Telugu folk literature

Telugu is the most widely spoken Dravidian language on Earth and is spoken in all of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in India and parts of other southern states as well. The history of Telugu goes back as early as to 230 BC to 225 AD,^[1] and the evidence for the existence of Telugu language is available in the Natya Shastra of the Bharatha people. Even better evidence is shown from the inscription of Nandampudi, written by the first Telugu poet Nannya, which goes back to the 11th century AD.^[2] The author of Samagrandhra Sahityam (The Comprehensive history of Telugu Literature) Aarudhra has developed a different kind of argument. He says the word "naagabu" is there in an inscription of the Amaravati Stupa Buddha Sthupa, built between 200 BC to 200 AD^[3] the suffix of this word 'bu' is a typical Telugu suffix and it can not be there unless the language was considerably developed in spoken form. (He considered the word a sacred 'mantra' and printed it on the top place of the cover page of his book). More reliable evidence for the existence of Telugu language were shown by him at least from 350 AD. Based on this evidence it is possible to come to a rough idea that the verbal expressive traditions of Telugus may be there even at the beginning of the common era.

Indisputable concrete historical evidence of Telugu folk literature is available in the poetical work of the Kumārasambhava by Nanne Choda who belongs to the 11th and 12th centuries. He has mentioned different kinds of songs sung by different folk groups (goudu geetamulu or songs of gouds).^[4] Some more inscriptional evidence for the existence of folk literature are also available in the 6th century AD.^[5] According to Ramaraju, some of the prosodic structures found in this period very closely resemble to the metrical order of folk songs of modern times. The evidence may not clearly show a particular song or its existence but one cannot rule out the possible existence of folk literature even before this period as the evidence for the existence of Telugu language was there from a much earlier period.

Many traditional Telugu poetical works of earlier and medieval age, taking form the Palkuriki Somanadha's Basava purana to the Yakshagana (written works) of Nayaka kings of the 17th century, have mentioned about different performing castes and performing traditions, which were living and moving in the Andhra desa i.e., the present Andhra Pradesh.

The Telugu folk literature is so enormously rich that it contains all major categories of world folk literature. The folk literary categories, which were classified in various languages by the scholars across the world, can be found in the Telugu folk literature. Some unique kind of folk literary forms like caste myth also can be found in it. It is very rich not only in terms of variety of genres but the enormous size of the repertoires of various performing castes and individual singers. Many scholars have already classified Telugu folk literature in different divisions and sub divisions in an efficient way depending on the material they have considered for the study.^[6][7][8] Krishna Kumari's classification is more comprehensive even among other works on Telugu folk literature. But few genres were missing even in this classification. She did not consider caste myth as a separate genre. It occupies a large share of Telugu folk literature and a prominent place in terms of its social importance and function. And some more subdivisions can also be found in a close look at the grassroot level of Telugu folk literature.

Telugu folk literature can be classified on different aspects. The first aspect is on genre, second is on the persons and patronage, the third one is by utility. It would be convenient to elaborate in reverse direction and first I would take utility aspect.

Telugu folk literature can be classified on the basis of its utility, that is, how it functions. It can be divided into functional and nonfunctional or entertainment genres. Some of the literary forms are both. Caste myths and ritual narratives have specific social functions. They are not for entertainment. They are intended to carry a specific social function.

A caste myth is basically a myth by its sacrality, and it is unique by its structure and function. A caste myth is called a Kula Purana or Caste Purana. Names of these myths are formed along the name of the caste, like Gouda purana for the caste of Goudas, Rjaka puranams for Rajakas or Chakalivaru Washer men and so on. A caste myth is a myth or a narrative of a caste which explains the origin and establishment of a caste. It tries to establish a given caste as a higher most one in the social order and it is not inferior to any other caste. Each caste of 196 castes in Andhra Pradesh having its own Caste myth. Caste myths are very important folk literary forms in terms of their social function. They are very much alive and vigorous in functions, even in the modern democratic social order. Several evidences prove the existence of the caste myths in oral tradition and written tradition even from the 11th century. Each caste has its own myth and the time for its narration may vary from three hours to 14 nights, i.e. at least 100 hours. Most castes of Andhra Pradesh have their own performing dependent castes to narrate or perform their caste myths once in a year in each patron family. They are called Arthi kulalu or Asrita kulalu. There are more than 50 dependent performing castes still existing and functioning in A.P. A caste myth is an origin narrative of a given caste and it is the pride of the each member of any caste. It is a sacred narrative, whose validity cannot be questioned, and it is a Mahabharata for that particular caste. Caste myths are available in song, performing and prose narrative forms in oral tradition. Though it is a myth by genre, caste myth has a different kind of structure than the general myth, so that the caste myth is itself an independent folk genre. (See: Kulapuranalu Asrita Vyavastha, Subbachary, p. 2000: for the detailed study of the caste myths and the dependent caste system.)

