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Articles /Interviews
Dialectics of Man’s Evolution :
Viswambhara – A Modern Epic
by Dr T.S. Chandra Mouli
 Dr.
C. Narayana Reddy declares in the foreword to his volume in Telugu that he
intended to write an epic in verse libre. Man is the protagonist of this
epic titled “Viswambahara,” with vast universe as the canvass for the
drama. It delineates the story of Man, irrespective of dates and names.
Nature provides splendid back drop. In this elegant drama man dons different
roles detailing prowess of mind.
Alexander, Jesus, Ashoka, Socrates, The Buddha, Lincoln , Lenin, Marx,
Gandhi – myriad forms of Man. Lust, anger, greed, pride, introspection,
ability to maneuver nature –so many variant shades in Man’s personality.
This volume seeks to chronicle the progress of Man from the beginning till
date. Man’s endeavour has three dimensions – cultural, scientific and
spiritual. In the process so many set backs. Though wounded, Man is not
vanquished. These are the lines along which the poet wanted to pen the long
poem.
Narayana Reddy firmly believes that this epic will provide immense
satisfaction to all those who are able to understand and appreciate the
spectacular saga of Man and his boundless expanse of aspirations.
Shiv. K. Kumar, a poet, novelist, passionate teacher and critic of eminence
commends this epic splendidly in his foreword to the volume in English
elegantly rendered by Amarendra. Kumar, capable of understanding the major
concerns of Narayana Reddy, is willing to make allowance for appreciating
the original poet’s sensibility. One has to agree with him, that
Viswambhara is capable of enlisting enthusiastic, comparison with
Milton’s Paradise Lost and Dante’s La Divine Commedia. This epic excellently
records remarkable ambience where Man’s limited self and the unbounded
divine spirit coalesce.
Narayana Reddy, the poet, propelled by poetic excellence seeks to project
the munificence of the creator in endeavoring to present his effulgent self,
through his major creation, Man. “God created Man in his own image”-- amply
admired and affirmed in this volume.
Narayana Reddy, the quintessential writer, takes absolute delight in
depicting man’s resurgence irrespective of his limitations He always
maintained with humility that his poetry is known for alliteration, end
rhyming and an underlying current of resplendent rhythm and wonders whether
it is possible to transfer all these aspects into the target language.
Every translator tries to stick to the norms of his school of translation,
while constantly straining to evolve a path and pattern of his own. Which
ever translator ignores these aspects finds his own waterloo sooner or
later!
A non-Telugu reader has to realize and relish the fact that Narayana Reddy
and Amarendra, his translator, are both poets of eminence in Telugu, known
for their flair for alliteration! Amarendra, peerless teacher of English
literature and language, always delighted in drawing broad parallels between
the best poetry of the west and the east. Thus, he may be mentioned as the
earliest among the pioneers of comparative literature and cultural studies!
Perhaps, he himself might not have realized the significance of his
endeavors during his life time. He must have undertaken translation of
‘Viswambhara’ , purely an account of his personal liking for Narayana Reddy,
the poet and the ever extending frontiers of themes and schemes of his
poems.
Its is indeed a daunting task to convey through a short essay the
tantalizing theme and alluring scheme chosen by the poet for his epic. Yet,
a modest attempt is made to reflect upon this award winning volume.
‘Viswambhara’ has universe as its canvas and is universally appreciated. It
has unveiled the cosmic view of the poet and his eminence has been aptly
enhanced through numerous commendable awards. Dr Narayana Reddy received
Jnaan Pith Award in 1988 for ‘Viswambhara.’
Singi Reddy Narayana Reddy chose ‘C’ which is in consonance with Telugu ‘Si’
and not ‘S’’ for his surname. This in itself amplifies the way in which the
poet’s imagination and intent function. His creativity is stupendous,
enormous and expansive. He has so far penned nearly 75 books, consistently
bringing out a volume of poems on his birth day every year! Not many poets
can equal or excel him.
