From the Editorial Desk

Telugu language and literature is rich in oral tradition, with origins as early as the 1st century AD, or perhaps even before as one of the later Vedas (700BC) mention the Andhras, another name for the people of Andhra Pradesh. Early inscriptions of the language date from around the 6th century, though a proper literary career starts five centuries later. The script came into existence in 1000AD from the Pahlava script of 7AD. Most literatures began with translations from Sanskrit. Nannayabhatta (1020AD), the adikavi or ‘first poet’ of Telugu, translated the Mahabharata into Telugu along with Tikkanna and Yerrapragada. Nannaya, Tikanna and Yerrapragada are known as the kavitraya or ‘the three great poets’ of Telugu for this mammoth effort. 

In the beginning of the 15th century, Srinatha’s Sringara Naishadha, Potana’s Dasamaskandha, Jakkana’s Vikramarka Charitra and Talapaka thimmakka’s Subhadra Kalyana enriched Telugu literature. Literary activities flourished, especially during the mighty Vijayanagara emperors. Krishna Deva Raya raja, a poet himself, introduced the prabandha in Telugu literature in his Amukta Malyada. He had in his court the Ashtadiggajas, who were the greatest of poets of the times. Innumerable Yakshagana or indigenous dramas of song and prose works were also produced. Tyagaraya of Tanjore (19th century) composed devotional songs in Telugu.

The first printed Telugu book was published in 1796 ushering the modern period in Telugu literature. Shelly, Keats and Wordsworth influenced the writers and Bhavakavitha was born. Bengali novelists like Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Ramesh Chandra Dutta were a major influence on modern Telugu fiction. Viresalingam Pantulu, Dharmavaram Krishnamachari, Chilakamarti Lakshminarasimham, Gurujada Apparao and D. Krishnamacharlu made major literary contributions.

The literary group Sahiti Samiti was set up in 1921 and their ‘progressive and rationalist’ journal Sahiti was followed by several others. Many writers preferred the old traditional style, like Tirupati Venkata Kavulu, Sripada Krishnamurthy Shastry and Vavilakolanu Subbarao. The other school was that of the Neo-classicist group of Sri Vishwanatha, Katuri, Pingali, Gadiyaram, G. Joshua and others. Today the drama, novel, short story, essay and criticism in Telugu have reached high standards although they started only a century ago. The grandeur of Telugu culture, pure and pristine as the river Godavari is beyond time and space and to capture it would be undoubtedly a Herculean task.

In the present times, however, the future of Telugu language and culture appears to be very bleak with the indiscriminate use of English language, global culture and a decrease in sustainable readership. The need of the hour is to revitalize the language with increased language consciousness and feeling of cultural identity. Many great writers, poets, dramatists and essayists have carved a niche for themselves in the field of Telugu literature. Now, the world needs to recognize these genius writers. Judicious use of a global language like English and translations in this context becomes an effective tool to reach out to the world.

Viswanatha Sahitya Peetham and Jayanthi take this opportunity to salute the literary stalwarts who have enriched Telugu literature and culture with their works. Our aim is to revive Telugu language and culture by promoting writers, academicians and amateurs. However, we are aware of the fact that reading or the enjoyment of books has always been regarded among the charms of a cultured life and one can not limit it to only Telugu language and be imprisoned in an immediate world. We, therefore, present Jayanthi as a bilingual magazine. We welcome articles in English and translations from other Indian languages into English as well. We are happy to be globally assessable now through a technology that is universally and publicly available. E-Jayanthi consolidates the resource skills and knowledge presently available and invites collaboration and partnership by creating a shared vision based on common interests of promoting Literature and Culture.
In this edition of ejayanthi in the poetry section, we feature the work of Sarah Coilan, Arjun Prakash, Pushpa Suri, Ambika Ananth, K. Roopa Kamath, Indu John and translated poems by Elizabeth Kurian ‘Mona’.

In the prose section we feature Dr Srinivas Rangaswamy on ‘Importance of Short Verse in Modern Times’, Nalini Sharma on Short Verse, Rati Saxena on ‘Culture, Technology and Creativity’, Prof. Sivaramakrishna on ‘ Development of Indian Culture: Veda to Gandhi’, letters written by Nehru to Indira Gandhi to promote the art of letter writing in ‘Letter Writing as a Genre of Communication Skill’, Rita Malhotra on ‘Across the realm of Short Verse’, Aju Mukhopadhyay on ‘Short Verse: A Heritage of World Literature, Kavyashree Mahanta on ‘ The Megastar in His Dream lessness’, T. Ramalingeswara Rao on ‘Viswanatha and His Novels, ’Vasudha Murthy on ‘Kaleidoscopic Moods’.

In the book review section we introduce ‘Rethinking Cultural Studies: A Study of Raymond Williams and Edward Said’ authored by K.W. Christopher. We hope we are able to offer to our readers a variety of subjects to read and enjoy. E- Journals, however, cannot replace a book and are bound to have certain constraints. We welcome a feedback and suggestions for improvement. We hope that the readers will enjoy Jayanthi in its new form and extend their patronage as they have with the published journals. Our effort reflects in Ben Jonson’s verse:

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make Man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night;
It was the plant and flower of night;
In small proportions we just beauties see;
And in short measures life may perfect be.

We thank all the contributors, Mr Viswanath for the logistic support and the team at Sister Nivedita for the timely support.

We wish all our readers Happy New Year 2006 and Happy Sankranthi!