A ritual narrative is narrative sung or performed in a ritual, as an inseparable part of that ritual. It loses its importance when it is dissociated from that ritual. It is another functional narrative. These narratives are nothing but the narratives of Goddesses and Gods. The mother goddess narratives of A.P enjoy a prominent social relevance. They are sung or performed in the Jataras or Tirunallas of the Mother goddess and the Perantalu or the deified women goddesses. The mother goddesses like Ankamma, Maremma, Poleramma, Peddamma, Atalamma, Ellamma, Pochamma and so on are considered to be the goddesses of diseases. They are the destructive or malevolent goddesses. They are also protective or guardian deities but their prominence is for their destructive power. They have to be appeased from time to time or annually, otherwise they would show their wrath by creating epidemics. The best ways to appease these goddess are to sing the narrative of the relevant goddess in her praise and offer her animal sacrifices. Performing the narrative or the puranam or the myth of the goddess is very crucial in the weekday ritual of any mother goddess. These myths are very long and performed over from one night to seven nights. The audience listens to them not only with reverence but also with fear and obedience. They also go into trance when the narratives are performed. Specific caste people from dalit communities Baindlas, Asadis are specialized and traditional singers for all these mother goddesses. The Kurumas are singers for the myths of the male gods Mallanna, Birappa and the Goddess Ellamma. The literature of these myths or the narratives is also very big repertoire in Telugu folk literature. Mother goddess narratives are performed in several hundred places in A.P. every year. A number of scholars Krishna Kumari.N, Venkata Subbarao.T.V, Premalata Ravi. Andamma.M and others have done commendable research on mother goddess worship and narratives.

Another important and powerful functional genre is the Telugu sameta or the Telugu proverb. Any other folk literary genre may not be a part of everyday life of the speaker of a given language. But proverbs are part of day-to-day life. For the native speakers the proverb is an essential tool for their communicative needs and it is a folk literary genre.

Telugu folk literature has a stunningly rich treasure trove of proverbs. People use them in any mode of their expression. Number of researchers have already collected thousands of proverbs and published them region wide. One scholar, Chilukuri Narayana Rao, has collected to one hundred thousand proverbs to his credit. Lot of research was also done on various aspects of Telugu proverbs. Several Colonial officials too collected Telugu proverbs. Captain Carr's collection is prominent among them. He collected around three thousand proverbs and translated them into English.^[9] One can find parallels in Telugu to the proverbs which are omnipresent in different languages across the world.

These are some of the basic Telugu folk literary forms which are in social function. The other folk literary forms or basically intended for entertainment their social function is secondary.

The second kind of classification can be made on the basis of persons and patronage. Telugu folk literature can be divided in two major classes: folk literature created by professional singers and/or performers and the literature created by others. The folk literary genres created by the professional performers are different from the other genres in terms of length, prose and poetry combination, narration, and in other aspects. A number of castes of Andhra Pradesh are specialized to perform different kinds folk art forms in which literature is a vital part. Singing and performing is their basic profession and they get lively hood by this profession. Again the professional singers or the bards or ministerial can be divided into two kinds some performing castes perform their art form to any caste or family of any village. For example, snake charmers or Pamula vallu, Haridasus, Satanis, Jangamas, Saradakadus and such other performers when they enter into a village they do not restrict their singing to only some castes or families. Other kind of singers do not extend their services to any body except their own patrons. They are dependents to only one caste. They narrate myths, caste myths, or other narratives only to their patrons. Narrating to others encroaching into other singer's jurisdiction is a crime according to their caste laws.

