DR
C. NARASIMHA SASTRI (AMARENDRA)
K. C. College, Guntur
Some
years ago I was asked to speak about Modern Telugu Literature to a group of
writers from Kerala and I referred to Dr Viswanatha Satyanarayana as a Titan, a
colossus who bestrides our literary world.
By
his amazing versatility, virility and creative opulence Kavisamraat Viswanatha dominated the Telugu literary scene for
several decades during this century. When many of his compeers became spent forces
and rested upon their oars, Viswanatha remained active and alert to the fag end
of his long and memorable career. He chose an apt and happy symbol to suggest
his creative vitality. In the prologue to his Ramayana Kalpavriksham he characterised his poetic spirit as a
wheel of fire that is ever revolving. That wheel fire scattered sparks of
dazzling light in every literary form. It may be said of him with ample
justification that he touched nothing that he did not adorn. Though he achieved
eminence as a poet and a novelist, he left his stamp upon all forms of literary
expression including criticism which he made creative by his intuitive insights
and impressionistic evaluation.
Like
many men of genius, poet Viswanatha has provoked controversy. Ardently acclaimed
by some and vehemently denounced by some, he compels the attention of all
because of the frank and free expression of his views which may not appeal to
some. Though some of his opinions smacked of chauvinism and obscurantism, he
never minced matters. From the platform and on the printed page he declared his
ideas and with a rare courage and strength of conviction. To gain popularity he
never trimmed his sails according to the wind. He often espoused unpopular
opinions without an inch. Though he was a vehement critic of democracy was full of the milk of human kindness.
It was full to the brim with boundless sympathy for the sufferings of the
common man. He was in more than one sense a hero in the realm of letters. He
stands as a shining embodiment of Carlyle’s idea of the hero as poet.
The
most widely accepted phase of Viswanatha was the earliest, when he was a
lyrical poet of great force and fervour. Then poetry gushed out of his heart as
a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” His Andhra Prasasti roused patriotic zeal in the hearts of readers. It
was an impassioned recital of the vanished glories of Andhra history and
culture. Standing as a column of triumph on the soil of Vengi, poet
Viswanatha recalled the manysided achievements of the race in a tone of high
rapture. He kindled in the hearts an intense desire to recapture the splendours
of the bygone days.
His
lyrical genius accomplished an amazing feat in Kinnerasani Paatalu. The sequence of songs unfolds the moving tale
of a maiden who is harassed at home and transformed into a stream. Her loving
and helpless husband is transformed into a rock that is washed by the ripples
of the stream. The lustful sea-god amorously longs for a union with the stream
that is rescued by her mother Godavari. The stream Kinnera fulfils her destiny
by serving the pilgrims that go to the temple of Rama in Bhadradi. Such simple
theme was handled with rare mastery and fashioned into a masterpiece of
literary art. The melodious supple rhythm match the subtle shades of feeling
and the songs bear testimony to the poet’s mastery of verbal felicity and
lyrical intensity. For sheer originality of conception and dexterity of
execution Kinnerasaani has achieved
universal acclaim. There was no literary
function where the poet was not pressed with requests to recite a lyric
from his “Kinnerasaani.” Its popularity is perennial as its appeal is
immediate. It went straight to the heart because of its simplicity and musical
charm.
During
the heydays of the romantic movement in Telugu love became the predominant
theme. The anguished outpourings of unrequited love and the endless vigil of
expectation inspired several impassioned poems. Shorn of its sensual element
love was treated in an exalted emotion which exerted an uplifting and
chastening influence upon the soul of man. Viswanatha contributed his Girikumaaruni Prema Geetaalu as a
distinct offering at the altar of love which establishes a kinship between the
worm beneath the sod and the celestial God. In the manner of Shelley he
addresses the monsoon cloud and remarks, “You are the poet the sky and I am the
poet of the earth; Let us chant the agonies of our hearts!” In these lyrics we find the alchemy that transmutes drops of tears into drops of
nectar. Romantic poetry expresses the intensity
of desire for something unattainable and far beyond the reach of man while
classical poetry gives utterance to a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment. The
hopeless desire of the moth for the burning flame symbolises its irresistible
and consuming quality. We catch glimpses of this hopeless longing and consuming
anguish in the love-lyrics of Viswanatha. Romantic imagination displays itself
in detecting affinities between the apparently dissimilar phenomena in Nature.
Such hitherto unperceived affinities flash upon the intuitive sensibility of
the poet with the shock of a significant discovery. Viswanatha’s lovely lyric
on the clouds offers a thrill of joy by the establishment of a strange kinship
between fleeting clouds and tender feminine feelings. The dark bashful glances
of a bride, the shy looks of a pregnant wife, and the confused glances of a
mother with her first child in her arms are beautifully identified with the
tints and shapes of three different types of clouds floating in the blue. This
lyric is tender and fragrant as a jasmine and can be set by the side of the
best lyrics of the world without any fear of diminution of its charm.
Back to Nature was the watchword of romanticism in
all parts of the world. Far from the dust and heat of urban life, far from the
madding crowd’s ignoble strife, the poet found a paradise of joy, beauty and
contentment. The beauties of Nature were observed with a keen sense of wonder
and portrayed in a refreshing manner. The poets looked at Nature not through
the coloured glasses of convention. The romantic poet glanced at the beauties
of the earth and the sky as though he were the first-born child of the universe
and none had lived before him. In his celebrated Nature-poems “Telugu
Rituvulu”, Viswanatha displayed keen observation, original approach and
picturesque portrayal of the beauties of rural Andhra during the different
seasons of the year. Unmistakable stamp of genius is imprinted on every verse
which glows with delightful freshness and delicate charm. Only a poet of
Viswanatha’s calibre could have steered clear of Kalidasa’s “Ritusamhaara”
composed an off-beat poem of unexcelled glory. His “Telugu Rituvulu” presents
colourful pictures of villages in the coastal region, before the process of
industrialisation and urbanisation deprived them of their serene beauty. He
draws attention to the beauty of several objects which we
overlook because they are too familiar. Viswanatha “plucks from the dusty
wayside of life” the delights that are scattered allover. He is one of those
gifted poets who look with a child’s undoubted wisdom “upon the living pages of
god’s book” which contains the open secret.
With
a feeling of nostalgia we read his poems and recall the scenes of those
vanished delights of our countryside. Poet Viswanatha looks at Nature as a
teacher and draws edifying and ennobling sentiments from her treasure-house.
Without deliberate didacticism, he suggests ideas which render life a
pilgrimage and an adventure. Viswanatha in his lyrical phase remains a poet
pure and simple. His muse does not languish under the weary weight of erudition
which encumbers his later poems. His poetic vision is not coloured and clouded
by theories of life which do not find wide acceptance. Even his worst detractor
cannot remain blind to the charm and beauty of Viswantha’s lyrical poems which
have become great things of beauty and offer joy forever.