Adivi Bapiraju (1895 to 1952, Andra Pradesh, India) is a leading Telugu language novelist, poet, playwright and the author of over 100 highly regarded short stories. Telugu is spoken by about 85 million and is one of the official languages of India.
For several years now I have been a follower of a very well done web page devoted to Indian literature, Muse India. (Museindia.com). Issue 52, November - December 2013 was largely devoted to a new to me writer, Adivi Bapiraju. The lead article on him was fascinating and they kindly included four short stories in translation so I read them and wish to encourage my readers to afford themselves of this pleasure.
"Blind Girl" compresses a great deal in a few pages. As the story opens a lovely blind girl gets on a train. She begins to sing in voice of great spiritual beauty of Lord Rama's sojourn as hermit boy. The people in the train compartment are transfixed by the magnificence of her singing. A "worthy Brahmin", this is a bit of caste war I take it, enters the cabin and interrupts the girl with a long series of crude jokes.
"Exactly at that juncture a Brahman worthy boarded the train. As soon as he stepped in, he cut into the song and cracked a joke. Since spiritual bliss is superhuman, mortals cannot stand it for long, like how no one can stay under deep waters for long. The joke by the Brahman jolted the humanity in the coach all of a sudden into a sigh and self-consciousness. The girl stopped her song."
As the Brahman makes more and more crude jokes people shower him with coins. He bids the train riders to have a long and prosperous life and leaves, probably to board another train. The blind woman tries to resume singing but people tell her to stop, all their coins went to the joker. A man enters the train, also a beggar. He used to work for the railroad until he lost his hand in an accident and could no longer work. Some years ago the blind woman, she lives in a farm house of a kind farm family, found a three year old wandering the streets and he has been with her for four years now.
I do not wish to tell more of the plot of this story. It is in the form of a fable. In just a few pages, Bapiraju connects ancient texts to the state of Indian in the 1940s. He makes a brilliant point about people's inability to stay under deep waters too long.
"Blind Girl" may seem like a simple moral parable but it is much more than that. I will probably post on more of Bapiraju's short stories.
Bapiraju was born to Krishnayya and Subbamma, a Niyogi Brahmin family, on October 8, 1895 in Bhimavaram City. He graduated from a high school in Bhimavaram. Later after graduating from law school, he practiced law for a while in Bhimavaram. However, he gave up law practice for teaching and other interests such as journalism, painting and poetry.
He was interested in writing poetry from his childhood. He became famous with his “Narayanarao” novel which got him Andhra Viswwakala Parishattu Award. He was also interested in painting. His popular oil paintings are samudraguptudu and tikkana. He also drew pictures for Viswanadha Satyanarayana’s famous lyrics, kinnerasani patalu.
In 1922, Bapiraju participated in Non-cooperation Movement and was jailed for one year. He wrote “tolakari” after his jail experience. Later he wrote toophan, gona gannareddy, konangi and himabindu. His radio dramas like dukkiteddulu, uhasundari, bhogiraloya etc. and stories like tulikanrityam, hampi sidhilalu, silpabala, veena etc. were very popular. He also directed several movies, e.g., meerabai, anasuya, dhruv vijayam etc. He also several short stories and songs. Some of his writings were translated into Kannada language.
After a short stint as a lawyer, Bapiraju worked at Bandar National College as a professor from 1934 through 1939. In 1944, he worked for meejan, a Telugu daily published from Hyderabad, as an editor. Later, he joined Vijayawada Radio as an advisor. He was a founding member of Navya Sahitya Parishattu. He also established an art foundation in Guntur to teach painting.
Bapiraju was a multifaceted personality with a range of interests that included poetry, story writing, drama, journalism, painting, sculpture, music, and dance. He carved out himself a special place in Telugu literature and art by his contributions. He died in 1952.
Source: Nooruguru Telugu Pramukhulu, by M. L. Narasimharao.
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