The title of the epic Viswambhara is a synonym for the Earth. There
are many attractive synonyms for The Earth. Among them the most bewitching
term is Vasundhara. The term implies that the earth proudly
encompasses the areas where medicinal herbs, plants; glittering minerals
like gold and silver; essential elements like sulphur and copper are
abundantly available.
This earth—the origin and mother of Man in all his immaculate intentions to
acquit himself most pompously and pertinently-- has always maintained a very
low profile as far as similarly placed situations in the solar system are
concerned. As every discerning intellectual acknowledges, there are
innumerable planets pleasantly participating in the cosmic dance in this
galaxy. Among them, the earth alone realizes and resplendently reflects the
essential truth that Man, her child, has successfully spanned worlds
admirably and emerged triumphant. Having acknowledged his birth and the
underlying relationship, she has gracefully borne the burden of the labor.
Hence, she is called Viswambhara, the universal mother who could bear
any kind of remark for Man’s acts of commission and omission.
Viswambhara, true to its meaning potential, has delineated and
depicted the delightful journey of Man from the beginning till this day.
“Man is
the apex of the rhythmic throb of nature
Man is the image of revolving universe”
[p.20]
Then the poet
goes on to elucidate the mighty realms ruled by the mind of Man, since he
himself encompasses the universe.
“Within
him a rapture
Which the moon beam did capture in its thrill.
Within him an agony
Stood in front the monsoon cloud.
within him a fury
The wild lion leaped forth.
With him a harmony
In front arose a gyrating symphony.”
[p 21]
Then we find the
poet talking of subsequent events. He takes delight in depicting identity
between Man and Nature.
“Nature’s
voice shaped a poem.
The poem became mind’s embodiment
on the screen of the mind the bird of poesy
waves its wings like a mighty swan
unfolding the sheaths of time
sounding the fathomless depths of the world.”
[p 22]
Further, dwelling
on the creativity of Man the poet states:
“The
spirit of poesy was in anguish,
The tree shed its green foliage.
the sky dropped its starry tears;
the dark phase engulfed the sky
the earth was enveloped in smoky wreaths.
the spirit of poesy looked with blood-shot eyes;
sticks flashed like shining blades;
lumps of clay transmuted into orbs of fire;
bleating lambs roared like tigers
cages of bones felt the animation of tempest blasts.”
[p .23]
Narayana Reddy
then declares :
“The
spirit of poesy lifted up its chant--
the tapering swords became plowshares
spears became vibrant pens
deserts smiled as green stanzas
the flying eagles of steel became cooing doves of silver.”
[p-23]
Narayana Reddy’s
poetry, chiefly characterized by Sabdaalankara , at once captivates
and conquers readers of all dispositions. What is to be realized
realistically and understood analytically is his supreme command over the
language and craft. His peerless ‘poetic competence’ and unsurpassable
‘structuration competence’ make him an outstanding poet who is striding the
poetic arena like a colossus. The poet dramatically and imaginatively
projects the inalienable bond between ‘vak’ [word] and artha
[meaning]. In his poetry one can delve into fathomless depths of the ocean
and soar to the dizzy heights to experience exquisite of joy of imagination.
“Aakula
miida
reekula miida
gooLLa miida
gooDala miida
kattula orala miida
kaagitam porala miida
cheekaTi karrala miida
tambura burrala miida
rekkaletti egisindi
Dekkaletti nadichindi
padagaletti nartinchindi
goduguletti wartinchindi.”
[Viswambhara (Telugu)—p-31]
The above lines
are admirably translated into English by Amarendra.
“On
leaves, on plates
on walls and on finger-nails
on the scabbards and on rolls of paper
on walking sticks and on the chambers of tanpuras
it flapped its pinions
it pranced with its hoofs;
it danced with out- spread hoods
it spread its tinted parasol.”
