In quest of the naked truth

In the decade of 1960s, particularly the second half, the “Sensational Six” known popularly as Digambara poets’ arrival in Hyderabad with their first volume of poetry, created ripples. Is the republic conscious of crores of people, and is it striving true to its constitutional obligations?

Ask the Digambara poets, whose poetry is an explosive mix of choicest expletives, denial, scorn, ridicule, rejection and what you have in your hands is righteous anger concentrate, between two covers. The poets are Nagnamuni, Nikhileswar, Jwalamukhi, Bhairavayya, Cherabandaraju and Mahasvapna. In the period of ensuing two years, a total of three volumes of Digambara poetry were released at ungodly hours, in the cities of Vijayawada, and Visakhapatnam, by poor folks.

Digambara poets noted the radical ideological departures in Western society and administered a shock to the stagnant condition into which the society was getting quagmired through their poetry. These poets can rightly be termed as Young Turks, whose dissent was loud and clear in a relaxing literary fraternity that has devised and fashioned methods of tolerance towards the powers that be.

In the 1970s, the Revolutionary Writers’ Association (RWA) (Virasam in short or Viplava Rachayitala Sangham) came into being with a bang, alerting and altering the literary landscape. The fact that almost all the Digambara poets have joined the RWA, speaks volumes about their role in the formation of the radical writers unit.

The Digambara poetry, in all its meteoric majesty, was welcomed by senior generation poet like Sri Sri – a symbol of collective dynamism, who translated some of Digambara poems into English, and on the flip side, it faced the brunt of criticism from hard spoken critics like Rachamallu Ramachandra Reddy, who termed the bunch of youth irresponsible and compared them to the “worms in the drainage”.

The questions the six poets raised about the social conditions, had international ramblings of expression, and once we start to look at the expression of the times, about the failing systems and deceptive establishments, we realise that the scorn and denial have essentially become the lingo of the poets of the day, which the liberal-hearted poets like Sri Sri could discern, but nevertheless, the Telugu society, was in shock and remained in awe of the strange tactics of the sensational six.

In our history we had “Sveta digambara” tradition in Jain religion, and much closer to us, it is believed that even Telugu Sataka poet Vemana remained robeless, in his public life, and through his slashing words disrobed the dual standards of the medieval Telugu society.

Hence, choosing a term Digambara, or invoking such a mindset to look at the truth and nothing but the truth is not a new thing. But in modern Telugu poetry, the boldness the sensational six displayed was imprinted and remained, though decades passed by. In the year 1972, in Maharashtra, Namdeo Dhasal, raised his voice as Dalit Panthers and wrote acidic verses in Marathi. This spirited protest from the downtrodden has taken a leaf or two from the Digambara poetry movement.

The six poets developed divergent views as years passed by, Cherabanda Raju remained in Virasam and Nagnamuni, Nikhileswar, Jwalamukhi, resigned from the body and continued to be dissenters with different left orientations, Mahasvapna returned to oblivion and normalcy, and Bharaayya chose a religious path.

Their fiery contribution of three volumes has been much translated, and in the genesis of modern Telugu literature of the twentieth century, this is always considered as a peak of protest and dissent. The questions the poets have raised are very much serious now and acquired sinister proportions in Republic that is now more concerned with the private sector, than strengthening the hands of the public.

The urgency of understanding the dehumanising ways of the establishment and power centres has become more direct, and more impatient. In a nation that is now free for seven decades, the citizens who have seen the dawn of freedom are now reaching their seventies.

Has the nation and its administration stood by the constitutional obligations? Now, once again, a very no-nonsense naked view of things is the burning need of the hour. In this backdrop, the contribution of Digambara poets is worth recalling, and since the books were out of print for long, the three volumes have been brought back as a single book by ‘Sahitee Mitrulu’ from Vijayawada, and in a day-long interactive session with collegiate of youth romped in from four educational institutions organised by Prajwalitha at Tenali, the blazing volume in all its red cornered glory was released recently. Noted poet Muvva Srinivasa Rao and Nagalla Durgaprasada Rao, a poet, theatre promoter played key roles in the initiaive.

With the passage of time, among the six fiery voices, two poets Cherabanda Rahu and Jwalamukhi, have breathed their last, Bhairavayya remained in the self-enforced exile in the corridors of religion, and only three of them made it to the action replay that took place after fifty years of the release of their first volume of Digambara poetry.

Nagnamuni, Nikhileswar, and Mahasvapna remained the centre of attraction, and the day-long experience of living and believing in the power of literature has sent a message or two to the youngsters as well.

By: Rama Teertha
The writer is a poet, translator, critic and an orator