C. NARAYANA REDDY - A POET PAR EXCELLENCE.

Poetry has been defined by poets, critics and lovers of literature according to their understanding of the term. It is the language of the inspired ones. Poetry embodies sound, images, imagination, emotional experiences and a deep feeling on the part of the poet. Unlike prose poetry hints at harmony and tends to be musical. It is musical in the sense that its cadences are soothing to the ear. Poetry has an elegant quality about it. It is said that poetry is the language of the soul. By soul is meant the heart. Great works in all languages have been written in poetry making every line possess an intrinsic value, connecting poetry to life. Modern poetry has not much to do with things like rhythm, meter, etc. This new genre called free verse has been overshadowing the classical mode these days in all languages. A knowledge of the classical mode, a ear for beat and rhythm and an imaginative impulse helps one to explore both the genres successfully and the poet in question belongs to this category.

On 09th April, 1931, the Gurupurnima day, a baby boy was born in the remote village Hanumajipeta in the erstwhile Nizam Dominions to a tiller couple Singireddy Mallareddy and Butchamma. The boy was named Satyanarayana Reddy. He started his early education on a pial school run by the village school master. Intelligent as he was he evinced keen interest in the cultural activities of the folklore type, in Burrakatha and Harikatha rendered with action and music by the artists. These sing-song narratives attracted the singer in the boy. As the boy grew up, his father wanted to make him a Tahsildar in the government of Nizam. But his mother encouraged her son to pursue his cultural activities.

Young Narayan Reddy completed his college education in Hyderabad in Urdu medium and took his MA degree in Telugu literature from the Osmania University. By now he was proficient in two languages and thier nuances. As a college and university teacher he made a mark and produced his thesis for the Ph.D degree on 'Modern Poetry, Tradition and Experiment' considered as reference material even today. By now he was respected as an ideal teacher and he proved that his birth on the Gurupurnima day was not an accident. It is said that coming events cast their shadows before. As though to prove this saying young Narayan Reddy brought out his first poem Navvani Puvvu when he was only twenty. Other poems followed. A poet cannot but pour his feelings out just as a bud cannot but bloom into a flower. This unknown bud blossomed into a flower of multi-coloured petals. He enriched Telugu literature with his poems, plays, songs, Gazals, travelogues, translations and other literary outputs numbering nearly eighty. While pursuing his teaching career, he brought out outstanding dramatic and poetical works - Karpura Vasantharayulu, Ruthuchakram, Viswanatha Nayakudu, Nagarjuna Sagar, Ramappa to name a few. He won the Central Sahitya Academy Award for his Mantalu Manushulu opening his account of awards.

As a crowning glory of his poetical eminence his Viswambhara fetched him the Jnanpith Award, the highest national literary award any man of letters would aspire. It is but proper that this son of the soil should produce his Magnum Opus called Viswambhara meaning the earth. The earth is the stage of the poet for his narrative dealing with man from the beginnings of the world to the present day. The poem handles aspects like free will, evil and the redemption of man. The poem is a blend of "lyrical romanticism, progressive idealism and healthy realism". It represents the quest of the poet as well as man to understand the artistic, scientific, spiritual levels of man and the relationship of man with nature. This poem written in the free verse form is considered an epic by critics, comparable with Dante's Divine Comedy and Milton's Paradise Lost. Some critics feel that Karpura Vasantharayalu, written by the poet when he was only twenty-seven has features that make it his best poem. This poem brought the young poet into prominence and acquainted him with the works of Viswanatha Satyanarayana, Dasaradhi, Sri Sri, Karunasri and other literary stalwarts of that time. 

A striking feature of this poet is the innovative mind, a tendency to experiment. His knowledge of Urdu and his ear for sound and sense made him introduce the popular ghazal spirit in his literary career. Being endowed with a melodious voice, his musical sense further encouraged him to sing ghazals in Telugu to the delight and admiration of his literary audiences. 

A very interesting episode of his colourful writing career is his long stint with the cinema world which he entered with a bang. His first recorded film song was an instant hit which mesmerised and stole the hearts of the cine goers, old and young. He daringly introduced a duet song for the negative character of Duryodhana and his consort in a mythological film at a later stage which was a sensation and was received well by the audiences. His musical diction reached great heights in his film music making the cine goers go ga ga over his songs. He converted every thought into a song depicting different emotions from lullabies to moralising while keeping the loftiness of the language and expressing in his film songs. His lyrical songs boosted the popularity of the films. His connection with the cinema world was so deep and personal that he was called CiNaRe - Cinema Narayana Reddy which stuck him for good. He wrote more than five thousand songs for the films. Yet he called himself "a little lamp in the worship of fine arts".

He claimed that he was a Professor first and a poet next. As a teacher he had made teaching an art. Yet the poet in him asserted itself over the teacher as to make him say that poetry was his language, his breath and address. "I live only to write poetry" he averred. He said that he would keep writing poetry "till the ink dries and till the flower withers". In this process he rendered great thoughts in simple words in his poems. He was a link between the old and the new, the traditional and the modern in Telugu literature and was at home with both the modes and produced a record volume of literary output. The village gave him the song and the city the expression.

He was the chief guest at thousands of literary meets and made thousands of speeches enlightening the audiences with his lucid talks on the trends and the tendencies in literary writing. He was a must at meetings and his presence added luster to the stage and dignity to the programme where he was the central figure. He would walk down into the arena, the very personification of Telugu dignity, dressed in the typical Telugu man's attire wearing a white dhoti, preferably with a red border, in his lemon coloured silk lalchi (a lose shirt with side packets and no collar) with a neatly folded upper cloth, one end of it flowing down the chest on the left side and the other end going down his back around his neck. The pen clip would keep peeping through between the buttons of the lalchi. His round big eyes would look at you directly through the gold rimmed spectacles while ringlets of his hair spread out on either side of his prominent brow and the balding head. He was clean lipped, full faced and looked imposing. Though of average height he was a robust figure and possessed a commanding personality standing upright in his dark stockinged half shoes. In a tickling Telugu ghazal he described the dress and the preferences of the palate of Telugu Vadu in a lighter vein which is an amusing piece of writing.
During the long span of six decades of public and literary life he steered his way with self-confidence and gusto bowing to none and seeking no one's help. He scaled great heights step by step with characteristic determination and a sense of purpose. Important public positions came seeking him. He was Vice-Chancellor of the Telugu University and the B.R. Ambedkar Open University. He was the most active of the nominated members of the Rajya Sabha for six years and the first poet from the South to adorn the august post. He was the Chairman of the Official Languages Commission and held every other post that chose him with distinction. He was honoured with Padmasri and Padmabhushan. These honours sat light on him. In spite of his eminence in life he kept away from political leanings and isms with a deliberate detachment which made him a non-controversial man of honour. Though he was affluent, wealth did not turn his head. On the other hand he was human and charitable in his ways of life. He bore the prolonged illness of his wife and her death with philosophical resignation and instituted an annual reward on her name to be given to a reputed woman writer every year. The way he named his four daughters is again typical of his mind. He called them Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswathi and Krishnaveni. He looked after the welfare of the large family with love and deep affection.
This literary giant had no fear of death. In one of his ghazals he wrote 'if death comes seeking me what will I say?...I did feed him with milk and put him to sleep singing a lullaby'. His poetic collection which was released on his birthday in 2016 had the title My Battle is with Death. But Death laid his icy hand on this brave poet in his sleep before dawn on 13th June, 2017. The ink dried and the flower withered but the fragrance of his lyrics will linger long. It is said that poets have no death and their poetry lasts as long as language lasts.
--Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy--
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