[p-31]
The poet then
goes on to describe how man diversified into another aspect of
creativity-sculpture. Narayana Reddy, the poet who provided lilting lyrics
to numerous Telugu movies, is very well remembered with reverence by Telugu
people for the immortal song he penned for the ever green art piece “Amara
Shilpi Jakkana” when he stated:
“In these
dark boulders
whose eyes took refuge
in these heartless stones
whose tender spirits pranced…”
[Translated by T.S. Chandra Mouli]
Amarendra, the
translator, doesn’t lag behind. He exhibits his enormous reserves of
creative energy in the following lines:
“The rock
echoed with musical melodies unheard
The rock blushed like a veiled bride with bashful cheeks.
The rock shed bitter tears of sighing anguish
The rock ignited myriad flames of swords of frenzy.
Why does the rock feel one with the
Man that delves it?
Why does the rock feel kinship with the craving chisel
gnawing all over?
Is it because the rosy lips came to dwell
In those rocks where tigers roared?
Is it because the silken skeins of moonlight looms where
venomous vipers hissed?
The rock felt thrill upon thrill
Assuming visionary shapes
With nectarine grace
Holding up a mirror for the spirits’ face”
[p-25]
The third canto
dwells at length on the divergent faculties of mind and its dazzling
dimension during the further progress of man and his cultural and spiritual
evolution.
“The mind
is the foot of the tree
It sucks the sap from layers unseen
Boisterously it laughs,
The tender buds unfold as leaves.
It sometimes wails and weeps in aguish
The leaves fall off like drops of dew”
[p-28]
While giving
different definitions to the mind of man ,the poet ecstatically enumerates
its effectiveness:
“The mind
is a mighty ocean
its craves to trespass the bounds it had set.
Its seeks to gulp in a drought the sister earth,
Its rushes whistling leap on leap
And it retreats whining;
It enfolds within the sky entire
It longs to spread out all over the blue”
[p-29]
The poet, a keen
observer of the ongoing drama sarcastically remarks:
“Himagirula
pai egasee manasee
iruku loyallo chorabadutundhi
arunodayanalunu prathistinechee manasee
piriki chikatloo digabdutundhi”
[Viswambhara (Telugu)-p-38]
The version in
English runs thus :
“The mind
hovers over Himalayan summits
disdains not to enter dark crooked lanes
the mind ushers glorious dawns
gets entangled in gloom’s quagmire.”
[p-29]
While the poet
glorifies the grandeur of mind and its efficiency, he is conscious of the
limitations as well.
“Desire is
the root of mind
Restive its nature
When desire multiplies it becomes lust”
[p-35]
Then the question
unfolds amazingly:
“Is sorrow
life’s essence?
Is there none emancipated from desire?
Is there no light devoid of a shadow!”
[p-34]
Stupefied by the
demonic forces performing delirious dance of destruction and death, the poet
raises a query in anguish:
“Shall the
universe be reduced to ashes to gain a victor’s glory?
shall the lust for empires be slaked only with human blood?
can the hand that hacks a thousand gardens
make a single blossom bloom?
the mouth that utters the hideous shouts of death
can it fondle a single babe?”
[p-36]
Man’s inhumanity
and greed for power fuel expansionist endeavors not only in India but all
over the world. 20th century which has witnessed some of the bloodiest
battles for power and global domination, has also been gifted with the
precious preaching and noble acts of the mahatma, who has inspired Martin
Luther King in America and Nelson Mandela in Africa.
Dr. Narayana
Reddy, peerless exponent of Maatra-Chandas, quips:
“VinaashanaM
jarigite kaadu
VievekaM perigithe gelupu
SamaraM ragilinchedi bheethi
SahanaM Warshincheedi preethi
AnuraagaM chese saasanamee
Asalaina raajaneethi”
[Viswambhara (Telugu)—p-54]
Amarendra, the
translator, renders the passage thus:
“Not in
destruction but in expanding illumination
true victory is scored
War kindles fear, compassion showers love
The sway of love is mightier than slaughter
That is the essence of rule”
[p-39]
Here, the poet
maybe unconsciously echoing Jayantha Mahaptra’s sense of loss and
humiliation resulting from the Kalinga war imposed on Orissa and her people
by Ashoka, the emperor, who subsequently realized the futility of bloody
wars and embraced Buddhism spreading the message of love and the
significance of non-violence.
