Poems of Aduri Satyavathi Devi
Poem-23
The Epical Touch
Telugu Original: Aduri Satyavathi Devi
English Translation: NS Murthy
To mine eyes long forgotten dreaming
And to my heart’s precincts shut for ages
There came an eyeful ocular epic
Handing me out an invitation
And churning a new lyric in me.
The blue herds leisuring out on the sky
Must have hugged dearly the yonder hills
For, they drench in the cascade
Of warping blue hues.
Carrying fragrances,
Fresh blooms in the floral palanquin
Wind throws a song
Among a plethora of chirrupy chips
And lo!
In a while the whole vale wells up in symphony,
Gay capricious youth is at play.
Over the tree trunks
Notched up by the wintry wind
Mischievous shoots peep in.
A verdure velvet carpet
Spreads evenly across the forest.
The blushing Kasiratnams gleam over it.
Grass flowers and tender Parijata enchant butterflies.
The unity of divergent beauty
Seems an ‘Eye-ken’ blessed by nature.
To unveil these charms
Lazying in wafer dew blanket
The sire, above the oriental line
Comes with chilled hands of delight
Comely cuddling and delicately embracing each heart.
That dawn of warm sunshine
Is a wreath of blossoming ideas.
There
Where unity alone abounds,
Is a message of peace,
The purity of a new-born baby.
From the magma of my experiences
From the shades of arresting landscapes
From the elevated souls of ancient seers
Here comes a new man…walking down
The farmer… who can cultivate peace upon earth.
*****
Telugu Original :‘Kaavya Sparsa’
Aduri Satyavathi Devi was born in Guntur in the year 1948 and settled in Visakhapatnam after marriage in 1969. She began her literary career as a lyricist at the age of 13. She wrote a variety of lyrics numbering about 300 — light, classical, devotional, patriotic, children’s and others. More than 50 songs of Satyavati Devi were broadcast over All India Radio. Eventually she made forays into various other literary genres like Poetry, Short story, Essay, Radio Play, Musical Feature, Books, Film reviews, Forewords etc..She created a substantial corpus of poetry with more than 180 poems included in 4 anthologies of poetry. She received accolades from readers, scholars, critics and litterateurs for her sensitive rendering of poems. She participated in many Poetry Meets, Festivals conducted by All India Radio, Doordarshan and the Sahitya Akademi. She was widely translated into English and Hindi. Some of the translations appeared in renowned journals like Indian Literature (English), and Samakaaleen Bharateeya Saahitya (Hindi).
She published her first volume of lyrics Vennello Venugaanam in 1988. Her first volume of poetry Rekkamudavani Raagam was published in 1992 followed by Jalapaata Geetam in 1997 and Veyirangula Velugu Raagam in 2006. Hindi translation of Rekkamudavani Raagam came out in 2008 as “Pankh an Modnevaalaa Raag” and a miscellany of various facets of her literary endeavour Vennela Paarijaataalu was published posthumously in Dec 2008. She received many prizes and awards for her literary pursuits and accomplishments like STVD Kalasamithi Award for Rekkamudavani Raagam in 1993, and Telugu University’s “Pratibha Puraskaram” as “Best Poet” in 1994, “Krishna Sastry Award” from Andhra Lalita Kala Samithi (Secunderabad) in 1998, UNESCO Literary Award in 2000, and “Ramavruksha Benipuri Janma Sataabdi Sammaan” from Jaimuni Academy (Panipat) in 2002. An English translation of her poem, “Veyirekkala Pavuram” (Myriad Winged Bird) has been included in the syllabus of English texts in the poetry section of Degree year students by the Common Core syllabus Committee in AP from 2008.