Veyi Padagalu (pronunciation: veɪjɪ pədəgɑlʊ, English: "A Thousand Hoods") is an epic
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
novel written by
Viswanatha Satyanarayana
Viswanatha Satyanarayana (10 September 1885 – 18 October 1976) was a 20th-century Telugu writer. His works included poetry, novels, dramatic play, short stories and speeches, covering a wide range of subjects such as analysis of his ...
. It is a critically acclaimed work of 20th century Telugu literature and has been called "a novel of
Tolstoyan
The Tolstoyan movement is a social movement based on the philosophical and religious views of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910). Tolstoy's views were formed by rigorous study of the ministry of Jesus, particularly the Sermon on the Mo ...
scope". The novel has been translated into several other Indian languages. The "hoods" in the title refer to the hoods of the thousand-hooded serpent god who serves as the divine protector of the village where the story is set.
Background
This novel was written for a competition organised by
Andhra University
Andhra University (IAST: ''Āndhra Vișvakalāpariṣhat'') is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926.
History
King Vikram Deo Verma, the Maharaja of Jeypore was one of the biggest do ...
in 1934, in which this entry shared the prize with
Adivi Baapiraju
Adivi Baapiraju (1895–1952) was an Indian polymath, who was a novelist in Telugu language, playwright, painter, art director, and anti-colonial nationalist known for his works in Telugu theater, and cinema.Encyclopedia of Indian Literature S ...
's ''Narayana Rao''. Viswanatha dictated the novel extemporaneously to his younger brother, Venkateswarlu, who wrote it down.
It was completed in 29 days, taking up 999 broadsheets.
Many of the author's close associates say the book was influenced by his own life.
Later, it was published in 1937-38 in
Andhra Patrika
Andhra Patrika was the weekly newspaper of the nationalist movement in the Telugu speaking region founded by Kasinadhuni Nageswara Rao in 1908. It later transformed into a daily newspaper before it closed down in 1991. It helped to shape both mo ...
as a serial, and again once more later.
Again in 1987-88, it was republished in the golden jubilee edition of the same newspaper.
Characters
* Rameshwara Sastry, the hereditary chief minister of Subbannapeta
*Dharama Rao, the son of Rameswara Sastry by his Brahmin wife Savitramma
*Ramachandra Raju, the son of Rameswara Sastry by Rangajamma, his Kshatriya wife
*Pasirika, the son of Rameswara Sastry by Mangamma, his Shudra wife
* Krishnama Naidu, the
zamindar
A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...
of the village
* Ranga Rao, the
westernized
Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, econo ...
, England-educate son of Krishnama Naidu
*Harappa Naidu, the only son of Ranga Rao
* Ganachari, the hereditary virgin-oracle of the Subrahmanyeswara, the deity of one of the local temples and a representation of Shiva, who is given the ability to glance into the future
* Girika, a
devadasi
In India, a devadasi was a female artist who was dedicated to the worship and service of a deity or a temple for the rest of her life. The dedication took place in a ceremony that was somewhat similar to a marriage ceremony. In addition to taki ...
dancing maid in the service of Venugopala Swamy, the deity of one of the local temples and a representation of Vishnu
Synopsis
The story chronicles the lives of those living in a village named Subbannapeta over three centuries.
The village's fortunes have a close relationship to the change in traditional social structures like the caste system, the temple, the family, and the farm. These aspects are symbolically represented by the families of Harappa Naidu, Rameswara Sastry, and Ganachari. At the start of the novel, Veeranna Naidu discovers a treasure trove and is convinced by a Brahmin astrologer to found Subbannapeta as a zamindari. He establishes temples for Subrahmanyeswara and Venugopala Swamy, representations of Shiva and Vishnu respectively, and constructs a fort, which offers safety and acts as a seat of traditional learning. The villagers' commitment to the two local temples decreases over the centuries and mirrors the gradual decline and disappearance of traditional culture and the village itself. The hoods of the thousand-hooded serpent that embodies the village's patron god Subrahmanyeswara disappear with this decline, with scarcely two remaining with the passage of time.
Translations & Adaptations
This novel was translated into Hindi by
PV Narsimha Rao, former PM of India, as ''Sahasra Phan'' ("A Thousand Hoods") in 1968. In turn, it was translated from Hindi into
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
with the same name by Prabhavati Devi, but only as a limited edition spiral book form.
[{{cite news, date=26 October 2010, title=Sanskrit translation of 'Veyi Padagalu' released, work=The Hindu, location=Chennai, India, url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/article849868.ece, access-date=26 October 2010] In 1995, it was aired on
Doordarshan
Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...
as a TV serial. The radio adaptation of Veyipadagalu as a serial play was broadcast b
All India Radio Hyderabad ‘A’ station with effect from 20 July 2013 every Saturday. The adaptation was scripted by Dr Dittakavi Syamala Devi who penned it in a record time of one month; the role of protagonist Dharma Rao was enacted by
Uppaluri Subbaraya Sarma, and that of Arundhati (Dharma Rao’s wife) b
Vasantha Lakshmi Ayyagari In 1976, Chandrakant Mehta and Mahendra Dhave translated this novel into Gujarati. Later, R.V.S. Sundaram translated the work into Kannada. In 1998, it was published in a Kannada newspaper as "Nootana". The novel was translated into English by five translators over two and a half years.
The five translators are Aruna Vyas
Atreya Sarma Uppaluri Vaidehi Sasidhar, S. Narayana Swamy, and C. Subba Rao, who edited the volume.
References
Telugu-language literature