A buoyant
optimist, the poet – for that matter any creative person – categorically
confirms :
“The dawn
rests not idle
without radiating the rays
spring-tide rests not idle
without wafting fragrance
flowing water rests not idle
without flooding the plains below,
revolting mind rests not idle
without darting questions far.”
[p-39]
The poet guides
the questing spirit thus:
“The mind
shuns evil only when it knows of good and ill
only when it knows of mire the foot walks steadfast,
only in the mind that is leveled, enquiry gets sharpened.
In the dust we can never behold the dawn.”
[p-41]
Then, Narayana
Reddy presents the exciting expansive history of Man, where forces of
darkness made a vain attempt to blur the brilliance of beaming spirits.
Poignant reference to crucifixion of Jesus lends a new dimension to the
discourse. Veiled references to dark hours in democratic free India in the
not so remote past testify to the ever awakened social consciousness of
Narayana Reddy.
The fourth canto
throws up the question—
“How many
stages in Man’s journey great?
How many changing phases in Man’s course?”
[p-45]
Now, the poet at
once draws our attention to the similarity between a Man and a tree-an apt
comparison- urge to survive , extend and perpetuate are the most common
features.
Yet, death and decay threaten life on this earth—Viswambhara. One
notices the poet dwelling at length on spiritual and philosophical aspects
of Man’s life :
“The
mortal frame is a top
set swirling by the animating breath
when does it come to a halt
who can tell us?
Man who cannot keep the body going
why does he proclaim that he is one with the divine?
Man who has no glimpse of what lies behind the veil
why does he propound the doctrine supreme?”
[p-48]
He further
probes:
“Are these
cloaks to conceal ignorance?
Are these the antics to cover up helplessness?
Can the woven cobwebs ever be solid mansions?
Can the tantalizing mirage with its flashing ripples
ever be an ocean concrete ?”
[p-48]
Narayana Reddy,
the poet, asserts:
“He knows
that his pet tricolor parrot
might at any moment be snatched away
by the six eagles that gnash their bills night and day;
He knows
that the five-petalled flower which enchants him
Might be blasted any moment by the hungry tempest of time.”
[p-51]
We also notice
how situations shape ordinary men into heroes: ‘
“Ee rampaM
koota leekunTe
eelaa puduthundi weNuwu?
Ee uli debbaa padakunTe
eelaa palukuthundi staaNuwu?”
[Viswambhara (Telugu)–– P-83]
Amarendra, the
translator renders the lines as under:
“Without
the gnawing saw
the reed cannot be fashioned as a flute,
without the stroke of chisel
the stone cannot be carved as an articulating idol.”
[p-57]
This perpetual
pressure prompts Man to exciting, extending activity, so that he himself
paves the path for redemption, resurgence and provides much needed twist and
turn to the halted march to progress.
The fifth canto launches the reader into the blazing, buoyant realms of the
poets’ superbly sculpted secure zones. The basic concern of any humanist is
the well-being of the common man. A poet with a soft and socialistic out
look always emphasizes the essential equality of human beings, irrespective
of their back grounds:
“Diverse
are the colors of cows
but is not their milk white?
Whatever be the color of skin
all blood is ruddy.
Coming out of the cave
you have entered the shrine. “
[p-60]
Narayana Reddy is
endowed with remarkable gift of connecting the past and the present in
portraying what is desirable and dignified.
“The hand
that worked the wheel
the hand that framed the law
the brain that fashioned the poems
the mind that nurtured science
shared the same reward
shared the same regard”
[p-63]
The poet has not
forgotten the way his motherland, India, secured freedom from foreign yoke
and the man who magnificently, yet silently, led the masses.
