1074 Poetic Glory of 15th Century Telugu Poet bammera pOtanAmAtya సహజ పాండిత్య బమ్మెర పోతనామాత్యుని సంగీత సాహిత్య వైభవము

Unlike most Euro-American Poets of English language, who seem to be drug addicts, alcoholics and paedophiles, Indian Classic Poets in general,and Telugu Poets in particular, happen to be icons of Great Virtuosity. For example, Bammera Potana who lived in 15th Century circa, earned his right livelihood, personally tilling and cultivating his small piece of land, and survived by the sweat of his brow. In fact, one Contemporary King by name 'sarvagna singa bhUpAla' tried to tempt pOtana to adorn his Court, and dedicate pOtanAmAtya's magnum opus 'Andhra Maha bhAgavata' to him in exchange for gold, vehicles, land, houses, dancers, etc. etc. pOtana who wanted to dedicate his work to Lord Shri Rama refused to be enticed, and underwent numerous hardships in the hands of the irate King, for his refusal. Most Telugu Poets of yore, so as to be able to adhere to a very hard and melodic prosody of writing Telugu verses, used to cultivate and hold for long periods great "dhAraNA" (memory power). In my personal humble view, the secret of the Classical-Music-compatibility and Versatility of Telugu language both for singing and playing on instruments, is a bi-product of the Musical Talents and Creativities of almost all the Classical Telugu poets. As the focus of this article is on 'bammera pOtanAmAtya' , I am not touching other Great Telugu poets.

To be brief, one Example from the 2nd Canto of Telugu mahAbhAgavata (an independent translation of VyAsa's Sanskrit MahabhArata)

First I shall reproduce it in Telugu script and Roman script (English Script):--

Telugu Script

Roman Script

సీ. సాంద్ర శరశ్చంద్ర చంద్రికా ధవళిత విమల బృందావన వీథియందు రాసకేళీ మహోల్లాసుఁడై యుత్ఫుల్ల జలజాక్షుఁ డొక నిశాసమయమునను దనరారు మంద్ర మధ్యమ తారముల నింపు దళుకొత్త రాగ భేదములఁ దనరి ధైవత ఋషభ గాంధార నిషాద పంచమ షడ్జ మధ్యమ స్వరము లోలిఁ తే. గళలు జాతులు మూర్ఛనల్‌ గలుగ వేణు, నాళ వివరాంగుళీ న్యాస లాలనమున మహిత గతిఁ బాడె నవ్యక్త మధురముగను, బంకజాక్షుండు దారువు లంకురింప.

Meter is 'sIsam'. sAndra Saras chandra chandrikA dhavaLita vimala brindAvana vIdhi yandu rAsa kELi mahOllAsuDai utphulla jalajAkshuDoka niSA samayamunanu tanarAru mandra madhyama tAramula nimpu taLu kotta rAga bhEdamula tanari daivata rishabha gandhAra nishAda pancama shaDja madhyama svaramul Oli (prosody is tETa gIti) kaLalu, jAtulu mUrchhanal kaluga vENu, nALa vivarAnguLi nyAsa lAlasamuna mahita gati pADe avyaktya madhuramuganu, pankajAkshuDu dAruvul ankurimpa.

ybrao-a-donkey's personal views which are not intended to be imposed on others

I have searched entire Canto 2 of Sri mad bhAgavata to trace out the equivalent verse of Sage vyAsa. In spite of my best efforts, I could not trace. My Readers may please help.

Now, I shall explain the context, gist, and the musical terms used by pOtanAmAtya in the above verse.

Context: Lord Krishna was playing his Flute, in the Gardens of Brindavana (The mythological BrindAvana Gardens may be near madhura City, Uttar Pradesh).

