TELUGU
Enduring tales
SAROJINI PREMCHAND
RAMANEEYA BHAGAVATHA KATHALU: Mullapudi Venkataramana; Visalaandhra Book House, 4-1-435, Bank Street, Hyderabad-500001.
Rs. 400.
THIS TREASURE trove of stories from mythology would delight the young and the old alike.
The author, one of the most distinguished in the Telugu literary field, has earned a niche of his own through his short stories, depicting with equal facility the romantic as well as the peppery [Andhra chilli type] realities of an average middle-class young man's life. Venkataramana's pen employs the contours and connotations of words effortlessly to convey the comic and pathetic moods in the same breath.
This monumental volume has followed the same sequential pattern as Bammera Pothana's Sri Mahabhagavatham. Pothana's [15th century] work is a transcreation of Vyasa's Bhagavathapuranam. It is said that this was composed to propagate `vasudeva thattwam' among the people with the message "there is no salvation without devotion".
A successful screen play writer of films, the author has adopted visual presentation mode in the narration. Dialogues are in simple spoken language and propel the story move faster. Some of the evergreen, all-time favourite verses from Pothana's work have been woven into the dialogues and these are sure to gladden the hearts of many.
Among the stories of Vishnu, the episodes related to Rama and Krishna are the more favoured and the happenings during Krishna's childhood are the most enchanting.
Prahlada's story, Gajendra's deliverance, and Rukminikalyanam are presented in such detail and so dramatically as to leave the reader completely engrossed.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Book Review
