THE KRISHNA
By Y. Ramakrishna Prasad
THE
extent to which each great river has influenced the vagaries of history may
perhaps be better left to the historian. But the millions residing on the banks
of a particular river are bound to be somewhat parochial and zealously defend
its superior merits against a neighbour’s claims in favour of another river.
Being born and bred up on the banks of the Krishna, I could never accept my
river being second in importance to any other river. By tradition and
sentiment, we identify our existence with the river on whose banks we live. If
the Godavari is supposed to flow in unison with the melody of the raga
Sankarabharana, the Krishna enchants me as the magic flute of Lord Krishna, to
the music of which all living things danced in rhythm and in joy.
The
picturesque Western Ghats around Mahabaleshwar in the Bombay Province, about 40
miles from the Arabian Sea, form the lap from which a murmuring stream breaks
into a mighty river, extending over 800 miles to the Bay of Bengal. The start
is unassuming as is the case with all big rivers. But soon the river gathers
strength when she is joined by Koyna and Varna, two tributaries from the
Western Ghats. Later, another small river Panchaganga by name, merges in waters
with those of the young Krishna.
After
meandering for full three hundred miles in the Bombay Presidency, the river
enters the Hyderabad State where her waters flow over a rocky bed. Later when
Bhima from the Ahmednagar area and Tungabhadra from Mysore join the river, it
is said that ‘in time of flood a mighty volume of water rushes with a great
roar over a succession of broken ledges of granite dashing up a lofty column of
spray.’ It is after the confluence with Tungabhadra that the river strikes the
Madras Presidency again and forms for a considerable distance the boundary
between the eastern portion of Hyderabad and the Kurnool and Guntur districts
of Madras.
The
total length of the river within and along the state of Hyderabad is about 400
miles. The course of the river through the Nallamalai forests is described as
one of the most picturesque in the world, being a perpetual source of delight
and wonder to the tourists. In these forests live the ‘Koyas’ an aboriginal
tribe with their quaint ways still unvarnished by the impact of the modern
world. They are said to be a very artistic race–great lovers of beauty: and
their folk-songs and folk dances are quite unique.
The
river then flows through Palnad, a place of heroic traditions. It is said that
mere drinking of the Krishna water in Palnad converts cowards into warriors. It
was here that a warrior lady, single-handed, held undisputed sway over a
thousands of her countrymen. Nagamma was at once a clever and a brave leader.
Her diplomacy was unrivalled. Telugu folk-lore is replete with her
Machiavellian deeds, which are off-set by the heroism of the boy-warrior,
Balachandra and his noble father. Palnad also produced the famous Andhra poet
Srinadha, who is reputed to have lived in true epicurean style at the court of
Vema Reddi. The river Krishna, however, was not kind to the poet laureate who
seems to have launched a big scheme of cultivation near a village Boddupalli on
the banks of the river Krishna. The entire crop was inundated by unexpected
floods and Srinadha was reduced to very dire straits, unable even to pay the
kist. In utter despair the great poet wails:
Alas!
I am utterly deceived by my bad venture at Boddupalli. Krishnaveni has taken
unto herself all the fruits of my labour–from where shall I secure the seven
hundred gold pieces to pay the king’s due with?
At one spot in Palnad, near Ganikonda, river Krishna altering the hitherto easternly or southernly course, flows northwards for a mile or so–Uttaravahini as they say, Ganikonda is only eighty miles distant from the sea, but strangely enough, owing to a rocky barrier here, the river needs must take the opposite direction and pursue a tortuous course of full two hundred miles before she reaches the sea.
Amaravati
which stands on the southern bank of the river, about twennty miles to the west
of Guntur was at one time the seat of a great Buddhist University. A little to
the north of it was Dharanikota, the capital of the Buddhist dynasty of the
Andhras.
Amaravati
and its environs are of great historic antiquity and although much valuable
material has been destroyed, there is enough to show that here at some distant
past there flourished a wonderful seat of learning and an abode of exquisite
sculpture, depicting not only scenes in the life of the Buddha but also various
aspects of everyday life of nearly two thousand years ago. Amaravati has been
identified as the Chinese traveller Hsuan Tsang’s Tonakieesakia and the Rahmi
of Arab geographers. It would be of interest to note that the Krishna River
Basin was at one time the centre of intense diamond mining. Marco Polo, the
Venetian traveller of the 13th Century and Nicolo Conti, a traveller of the
15th Century speak of these mines, but the Earliest authentic account of the
diamond mines here is by Jean Bapitiste Tavernier who made six journeys to
India between 1635 and 1689 to purchase precious stones. According to Tavernier
there were as many as sixty-thousand persons working in the mines situated on
the banks of the river Krishna. Tavernier also speaks of a huge gem of 900
carats weight which was picked up at a place called Kollur and presented to the
Moghul Emperor Aurangazeb by the Ruler of Golconda. It is believed that the
Kollur Gem is the same as the world famous Kobinoor which now adorns the crown
of the King of England–the term Kohinoor being a Urdu version of the Telugu
Kollur.