The first two lines describe the Street of BrindAvana (Forest Path of brindAvana of those days, where he and his cowherd associates were grazing cows). It was night (niSA). The adjectives used to describe the street: vimala=clean, dustfree, unpolluted Street. dhavaLita = turned into white. This whiteness is due to the moonlight. candra=Moon. candrikA=moonlight. Saras=Autumn (Sarat=The two months approx. Oct. and Nov. months, following the Rainy Season, during which period moonlight gets optimised.). sAndra = Dense, thick.

3rd and 4th lines describe Lord Krishna. niSA samayamandu= during night time. The adjective used for Lord Krishna 'utphulla jalajAkshuDu'. His eyes resemble the petals of a Lotus in bloom. mahOllAsuDai=with great enthusiasm. rAsa kELi= the Divine blissful singing and dancing.

5th and 6th lines: tanarAru= glowing, shining. mandra=lower octave. madhyama=middle octave. tAramula=in higher octaves. nimpu=filling with. taLu (or thaLu) kotta =creatively, shiningly brand new. rAga bhEdamula = Different and varying tunes. (Note: The heart of Indian tune is the concept of rAga=tune).

7th and 8th lines: daivata (or dhaivata in Hindusthani Music)= the 6th note of the seven notes, i.e. 'da' or 'dha'. Its Western equivalents = 'c#' and 'a'. rishabha= is the 2nd note i.e. 'ri' or 're (in North India)'. its Western equivalent is: c# and d. gandhAra='ga'. Western Equivalents='d# and e'. nishAda='ni'. Western equivalents are ='a#' and b. panchama='pa' or Western 'g'. shaDja= 'sa' or western 'c'. madhyama='ma', western equivalents ='f' and 'f#'. svaramulai= having become the notes.

The supporting four line prosody 'tETa giti' (English: Light song/lyric)

kaLalu, jAtulu mUrchhanal kaluga vENu, The word 'kaLalu' refers to tempo. slow, medium, fast. Example: renDu kaLala caukamu = A slow tempo of two beats for a Unit of time.
jAtulu= type of the size of a group of notes. Examples: triSra jAti=three notes per laghu (short-group-of-notes). caturasram= 4 notes per laghu. khanDa jAti=five notes per laghu. mishra=7 notes per laghu. sankIrNa=nine notes per laghu.

mUrchchanal= General meaning of a mUrchana is: combined name for the rAga (tune's) ascendance and descendance. Eg. sa ri ga ma pa da ni sa' & sa', ni, da, pa , ma , ga , ri, sa, put together.

kaluga=when the kalalu, jAtulu, mUrchanalu come in (added by the flute player).
,br />vEnu = a bamboo flute.

nALa = pipe of the bamboo flute.

vivara = apertures or the holes of the flute.

anguLI =fingers

nyAsa =putting and lifting his fingers on the holes of the flute

lAlasamu =ease and style, (with which Lord Krishna played his flute by deftly shifting his fingers on the holes of the flute)

mahita gati pADe= mahita - great, glorious. gati=speed, swiftness. pADe=sang.

avyakta madhuramu ganu=with an indefinable, inexpressible, indescribable sweetness.

pankjAkshuDu: lotus eyed Krishna

dAruvul ankurimpa =When Krishna played his flute, plants and trees started blooming and blossoming.

Addtional comment of ybrao-a-donkey, with a request for tolerance from Readers

Some religions tend to be "always grieving" though festivals are celebrated. As already said, True HInduism is not a Religion. Only Pseudo Hinduism is. Hinduism is a composite culture. Identifying oneself with Lord Krishna is one Division or one of the thousands of myriad colors of Indian Cultural Palette.

Misfortune or Fortune of Telugu Readers

All the above discussion shows that PotanA had a very very deep knowledge of music. He might have been a proficient, prolific, accomplished flute player, adept in Carnatic Classical Music. This, in spite of earning his Right Livelihood, through tilling the soil. We, Telugu people are unfortunate that we did not inherit his kritis (musical works). We inherited only his Poetry, which itself is highly musical both in melody and in rhythm of antya-prAsa.

Incomplete. Shall continue to add/delete/edit as may be necessary.