This article is about Ramarajabhushanudu, one of the Ashtadiggajas of the Vijayanagara empire, and his literary contributions and the books he wrote.
Ramarajabhushanudu and his books
Bhattumurti, nicknamed Ramarajabhushanudu, had a long and distinguished literary career. He started his career as an apprentice under Peddana, and was later patronized by Krishnadevaraya and his successor Aliya Rama Rao.
His honorary name suggests that he was considered the ‘Jewel of Ramarao’s court’. He was a poet-musician and played Veena with dexterity. His popular works are Kavy-alankara-sangrahamu, Vasu-caritramu, Hariscandra Nalopakhyanamu, and Narasabhupaleeyamu.
The writing style of Ramarajabhushanudu
At the time when he started writing, Peddana and Suranna were considered the most accomplished authors. Bhattumurti wanted to write something that eclipse the two. He imbibed the descriptive excellence of Peddana and the slesha novelty of Suranna in his style.
Vasucaritra – The book by Ramarajabhushanudu
Vasucaritra is his most admired work and is considered another greatest of the Pancha-maha-kavya among the Telugu Literature.
In this book he narrated a simple story of the marriage of Garika, the daughter of Suktimati (a river) and Kolahala (a mountain), with the King Vasuwith.
The reason behind choosing this obscure story of Bhagwat Purana for the book was that a well-known story would have restricted him into a framework and boundaries to confine his narration.
While he was looking for a story where he can not only stretch his freedom of expression and latitude in treatment but also his imagination to shape the subject matter of the story. His own belief that made him choose the subject of his narrative was following,
Purely imaginary stories are an inferior type of precious stones; but borrowed themes make artificial diamonds. I should like to take a story neither famous nor purely imaginary; but one which is insignificant in itself, while permitting considerable scope for improvement, like a rough precious stone which shines when cut and polished.
The influence of music over Ramarajabhushanudu’s compositions
His command over music had great influence on his poetic compositions, and the poems of Vasucaritra have musical flow and rhythm and a sweet atmosphere of harmony. His compositions are song set to music and there is symphony and cadence as well.
Literary critics agree that the final effect produced in his poems was so good that even today there are not more than two or three books, at best, that can come somewhere near Vasucaritramu, in the ingenious use of slesha and skillful word play.
With this work Ramarajabhushanudu excelled his inspirations and became a model for those who wanted to write in slesha, eclipsing the work of Pingali Suranna.
Comparison of Suranna with Ramarajabhushanudu
The rehabilitation of Suranna is the result of modern literary re-evaluations. Modern critics agree that Ramarajabhushanudu handled the story with infinite skill, making an ingenious use of slesha and avoided wooden artificiality on one side and did not sacrifice sense for the sound on other side. This makes him a supreme artist, but on the flip-side his style lacked the simplicity of his famed illustrious colleague Pingali Suranna.
The modern critics feel that Vasucarita has over-elaboration of the descriptive elements which many a times throttle the flow of the story, which in itself is thin. The descriptions are delightful in stand-alone, but standout with regard to the demand of the narrative.
Comparison of Peddana with Ramarajabhushanudu
One critic has beautifully compared him with Peddana saying that, “Peddana strings his pearls into a necklace and put it around Goddess Saraswati’s neck, while Ramarajabhushanudu prefers to shower them loose and unstrung on her”.
Below is the verse from Vasucarita dedicated to Goddess Saraswati with which Ramarajabhushanudu begin his book. Enjoy the beautiful, meaningful verse:
Playing the vina, she melts down
(from the book: Classical Telugu Poetry: An Anthology, translated, edited, with an introduction by Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman)
the string of syllables she holds,
so that each contains her image,
and each, eternal and transparent,
is also full of self. This goddess,
this language, lives in the words
of our king.
Hariscandra Nalopakhyanamu
The book Hariscandra Nalopakhyanamu is another dual work which tells simultaneously the story of King Harischandra and Nala-Damyanti and each verse of this work can be interpreted to mean either the story of Emperor Harischandra or that of Nala.
His Kavyalankara-Sangraha is a standard work on poetics in Telugu.