VISWANATHA A Literary Legend Edited and Compiled by Dr. Kondal Rao Velchala Sister Nivedita Foundations VISWANATHA SAHITYA PEETAM 11-4-654/3, Red Hills, Lakadi-ka-pul, Hyderabad - 500 004. Ph: 040-23396358 VISWANATHA A Literary Legend (A Birds Eye View of Viswanatha Satyanarayana and His works) Edited and Compiled by Dr. Kondal Rao Velchala Published : June, 2012 Price: 400/- Bound Copy: 500/- $ 20 Published by Sister Nivedita Foundations VISWANATHA SAHITYA PEETAM 11-4-654/3, Red Hills, Lakadi-ka-pul, Hyderabad - 500 004. Ph: 040-23396358 For Copies : All Leading Booksellers in Andhra Pradesh and Viswanadha Sahitya Peetam Printed at : Sri Uday Printers Vittalwadi, Narayanaguda, Hyderabad. DEDICATED t o The Dearest Devotee of Viswanatha Sri Juvvadi Gowtham Rao of Karimnagar A sensitive critic in fact is rarely born in the world There may perhaps be one in ten thousand His face lights up when he meets a work of art. One such is Gowtham Rao of Juvvadi family A poet gets a friend like him For he has been his friend through previous births. -Viswanatha Sathyanarayana INDEX 1. A word about the need of this Book (Dr. Kondal Rao Velchala 9 2. Introduction - Dr. Kondal Rao Velchala, Prof. C. Subbarao 11 1. Viswanatha - The Man and the Genius 3. The living legend in Indian literature - Seshendra Sharma 21 4. Genius of a rare breed - Bh. Krishnamurti 24 5. Viswanatha - Velcheru Narayana Rao 28 6. Dr. Viswanatha's literary eminence - Dr. Diwakarla Venkatavadhani 31 7. The man is greater than his works - Prof. I.V.Chalapati Rao 34 8. 'Kavisamrat' Viswanatha - Dr. B. Rama Raju 36 9. 'Kavisamrat' - Viswanatha as I know him - Justice P. Kodanda Ramayya 43 10. An epic personality - Dr. I. Panduranga Rao 51 11. A great poet - philosopher - Amarendra Dasari 57 12. 'Kavisamrat' - Sri Viswanatha - S. Janakirama Sastry 60 13. Jnanpith awardee - P. Ramachandraiah 62 14. Viswanatha's works do not age - Dr. Tripuraneni Hanuman Chowdary 67 15. Viswanatha - multifaceted genius - S. Laxmana Murthy 70 16. The Kavisamrat - Kapila Kasipati 72 17. Viswanatha's contribution to literature - C. Subba Rao 78 18. Viswanatha's retrograde policy - V.R. Narla 81 19. Charting a new course - V. Mandeswara Rao 84 20. A literary colossus - News Item 88 21. Obituary - News Item 91 2. Viswanatha - The Poet 22. Poetic Identity and the crisis of vocation - Prof. C. Subba Rao 95 23. A poet's voyage through poverty - Kotha Venkateswara Rao 99 24. Inherent beauty of his poetry - Sarabheswara Sarma 101 25. English versions of some Viswanatha's poem s - Velcheru Narayana Rao 107 26. English versions of some Viswanatha's poems - B.V.L. Narayana Rao 116 27. English versions of Viswanatha's poems - Dr. V. Kondal Rao & others 119 3. Viswanatha - The Lircist 28. The lyrical phase of 'Kavisamrat' - Dr. C. Narasimha Sastri 125 29. Lyrical poems of Viswanatha - Prof. K. Malayavasini 128 30. Kinnera's melodies - B.V.L. Narayanarao 135 31. Viswanatha's Kinnera - Prof. J.V. Raghavendra Rao 143 32. A poet who never pandered to popular taste - Velcheru Narayana Rao 150 33. 'Atmiyata' in Viswanatha's poetry - Bommakanti Srinivasacharyulu 154 4. Viswanatha's Epic Ramayana Kalpavruksha 34. Valmiki -Viswanatha - Dr. D. Venkata Avadhani 163 35. The beautiful and the bountiful in Viswanatha's ramayana- R.M. Challa 170 36. Viswanatha's srimad ramayana kalpavriksham - Prof. K. Viswanatham 173 37. Viswanatha kavita vaibhavam - J. Gowthama Rao 180 38. The transformatory touch of Viswanatha - Dr. Prema Nanda Kumar 204 39. The domestic felicity of Sita and Rama - Dr. Prema Nanda Kumar 213 (English Version of J. Venkateswara Rao's Book) 40. Kamba Ramayanam & Viswanatha Ramayanam - Prof. C.R. Sarma 307 41. Viswanatha's Ramayana-Kuvempu's Ramayana - Prof. T.V. Subba Rao 313 42. Anasuya's Wrath (Yuddhakanda Upasamharana) - Prof. K. Viswanatham 316 5. Viswanatha - The Novelist 43. Sri Viswanatha Satyanarayana - Sri. P.V. Narasimha Rao 321 44. Valladu the hero - Translated by Velcheru Narayan Rao 328 45. What Viswanatha's Veyipadagaru Means to me - Dr. Kondal Rao Velchala 366 46. Ekaveera - a story of love or friendship? - Dr. Kondal Rao Velchala 374 47. Ekaveera - a story of spontaneous or duty bound love - Dr. B. Narender 378 48. Viswanatha: the novelist - T. Ramalingeswara Rao 381 49. Women characters in his novels - Dr. P. Kusuma Kumari 385 50. In search of democracy in the novel Veyipadagalu - Jwala Mukhi 394 51. HA HA HU HU 'Critic' from the journal - Lekhane Kaveri 399 52. Vishnu Sarma's English Education - G. Ramanujacharya 403 53. The Novels of Viswanatha-their uniqueness - J.Gowtham Rao 407 6. Viswanatha - Tha Playwright 54. Dramas of Viswanatha - a bird's eye view - Chatla Sree Ramulu 425 55. Plays of Viswanatha - Dr. Gandra Laxmana Rao 432 56. Viswanatha's Playlets: A Delightful Treat to the Readers - C.S. Rao 441 7. Viswanatha - The Story Teller 57. Poignant vignetter of cultural matrix - Dr. S.S. Prabhakar Rao 449 58. Sri Viswanatha - a short-story writer - C. Subba Rao 453 59. What connection (english version) - K. Viswanatham 462 60. Three beggars (english version) - Dr. C.Vijaya Sree 468 61. Execution (uri) (english version) - Dr.Vaidehi Sesidhar 485 62. I am quits with you (english version) - L.S.R. Krishna Sastry 488 63. Kapardhi (english version) - Ms. Yoga Mulukutla 497 8. How Critics look at Viswanatha the Critic 64. Viswanatha Satyanarayana - A critic par excellence - Dr. K. Aruna Vyas 505 65. 