“In the
throat of salt
a fiery spirit arose
in the hum of the spindle
echoed the trumpet of war.
In a million hearts shone one luminous form,
in all corners of the land waved one banner.”
[p-64]
This modern epic
suffers not in time warp. It celebrates most exultantly the dawn of
independence:
“It is a
peerless dawn
Sunrise at mid-night
The eager dawn flaunted
the tricolor banner;
every stream and ford chanted
the paean of liberation.”
[p-65]
Highly conscious
of the constraint of times that thwart man’s progress, throwing his
delicately, diligently drawn designs in disarray, Narayana Reddy affirms:
“When
darkness sets its snare
to eclipse that vision
to obliterate that light,
when the mind’s brilliance gets tilted
thought as a weapon
conscience as a prop--
Man forges ahead
overcoming the environing hurdles.”
[p-68]
Reminding the
discerning reader of what John Milton opined of the powers of the mind in ‘Paradise
Lost ’, Narayana Reddy confidently declares:
Between
the sage and the brute
between refinement and defilement
between impulsion and compulsion
between compassion and carnage
the mind holds the balance delicate
the mind saws the sad primordial.”
[p-69]
This superb
scholarly work signs off on a note of robust optimism, reminding one of
Robert Browning and his ‘Pippa’s Song.’
“Man is
the robe of the mind
and the universe is the mantle of Man.
This is the earth’s perennial nature,--
this is life’s eternal feature.”
[p-69]
From the details
mentioned above, one can conclusively confirm that Viswambhara is a
modern epic—Man is the protagonist. Cosmos is the canvas. Time eternal, time
continuum plays a vital role in the drama narrated. Various vistas of life
are graphically portrayed with the minutest of details. The language chosen
is befitting the theme and scheme of this admirable work. Numerous
characters lend luster to the brilliant drama. The theme is of abiding
interest with lilting lyrical lines, sensuous images, amazing awareness
amplifying several significant phases and moments in human evolution,
rendering this brilliant piece of art qualify for the the sub-title—a modern
epic. The poet’s competent handling of the subject and comprehensive
delineation, incorporating all momentary moments, extend a sharp edge in
making this work a peerless classic.
Bibliography
1) Amrit Mehta & Lakshmi Haribandi (ed):
Translating Alien Cultures
Book links. Hyderabad,2000
2) Basnett, Susan & Trivedi, Harish (ed): Post-Colonial Translation
Routledge . London, 2000
3) Harish Narang : “Missi Vs Lipstick: Problems of Translating Indian
literature into
English, from Creative Aspects of English [PP 99-105]
Sahitya Akademi. New Delhi,1995
4) Mukherjee, S. (ed): Translation As Discovery, Allied publishers Pvt ltd.
Delhi,1981
5) Narayana Reddy, C.Dr : Viswambhara [English rendering by Sterling Pvt
Ltd, New Delhi,1986 Dr. Amarendra]
6) Raghavan, G.N.S. (ed): Readings from India Indian Council for Cultural
relations,
New Delhi,1980
7) Talgeri, Pramod & Verma, S.D (ed): “Literature in Translation” from
Cultural Transference to Metonymic Displacement, Popular Prakashan Pvt Ltd,
Bombay,1988
8) Tirumalesh, K.V. : “Translation as Literature Three” International
Journal of Translation
[PP 1-15] New Delhi, July,1989.
9) Sai Chandra Mouli, T : “Dynamics of Translation” from Translating Alien
Cultures [PP 62-76] Book Links. Hyderabad, 2000.
10) Sri Aurobindo : The Future Poetry, The Aurobindo Ashram, .
Pondicherry,1994
April 18, 2008
Parts of this paper appeared in
ASLE-India News Letter,2007.
Image under license with
Gettyimages.com
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