I Remember “Kinnerasaani"

I REMEMBER “KINNERASAANI”

Prof. P. Venugopala Rao

[KINNERASAANI is one of the poetic master-pieces in Telugu written by Kavisowrvabhowma Viswanadha Satyanarayana a Jnanpeeth awardee. The Centenary of this prolific writer was celebrated recently. The song is characterised by creative imagination and musical lilt. –Editor]

Kinnera is the creation of the poetic muse. A faithful and emotionally ebullient person she is cast in the role of typical daughter-in-law in the setting of a joint family where the mother-in-law always has the upper hand. Finding faults in Kinnera became the sole avocation of the mother-in-law, who never cared for the feelings of her own son. Kinnera is plunged in distress with no help from her husband, who does not know how to handle his mother. Kinnera runs away into the fm off woods, but the husband runs after her begging to come back. In a faithful and tearful embrace he entreats her not to leave, but to no avail. She turns into a running stream. He, in his sorrow, devoid of his life’s love, turns into a stone. The imagery is compelling. We are left with a stone lying next to a running stream. But these are not ordinary objects of the forest. They have life. They can move us and make us feel. Here is a free translation of the beginning of this ballad of songs - the birth of Kinnera.

O ho Kinnera Saanee

Even for one quick instant of imagination

You cannot stand still, young lady

My body melted in its entirety

My life boiled away

My heart was broken

Suffering all over, my love O ho…

May be there is a fault

Their spouse is of guilt

But women hard-hearted

Like you are rare indeed O ho…

Why so much anger

Why such stubbornness

In this world so large

Is this what any wives do? O ho…

A moment ago in my embrace

I held your anguished form

So quickly you have melted

And instantly you ran away O ho…

What a revenge you conceived

What a wrath you have hoarded

To punish me, Oh my lady

Is there no other way O ho…

You cannot bear even the touch of stones

When you step down on your feet

How can you flow past the piles

Of the rocks and the boulders O ho…

You are of impeccable character

If I said otherwise ever

With a scythe on my throat

I would not hesitate to slit O ho…

Beauties of your delicate body

Shining white as moon light

Appear to my looks

A procession of waves O ho…

Your romantic movements

Manifest magnificently

In the meandering flow

Of your stream-like body O ho…

Your smiles as the foam

Your folds as the waves

Your eyes as the fish

Flow in your wake O ho…

My eyes look at your loins

And dream of sand dunes

Yet they do not fall on ground

Only to suffer inside O ho…

Like the path of the river Ganges

That ran behind King Bhagirath once

The path you ran away

Appears in front of me O ho…

I tried to hold on to the braid

Of your hair as you ran away

Instead of the braid in my hands.

Are layers of waters flowing O ho…

Snatched the end of your saree

With my left hand, my companion

The wet hand did not hold it

And I fumbled, my dear love O ho…

My love for you shall manifest

Like a stream of the sweat that drips

Out of the brow of my face

Where I let your feet rest O ho…

You are the crown of my life

You are the goddess of my life.

You are the precious stone in my life

Indeed it is you, oh my love O ho…

You have turned into this stream

How can then life be in me

Just like you, I will turn into a stream

And follow you, let me come O ho...

You are indeed a dynamic form

You can flow like a river

I am of hard and rocky heart

How can I take the form of a stream O ho…

I knew, looking at your eyes

You are a damsel of the waters

Incarnate as a human being

I knew it inside my being O ho…

In the movement of these waves

O youthful one, do I detect

The melodious movement of your

Voice running around? O ho…

The thrilling tremors in my body

When I held you in my embrace

Are still there, but the moment

My eyes opened you are gone O ho…

Unfortunate being I am

What shall I cry for in these woods

“It is yours, the fault is yours”

The woods proclaim O ho…

My hands stretched out

I cry with my voice high

Lady, you would not pay

Heed to me, my darling O ho…

I cried for you, and cried

My voice has diminished

My sight is reduced

My body is hardened O ho…

In the loudness of my cry

I know not even myself

Why is this body of mine

Turning into a hard stone O ho…

Thus poetry flows from the pen of Viswanatha with song after song.

Kinnera goes into a state to consternation and shock, when her husband turned into a stone. She could not leave him in that state and she flows around and near the stone. She falls on him and cries. She begs, “why can’t you too turn into a stream, we can mingle together and flow away”. There was nothing she could do. The water gods come to take her away. She leaves in distress in her new role as a stream.

The time passes and Kinnera in her new incarnation excels in beauty. She dances in ecstasy. She sings in sweet delicious notes.

And then comes a sour note. The Lord of the Ocean is tempted. He desires romantic union with Kinnera. After all even the rivers like Ganga and Yamuna had become his mistresses. He rises and overflows but did not cross his limits yet.

In the mean while, Kinnera, who sensed this desire of the Ocean, suffers in agony remembering her spouse who turned into a rock and could not help her. She could not stall either being of the nature of waters.

But her prayers were answered by goddess Godavari.

“The Compassionate heart of Godavari

Moved from its abode to meet

The stream of Kinnera, whose agony

Now slowly diminished, and hugged her

With agreeable respect saying

let me look at your face my dear

you don’t worry any more, little sister”.

And Kinnera joined the womb of Godavari. In the protective folds of river Godavari, Kinnera fulfills her role in nature delighting the hearts of all those who encounter her.

“The Telugu Deity,

The one who settled in Bhadradri,

Ramayya for whose darsan the devotees walk

That path is where Kinnera is always”.

In his heart Viswanatha could not find a better place for Kinnera than the feet of Lord Rama.

Another literary giant, Sri Adavi Bapiraju, Viswanadha’s friend, provided sketches to illustrate Kinnersaani. Viswanatha referred to him endearingly as “Bapi Bava”. The admiration that flourished between them is mutual.

They have both left for us a rich legacy of literary images. Viswanatha’s Kinnerasani and Bapiraju’s Sasikala are my favourites indeed, in addition to my own fantasies.

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