'The narrator' in Viswanatha's novels - Dr. C. Mrunalini 511 66. Search for the roots - Prof. K. Suprasannacharya 517 67. Guiding star of telugu letters - Prof. Mudigonnda Veera Bhadraiah 522 68. Viswanatha's prose style - Dr. Anumandla Bhoomaiah 526 69. Which is poetry? - Prof. Mudigonda Veerabhadraiah 529 (english version by U. Atreya Sarma) 70. Viswanatha Satyanarayana: An estimate- Salva Krishnamurthi 537 71. Dr. Viswanatha - A critical appreciation - Andavalli Satyanarayana 543 72. Concept of 'Jeevuni Vedana' - Prof. Kovela Sampath Kumaracharya 547 73. "High scientific modernism, ramdom reflections- Prof. M. Sivarama Krishna 551 9. Viswanatha - The Good Humoured 74. Viswanatha, a man of subtle humour - Prof. Veludanda Nityananda Rao 555 (english version by Dr. Elanaga) 10. Some reminiscences and anecdotes 75. My reminiscences of Viswanatha - Dr. C. Narayana Reddy 563 76. My father - Viswanatha Achyuta Devarayalu 565 77. The humane character of my father - Viswanatha Pavani Sastry 569 78. Viswanatha : my grand father - Viswanatha Satyanarayana 573 79. Reminiscences of Gandham Nageswararao - C. Subba Rao 578 80. Reminiscences of Suprasannacharya - Prof. S. Laxmana Murthy 589 81. More than the brothers though not the brothers - Nayani Krishna Kumari 591 82. The sitter, the portraitor - A. Koteswara Rao 597 10. Viswanatha - The Translator 83. Viswanatha's translation of Vivekananda's SONG OF SANYASIN 603 11. Viswanatha - In his own English 84. Myself my work, an interview conducted -by A.S.Raman 613 85. Speech of Dr. Viswanatha Satyanarayana, recipient of Jnanpeet award 631 86. What is Ramayana to me 637 87. X-Rays into truth 718 88. Horizon - ends 724 89. Preface to arya vignan 727 90. A profile of Sachi Raut Roy 731 91. Poems of Viswanatha composed for Nayani Subbarao's Marriage and the painting of Adavi Bapiraju 741 92. Viswanatha Handwriting 743 12. Literature and Culture 93. Traditional Values - 747 94. Culture Revealed Through Literature - 752 8 Kavisamraat Viswanatha A WORD ABOUT THE NEED OF THIS BOOK It is almost a decade since we started Sri Viswanatha Sahithya Peetham and the literary and cultural bilingual journal ‘Jayanthi’. We have had the good fortune of having a band of very learned writers ardently interested in Sri Viswanatha and his literature like Late Kovela Sampathkumaracharyas, Kovela Suprasanna Charya, Tummapudi Koteswara Rao, C. Subba Rao, Cheekolu Sundaraiah and many others assisting me in every possible way. We have sincerely worked since the inception of the Sahithya Peetham to publish perceptive articles on Viswanatha's writings and popularize them. We have tried our best to dispel some of the misconceptions about Sri Viswanatha and his writings, for this purpose. We have published some articles and extracts from his writings and also some interesting anecdotes from his personal life under the series ‘Muddu Vaddanalu’ ‘Sahitya Dhara’ and the like. Though we have started the organization as Viswanatha Sahithi Peetham. I should say in this connection that our efforts are not exclusively directed to Viswanatha and his literature alone. We have tried to highlight the literary eminence of many other writers and brought out books and special issues of ‘Jayanthi’ on Viswanatha Satyanarayana, Ismail, Neruda, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Seshendra Sarma, Boyi Bheemanna, J.Goutham Rao, Pattabhi, Sampathkumaracharya, Sadasiva . We have very great pleasure in bringing out this monumental volume on Viswanatha in English covering all the aspects of his genius for the benefit of readers whose mother tongue is not Telugu and also for the benefit of those whose mother tongue is Telugu but who are not so much in touch with it. We have worked tirelessly for this volume for more than a year to secure articles from eminent men of letters, critics and profound scholars. Some of the articles in the volume are also obtained from different sources wherever they were published earlier. Besides these, we have a few of the great man’s own writings in English, and also translations of his works done by others. As far as I know, on no other writer of Andhra Pradesh such a comprehensive and thought provoking volume has ever been so far published in English. I thank every writer and translator who has co-operated with me to bring out this volume in the manner in which it has been brought out. It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the whole-hearted cooperation extended to me by Sri C.Subba Rao and to my colleagues in making this book acquire this character and charm.