Thursday, May 20, 2010

Tenali Ramakrishna Poems - Meaning

This entry has reference to a blogger's article on the story of Tenali Ramakrishna at http://yoursmaddy.blogspot.com/2010/05/blog-post_19.html. This is for those who wanted to know the meaning of that poem.


Context:
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Once, a poet, Narasa challenged Krishna Devaraya’s court that he can find faults in anybody's writings & he can write (with NO breaks for hours) when someone recites

Tenali Ramakrishna defeats him by reciting a poem that the poet Narasa could not write, and ridicules him for his other skill of finding faults in others’ poetry.


Here is the poem and its meaning:
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త్పృవ్వట బాబా .....తల పై
పువ్వట జాబిల్లి..వల్వ బూదెట ...చేదే
బువ్వట... చూడగ ళుళుళు
క్కవ్వట... అరయంగనట్టి హరునకు జేజే

The beauty of this poem is that, parts of it are just made up with "Sounds" that can not be written properly. Thus Narasa failed & Tenali Ramakrishna won.

Telugu literary experts can note the Shabda Alankaras in it - the repetition of "అట" at the end of every statement. "అట" is like saying, "you know"

Now,

బాబా = Vehicle
త్పృవ్వట = తృవ్వ్ + అట = Bull (actually this is the sound that a sheppard makes to goad the cattle. Note that the word తువ్వాయి (calf) comes from such sound)

తల పై పువ్వట జాబిల్లి = Moon is like flower on his head (simple)

వల్వ = On the Body
బూదెట = బూది + అట = Ash

చేదే = Bitter (Poison)
బువ్వట = బువ్వ + అట = Food

చూడగ = To look after
ళుళుళు క్కవ్వట = Nobody.. He has no parents to take care of him.
(This is a sound you make when you play with kids and hide something and tell them that it disappeared. Something like హుళక్కి)


So, put together:
Bull is his vehicle, Moon is like a flower on his head, he sports ash all over the body, he swallowed poison, and he is the origin of the universe.


now the last stanza:
అరయంగనట్టి = The one who is flourishing like that
హరునకు = To Lord Shiva
జేజే = Glory!!


హరునకు జేజే!!

21 comments:

  1. very nice of you for preserving the meaning of such a nice poem and for sharing the same with all of us. Thank you once again.
    narasimharao mallina

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  2. Excellent one! Look forward to more!

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  3. Thanks a lot andi...
    Very nice of you....

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  4. thanks andi, nenu ee padyam unna movie scnes chusa kaani, exact meaning ippude telsindi mee post chusaka.

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  5. by the way, inkonni ilanti padyalu rasthe mahadanandanga untundi :)

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  6. whoaw.. mathru bhasha lo padyalu vinte bhale anandanga untundi!
    kani oka doubt. indulo baba ante shivuni vahanam NANDI chese shabdam kada.. ambaa ambaa ni ba ba ga rasaru anukuntunnanu!

    okavela thappaithe sari cheyyandi. baba ante vehicle ani nenu ekkada vinaledu! naku telugu lo pandithyam ledu, kani swalpa (alpa kadu) gnyanine!!

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  7. Thanks a lot for the translation. Can you translate another poem of the same poet?

    narasiMHa kRshNa rAyani
    karamarudagu kIrti yoppe kariBit giriBit
    kari kariBit giri giriBit
    kariBit giriBi tturaMga kamanIyaMbai

    I have come across on the net and have been unable to understand it.

    Thanks.

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  8. I havent been coming onto this blog for some time & couldnt respond to this comment.

    while a longer version follows later, here is a quick write up

    నరసింహ కృష్ణ రాయని కరమరుదగు కీర్తి యొప్పె = O King, Narasimha Krishna Raya; your fame is so high that

    కరిభిత్ = కరి + భిత్ = Elephant + over/ontop
    గిరిభిత్ = గిరి + భిత్ = Mountain + over/ontop

    కరిభిత్....గిరిభిత్... = a stack of mountains & elephants....

    The poet is using exaggeration (అతిశయోక్తి) to describe how high the King's fame is!

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    Replies
    1. Excellent sir. Can you please also explain remaining poem, where Makolodi jaana padulaku....and Gaganadhuni and nagadhuni words's usage. Would love to know the meaning. Thanks in advance

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    2. This poem bothered me for a while too, but I traced the translation using a dictionary, and some common sense. Any experts could add, or correct this version:

      మా కొలది జానపదులకు = For ordinary (rustic is the right work for jaana padam) people like us
      నీ కవనపుఠీవి అబ్బునే = Is it possible to reflect your poetic grandeur (he means that Nandi Timmana is such a better poet, and that it is impossible to write like him)
      కూపనటథ్బేతములకు - This is the toughest part for me :).

      కూపము = Well (or ditch)
      నటత్ = Dancing
      భేకము = Frog

      The meaning here is "for frogs that dance in the well". Equivalent usage in common telugu is చెరువులో కప్పలు.

      గగనధునీ సీకరముల చెమ్మా!
      గగన = Sky
      ధుని = Water
      సీకరము = River (another word for stream which I believe is used to define that it is flowing water)
      చెమ్మా = Moisture/wetness? (the ఆ at the end makes this a question)
      Is it possible for them (frogs from previous padam) to get the moisture of a river that flows in the sky? - Again I believe he means to say that's not possible.

      నంది సింగయ తిమ్మా
      He addresses the object of the poem Nandi Thimmana here.

      So, in all:
      Is it possible for rustic like us to get/obtain your poetic grandeur? Is it possible for frogs dancing in a well to be wet by a river that flows in the sky? O Nandi Thimma?

      Now, the edit of గగనధుని to నాకధుని (not నాగధుని, although I made the same mistake the first few times) is I believe for చంధస్సు, or poetic meter, because నాక also means sky and it doesn't change the meaning too much.

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  9. chala bagundi mee translation

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  10. amogham... adbhutam gaa artham chepparu... swatahagaa... ramakrishnudi abhimanini..artham teliyaka poyina, vikatakavuni padyam chese sabdam comical gaa agnyani kudu anandinchela vuntayi..emantaru mastaru

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  11. M SURESH KUMAR 04/02/2014February 4, 2014 at 9:37 AM

    simply superb thanks for giving such a fine explanation

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  12. I'm still learning Telugu fonts, if you could kindly provide the poems in English fonts too, others, me too, will be happy. :)

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  13. thruvvata baba padyaaniki mundu oka padyamu vuntundi. daani lyrics prachurincha galara

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  14. Thank u for the translation. But if possible can u please publish the poem that leads to this. A fellow poet actually tests Narasa kavi`s writing skills with a gem of poem which starts as "Maru dhrutha thatashta shatru..." in one breath!. It is almost like a tounge-twister kind of a poem. I have been searching for the lyrics of that poem since a long time.

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  15. ఆహా..,తెలుగందు అందులమైయున్నాము,కానీ ఈ పదవివరణలతో అందళమునందున్న తెలుగు రుచి తెలిసింది........ధన్యోష్మి

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  16. Thank you so much. I am happy some one like you can understand and interpret to people like me.
    Much appreciated.

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  17. గగనధుని ... నాకధుని మార్పు చేర్పు ల గురించి వాటి అర్దాలగురించి తెలుసుకోవాలని వుంది .. ఎవరైనా తెలియచేయగలరు

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  18. I need one padyam of nandi timmana padyam ...when bhuvana Vijayan challenged to write without stopping ..Nandi timmana says that one I needed

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