Vemana is one of the most popular and beloved poets in Telugu language. His intellect, simplicity and naturalness of expression, and originality render him special to all the Telugus, rich or poor, literate or illiterate. There is controversy over when and where Vemana lived. After a lot of research and debate, scholars established that he was born in a farmer’s family and lived in the 17th century– probably born in 1652–and passed away in the early decades of the 18th century, as suggested by the British civil servant and Telugu literary savant, C.P. Brown He did not disclose his family name. Worshipper of Siva, he must be a jangam (a member of the sudra sect, usually Saivaite, but also largely dissenter of the traditional religion). Many of the poems were supposed to be composed in the latter half of the 17th century. Based on the dialect and idiom used in the verses, it is suggested that Vemana belonged to Gandikota in Kandavolu (present Kurnool) district or Kondavedu in Cuddapah (Kadapa) district in theRayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh.
Not much is known about his life. As the writings of a poet are largely autobiographical and reflections of his life, some extrapolations were made regarding Vemana’s life story from his poetry. One such compilation is that of Dr. N. Gopi, which says that Vemana must have led a care-free life, become a leader among his friends and educated himself through interactions with temple priests and village heads and understood the good and bad of the society from experience but got immersed more in worldly vices, including getting infatuated with prostitutes. But subsequently, he realized his immorality, got fed up with his base pursuits and when he wanted to correct himself, the society despised him. So he renounced the world and became a sanyasi (ascetic) and poured out his experiences in the poems spontaneously. His original name could not be established, as he dropped his family name calling himself simply Vema or Vemana, which signifies a loom in Sanskrit. In course of time he came to be widely known as yogi Vemana.
A good and pious person is generally ignored by the society. Yogi Vemana is no exception! Among the scholars who brought Vemana to light is C.P. Brown, who approached Telugu language through Vemana. He collected manuscripts of Vemana (talapatras: palm-leaves) from Machilipatnam, Vizag, Nellore, Guntur, Cuddapah, Madras, etc., got them compiled and printed Verses of Vemana for the first time in 1824. Subsequently many versions of Vemana’s poems were printed; some written by others were also assigned to him. Today there is a book, Vemana Padyamulu (Vemana’s Poems), compiled by Sri B.V.N. Sastry, published by Gollapudi Viraswamy and Sons, Rajahmundry, consisting of 3253 poems. Whether all of them are by Vemana or not is controversial. While dealing with this, eminent scholars like Komarraju Lakshmana Rao, C.R. Reddy, Vanguru Subbarao, Veturi Prabhakara Sastry, Bandaru Tammayya, Rallapalli Ananta Krisna Sarma, Narla Venkateswara Rao, and Arudra projected Vemana in a new perspective. Brown himself translated Vemana into English in prose form. Vemana has been translated into other Indian languages. Self–confidence is a notable feature in the psychological makeup of Vemana. He believes that he is a poet with a mission to expose the social evils rampant in his time and seeks to use his poetry as an instrument of social awareness and possibly, social change. As C.R. Reddy wrote to R.A.K. Sarma, ‘‘Vemana is an original genius... His very simplicity and naturalness hide a most perfect art.’’ The thought and connections between lines are at times abstruse, while the language used is quite familiar. Vemana made extensive use of day-to-day experiences (events, and animate and inanimate objects around him) to illustrate his thoughts and feelings. His is a powerful mind searching for the light of truth.
Vemana is a vedantin (philosopher). There are both mystic insights and moral tenets in his poems. The poems are chiefly of three classes: satirical, moralreligious, and mystical. The satire is not personal or aimed at any one individually. It is about the contemporary state of affairs and the evil customs prevalent in the society. Its varied expressions are in the form of exhortations. Whatever Vemana conveyed about personal life, society or philosophy are applicable or valid even today, which speaks for his in–depth understanding of basic human instincts and tendencies, his clarity of thought and expression. Most of his verses are composed extempore (asuvuga) in ataveladi metre, consisting of four lines, the fourth one being a refrain (makutam) in a majority of the poems. The meaning and purpose of the refrain are also controversial, but it is the ‘signature’ of Vemana. The meaning the poet wants to convey is complete in the first three lines, but the poem is and reads incomplete without the refrain. Vemana is part of the folklore throughout the Telugu country. Hence the saying, ‘There is no one who does not get wet in rain, and no one who does not know Vemana’s poems’. His feelings and thoughts excel language. He does not fit into the frame of his time. Vemana is a people’s poet, a universal poet. He is for change: he rebels against the evil forces and practices in the society. His weapon in the fight is reason. Humanity is his religion and man is his God.
