PREFACE TO VEMANA
This author has attained great celebrity in his own country and in the adjacent parts of
Telugu is a principal language of the
It is peculiarly smooth and elegant in its sound, and the poets have cautiously preserved its euphony. Hence Europeans have called it the Italian of India. The student may at first think this remark, which is no new one, unfounded; as the pronunciation is strong and decided; and as the mixture of Sanscrit terms often gives it a degree of roughness. But the pure rustic dialect as well as that of the poets is altogether different from this colloquial language; in the pure dialect most of those Sanscrit words that had harsh sounds are softened till they are as smooth and melodious as pure Telugu.
With Sanscrit it is closely connected; as closely as English is with Latin. But at the same time it is as truly original and nearly as copious as English. Like English it has borrowed its scientific terms from another tongue; and these Sanscrit additions are daily increasing. Thus the language is becoming less pure.
During the eighteenth century, the incursions of the Mohamedans effectually crushed the literature of Telangana; it has fallen low; and the colloquial dialect has become equally corrupt--men are now rarely met with among them who can read or explain the classical authors of the language; a knowledge of prosody is yet more rare. (emphasis and italics ours - IMS.)
Twenty five years of peace in Telangana under the British government have now afforded opportunities for some revival of literature. The establishment of the Honourable Company's College at
It now remains to give some account of my author, VEMANA, whose writings are peculiarly useful to those who study the language, the style being simple, and the variety of topics very extensive. These adages exemplify thousands of words inadmissible into more dignified poetry. The thought and connection are often abstruse while the terms used are quite familiar.
Of his history, little is known. He was not a Bramin but a Capoo, or farmer; a native of the Cuddapa district and born, I believe, in the neighbourhood of Gandicotta. He lived in the beginning of the eighteenth century. It is said that in verse 707 he has fixed the date of birth which is believed to have been his own. This date coincides with A. D. 1652. The date is given in the cycle of sixty years; but which cycle is intended is unknown. Many verses, however, prove satisfactorily that he wrote in the latter part of the seventeenth century when the Mohamedans were governors of that part of
These verses communicate hardly any idea of his history or connections, and like all solitary ascetics (sanyasees or yogee) he has dropped his family name--calling himself simply Vema or Vemana at pleasure. This solitary life has led him to address all the verses to himself, which, if this be not recollected, certainly looks like the grossest egotism. This practice is far indeed from being peculiar to Vemana.
[The name Vema and Vemana do not appear to be used by the Telugus of the present day. Vema or Vemana in Sanscrit signify a loom. (see
These poems have attained very great popularity and parts are found translated into Tamil and Malayalam or Canarese. Their terse closeness of expression sometimes renders them difficult to translate with elegance; but such passages exemplify the manly force of a language that in the common dialect is often weak and verbose.
Of his aphorisms many have become common proverbs. Parts of them are evidently close translations from Sanscrit works, particularly the Hitopadesa andBhagavat Gita. In a few of these every word is pure Sanscrit.
Vemana was evidently, in philosophy, of the Vedanta school, a disciple of Vyasa, whom Sir William Jones has (in the Asiatic Researches, Vol I, page 362) entitled the Plato of India. With the mystic tenets of Plato, those of Vemana closely correspond while his moral doctrines as closely answer to those of Democritus.
These verses are chiefly of three classes: moral, satirical and mystic In the morals, many verses occur, breathing a spirit of devotion truly extraordinary in a Hindu. The satirical part is chiefly directed against the national religion and customs particularly against Bramins. None of it is personal. The mystic portion is chiefly of use as exemplifying the powers of the language. The reveries contained in this chapter are of a strangely abstruse nature and furnish a remarkable instance of a powerful mind searching for the light of truth which is lost in the darkness of heathen ignorance. The style of this and some other parts renders it easier to translate the verses into Latin than into English. I have, however, left none in Latin (aliess) that appeared to deserve an English one. To the more difficult verses I have subjoined a Telugu interpretation For some parts of this comment written in Telugu, I am indebted to two very learned Bramins who taught me the language, its grammar and prosody. They are Tippabhotla Venkata Siva Sastri of Masulipatnam and Advyta Brahmia, the Pandit belonging to the court in which I have the honour of being assistant judge.
To the mystic portion I have appended such notes as appeared requisite. Further elucidations of the most ample nature will be found in the Bhagavat Gita, with Dr. Wilkins's commentary and in Sir William Jones's essay on the Mystical poetry. Poetry of the East appears in the third volume of the Asiatic Researches; It would be easy to refer to many other authors; but to save the reader trouble in an enquiry that can gratify nothing but curiosity, I have subjoined a short explanation of the system.
Most of the Verses in Vemana are written in a ataveladi metre which consists of four lines; but the fourth line, with some exceptions, is a mere refrain or chorus in these words--Viswadabhirama Vinura Vema.
It is perhaps impossible to meet with a complete copy of this poet in a manuscript of any antiquity. The principal sources from which this edition is compiled are nine. These were collected from
Of the state of the manuscripts, it is not easy to give a correct idea. Errors of the grossest nature in orthography, metre and rhyme deface every line; and erroneous words are substituted to elicit a sense that the transcribers thought proper to prefer. Thus they have eluded many of the difficulties in thought or expression; and the corruption is indescribable in verse.
Vemana having written the tadbhava word guramu (for gruhamu) a house, the copyists in defiance of metre and meaning have gurramu, a horse.
To remedy such errors I prepared a general index to my manuscripts, showing the place each verse occupies in each copy. For the verses in no two copies had the same arrangement. By this aid, the true reading has, I hope, seldom been lost. the correct metre I trust never--the most frequent corruptions were substitutions of Sanscrit terms in defiance of measure, for pure Telugu expressions.
To the remarks on mystic philosophy, I have subjoined a short explanation of Telugu prosody. The statements are taken from the Bheemana Chandassu, but the arrangement and mode of explanation are my own. Sir William Jones has remarked (As. Res 1-XVII on Panini) that "since grammar is only an instrument, and not the end of true knowledge, there can be little occasion to travel so rough and gloomy a path." To teach myself The science, I was obliged to reduce the rules given by Bheemana in a very fantastic from to their real import; and a mode then occurred to me through which by degrees I learnt the whole with care. The original is so mysteriously complex that the failure of most aspirants even among Bramins to a knowledge of prosody is not surprising.
C. P. Brown
23rd Nov., 1824.