Among
the French crown jewels is the Regent Diamond which is another precious stone
traced to have been collected from Peritala, also on the bank
of the river Krishna and conveyed to Europe by Mr. Pitt the then Governor of
Madras.
River
Krishna flows a long way of nearly 700 miles but does not obtain enough depth
to be harnessed for irrigation, until she reaches Vijayawada, where modern
engineering skill coupled with nature has created the Anicut, commanding almost
all the alluvial delta comprising nearly one lakh of square miles from
Vijayawada to the sea–a great utilitarian project.
Vijayawada,
the nerve-centre of the delta irrigation is also the most important town in the
Andhradesa. Tradition has it, that Raja Raja Narendra gave
the town its present name to commemorate his numerous victories. On the peak of
the hillock, Indra Kiladri where Arjuna of the Pandavas was supposed to have
performed penance, now stands the famous temple of Kanakadurga.
Vijayawada
is fast developing into a big city. Being an important railway junction it is a
commercial centre of considerable possibilities. It may be said that the
cultural importance of Vijayawada has been enhanced by the recent inauguration
of a Broadcasting Centre there. Various industries have been started in the
greater Vijayawada area and it is to be expected that with more abundant supply
of electrical energy, as contemplated, these will grow rapidly and aid in the
development of Andhradesa on modern lines.
Leaving
the anicut the Krishna resumes though with subdued force, for a distance of
fifty miles. At this point the river branches into two sections and joins the
Bay of Bengal. The landed surface in between the two is called the Divi–meaning
the island.
The
lower Krishna region is again rich in cultural traditions. Srikakulam is now no
more than a small village, located on the banks of the Krishna at a distance of
nearly 50 miles from Vijayawada. But it was the capital of the early Andhra
kings. The Vijayanagar kings held it in great esteem. Krishnadevaraya conceived
his famous work Amukthamalyada during one of his sojourns at this place.
The
Buddhistic impact on our history is clear not only from the sculptures at
Amaravati, but also from the inscription in several places and remains of
various structures. Ghantasala now a large inland village was a commercial
centre in the centuries, between the first to the 13th. Ptolemy, the Greek
traveller, mentions of the trade that was carried on between Rome and
Kantakalsala,–which has been identified with the present Ghantasala. It was a
port of no mean importance, from where country craft sailed in all directions.
It is interesting to note however that river Krishna has since receded quite
some miles from Ghantasala.
River
Krishna had given the famous tunes to Kshetrayya’s thoughts of beautiful
romance connected with Sri Krishna. The padams of Kshetrayya were
originally sung in honour of Movva Gopala, a deity enshrined in a temple on the
banks of the Krishna. These represent some of the best compositions of lyrical
poetry in Telugu.
Not
far away from Movva lies Kuchipudi, a place noted for Bharatanatya. Here the
art of dancing was developed in the real Gurukula style as the hereditary vocation
of a few families whose descendants are continuing the old traditions with
determined effort.
An
account of the river Krishna cannot be complete without a mention of
Masulipatam or Machilipatnamu, the second town in the District. It is at the
tail-end of the chief navigational canal fed by the Krishna. Masula was at one
time a great seaport. A Dutch despatch of about 1,600 states “Masula is a city
seated near a large river, where the English and the Dutch have their
factories. It is a great concourse of merchants from Camboja, Surate and other
places under the jurisdiction of the Great Mogul.” This early commercial
importance of the town gradually faded away, but with the beginning of the
present century Machilipatnam acquired a new importance inasmuch as it became
the virtual seat of the renaissance movement in Andhra. It was from
Machilipatnam that the present Andhra movement originated during the years 1908
to 1912 and great pioneer work in the shape of national education and intense
political awakening was directed from this place. Kopalle Hanumantha Rao, the
founder of the Jateeya Kalasala and Mutnuri Krishna Rao of Krishna Patrika–one
of the greatest journalists the Andhra country has produced, had each a
coterie of young and enthusiastic idealists who later played their part in the
wider national awakening that has resulted in the achievement of our Swaraj. It
was in the Jateeya Kalasala also that the Andhra School of Art was developed
under the guidance of the talented master Promode kumar Chatterjee whose
students have since acquired well-merited fame in India and abroad. Citizens of
Masulipatam may perhaps, quite justifiably be proud of the fact that Dr. B.
Pattabhi Seetaramiah himself hails from their town.
The
Andhras, particularly those on the banks of the Krishna, are an emotional race
and love to live in the past. Their enthusiasm and fervour for their past glory
has even led their well-wishers to regard them as impracticable idealists. But
their love of their culture is ardent and sincere. One of the leaders of the
renaissance movement in Telugu literature, in an excusable flight of poetic
fancy visualizes a glorious future when once again great ships from many a
foreign port shall ride majestically on the proud waters of the Krishna.
“Krishna
Taranga Panktin Trokki
Trullinta
Nandhranowkalu Natyamadunadu”–
says the poet; and we
shall leave him there with his beautiful dream of a river that is a perpetual
link between the successive cultures of the Past, the Present and the Future.*
* By courtesy of
All-India Radio, Madras.