Most of the important Telugu folk narratives, myths, legends are created by the professional singers and performers of the performing caste, all the caste myths are created by the dependent caste singers or the Asritakulalavaru. Other important epics like Mahabharata, Ramayana, Palanati Virakatha, Bobbilikatha, Katamaraju Kathalu, the myths of mother goddesses, and other important lengthy wonder tales which are very popular among Telugus are created by professional singers or the caste performers.

The folk literature created by men, women, and children consists of folk songs, song narratives, lullabies, work songs, women songs, different other kind of songs, general tales, wonder tales proverbs, riddles and so on. Telugu folk literature is very rich for all these genres. Collection and researching of these folk genres has been started in the colonial period itself. After the advent of universities in A.P several scholars did research on all kinds of these genres.

One classification of folk literature is genre based. Krishnakumari made a comprehensive classification of Telugu folk literature. It can be followed here to enumerate the Telugu folk literature and some more items can also be added to this classification.

The Telugu folk literature has three basic divisions.

The Prose division has two important sections they are Katha Sahitham or Prose with story and Katha Rahitham or prose without story. The section prose with story contains Nitikathalu (moral tales) Vira Kathalu, (epics) Adbhuta Kathalu (wonder tales), Purakathalu (myths), Itihasalu (legends) Pedarasi Peddamma Kathalu (fables). Some more categories can also be identified like Kula Kathalu (caste myths in prose), Perantalla Kathalu (stories of deified women), Tirpu Kathalu (stories of judgments), and so on. The non-story prose genres are proverbs and riddles or Sametalu and Podupukathalu.

The poetry division again has Story and non-story sections. In story section Sramika Geyamulu (work songs), Strila patalu (women songs) Asrita kulala vari Patalu (songs by different caste performers) are there. In work songs male female division is there. The songs by women while they are working in fields are very important. Several stories are revealed and they give vent to their feelings through these stories. The songs at home are different from these songs not only in rhythm but also in length and mode of narration. The women songs can be classified into vrata kathalu or the stories of women rituals and pouranika stories or the mythological stores. Songs of the professional singers or the dependent castes can be categorized into Vira Kathalu (heroic songs or ballads), Adbhuta Kathalu (wonder tales or fairy tales), Purakathalu (general myths and myths of mother goddesses), Charitraka Kathalu (historical songs) Strila kathalu (women related stories). The non-story section in the Poetry division contain three important categories they are Sharmika Geyamulu or work songs, Paramarthika Geyamulu or mystic songs and Koutumbika Geyamulu or family songs. The work songs contain stringara (erotic), hasya (humor) and karuna (pathetic) kinds of songs and the family songs contain bandhutwa (songs of relation), and achara (ceremonious songs).

The third division is Drisya Sakha, folk drama or folk theatre. Telugu folklore is very rich in folk theatre. Most of the art forms of (more than fifty) the dependant castes are theatre forms. The art forms like Oggu katha, Bindla Katha, Kommula Katha, Sarada Katha, Burra katha, Runja Katha, Chindu Yakshaganam, chirutala Yakshaganam, Patam katha, Pandava Katha, and several folk art forms are very popular theatre forms in which the spoken word is vital, are very rich for literature. Vidhi natakam, Yakshaganam, Turpu Bhagotam, and some other folk art forms are there which are for all castes in any village. The theatre division can be classified into two sections one is theatre by the artists the other is puppet theatre. Literature is an essential ingredient even in the puppet theatre. The Ramayana story is basic theme for the shadow puppet theatre of Andhra Pradesh. Patam Katha or the scroll narrative contains the Mahabharata as its theme, entire Mahabharata is narrated in different episodes in the art form of Pandavalu and Kakipadagalu artists. Some other mythical caste mythical themes are also there is form of scroll narratives. Still there are more than 72 folk theatre art forms are living in the region.

The above classification is the general and primary genre based classification of Telugu folk literature. Innumerable number of examples for each category can be given. Each above category in all major divisions and different sections is very rich. It would be impractical in this paper to showcase them. But introducing some of the songs and narratives here would serve the purpose.