty, humour is the
spirit of truth. And truth and beauty make life real and therefore significant,
by making it spiritual.