Translation from one language-context into another is not easy, especially when the culture-context is also different. Our aim has been to keep the translation as close to the original as possible without distorting the meaning of the original. As Brown said in his preface to the 1824 edition of Verses of Vemana, “The 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.” This challenge we encountered at many places in our translation. Brown’s Telugu-English dictionary was of immense help to us.
The poetry of Vemana, which is closed to generations of children, should be made available to them. This can be only through translation as the probability of their learning Telugu and reading and understanding Vemana in the original is almost nil. Not long ago, in a joint family system, grandmothers and mothers used to quote from ancient texts including, or rather even more so, Vemana, which at a later stage in life was helpful for them to tread the right path in social interaction, serving as a guide to moral conduct and helping them keep proper balance in life. But today families are becoming nuclear and even atomic and more and more children are forced to learn the ‘art of living’ by themselves. We hope that this translation will be of help to them in learning this art. The makutam (refrain) has been subject to varied and occasionally subjective interpretations. Some have even suggested alternatives to the popular, widely known refrain, Vishvadabhirama vinuravema. There have been several apocryphal stories about a person called Abhirama himself, but they do not stand critical scrutiny. The possible meaning of the refrain could be: Beloved of the All Giver, Vema, listen.
As a keen and critical observer of men and matters around, Vemana was concerned with the evil practices, the meaningless religious rituals, the eroding moral values and the hold of selfishness and hypocrisy in all activities during his time. A few examples of the timeless truths embodied in his verses are: Recognition of good and bad: The milk of a cow even in a small quantity is sufficient; why plenty of donkey’s milk? Food served with love, in a morsel, is enough. Love is what makes giving good. Noble people: The noble one speaks softly, like gold, unlike the mean who makes much noise, like brass.
If there is one virtuous person in a family, the whole family will be respected. It is like having a sandalwood tree in a big forest whereby the entire forest smells like sandalwood. Vicious persons: Even if we feed the neem sapling with milk, it won’t lose its bitterness; so also a vicious person will ever remain spiteful. Anger: Through anger, one’s goodness gets reduced; and if anger is kept under control, all wishes will be fulfilled. Ways of the world: The village officer knows who the liar is; the Lord knows who the Truth teller is; and the wife knows her gluttonous husband. This reveals the keen observation of the poet.
Treatment of the enemy: If even an enemy, fit to be killed, is caught, he should not be harmed; it is enough to do him good and set him free. Need for charity: Amassing wealth, without giving; saving money, without eating properly; are like the bee, collecting the honey, to be claimed by a stranger.
Domestic disharmony: The strife within the family, a grit in the shoe, and a humming bee around the ear, a speck in the eye and a thorn in the leg are sources of immeasurable annoyance.
Caste chastised: The undue importance given to one’s caste is severely criticized by the poet in several of his verses. Why blame mala again and again? Isn’t the blood in his body the same? Is there a caste without inherent light?
The poet, like Charles Dickens, made ample use of satire touched with humor, which is directed towards instruction. For example, he talks about a miser, who is like a barren cow. If one goes to milk it, it will kick one’s teeth off, but does not yield milk. In his satire, he does not spare Lord Visnu Himself, when he wonders, why should the Lord lying on the celestial ocean of milk desire the milk in the village of cowherds (Repalle) and concludes that the property of others is ever sweet (tasty).
The poetry of Vemana is full of such priceless gems of worldly wisdom, which continue to serve readers as signposts in the journey towards social harmony and even spiritual realization.
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