A Grammar of the Telugu Language/Preface
PREFACE.
The languages spoken by the Hindus in the Peninsula of India have for many ages been sedulously cultivated by a series of poets and philologists. From Madras southwards the Tamil is spoken; but Telugu fills the countries to the north and north-west. Still further west we meet the Canarese; and in the south-west the Malayalam. All these languages, with Hindustani, are taught in the College at Madras; and are as different from one another as English, French and German.
Sanscrit is to India, what Latin is to Europe, the basis of much learning, and the source of much etymology. In the Telugu poems we meet with many pages written in almost unmingled Sanscrit. And a knowledge of that unrivalled language, though not indispensable, is so great an aid in gaining a command of the modern tongues that every hour given to Sanscrit will materially aid the student in the acquisition of Telugu, Tamil, or any other Peninsular language.
But the fact that Telugu is an original language widely different from all others, and having a grammar wholly independant of Sanscrit, will soon be clearly perceived. Indeed no knowledge of Sanscrit will of itself enable us to understand a common letter, or a conversation in Tamil or Telugu. We shall also find that Sanscrit is read by few besides Bramins; and there are not many Telugu Bramins who possess a respectable acquaintance with Sanscrit.
The long continued sway of the Musulmans has introduced numerous Hindustani phrases into Telugu: yet very few of the people, even among the educated classes, can speak or read Hindustani; while Persian has fallen almost into oblivion. Musulmans under the Madras Government now transact their legal business in the vernacular Hindu dialects; and so unable are they to conduct business in Hindustani or Persian that we frequently meet with legal pleadings filed by musulman pleaders, but drafted in Telugu by a clever bramin. The Persian they use in correspondence is a sad jargon. But, as regards the Hindus, English is daily more and more extensively cultivated and it is to be hoped that the Telugus may in future study it with good success. To aid them in English has been one of my principle objects in writing this grammar. It may be worth while to remark that household servants at Madras talk a broken English with fluency; but the learner will find it profitable to employ only those domesticks who will speak to him in the language he is studying; such are always to be had. Our initiatory native instructors also speak English: but we should as soon as possible lay aside such aid and employ a teacher who speaks Telugu alone.
Having been employed by Government for several years the Telugu countries I soon perceived the necessity of studying the language: then, with a view to acquire the vernacular idiom, I was encouraged to read and translate Vemana, and a few others of the less learned but more popular authors. Experience daily proved to me that the grammar is best studied in metrical compositions. This we know to be the case in Greek, Sanscrit and French; and it is equally true as regards the modern languages of India wherein we are constantly obliged to transact business.
As I proceeded I met with many peculiarities, (chiefly, in the syntax,) which were not noticed in any work already published. Mr. Campball's able grammar of this language, which had then been a few years printed, conveys amply and correctly (see pages 180, and 233 of the present volume) all the rules found in the ancient philologists: and to these I have now added such explanations as appeared requisite. In the closing chapter of this volume, (on Elision and Permutation) I am particularly indebted (see page 258) to Mr. Campbell's learned and accurate definitions of principles which all acknowledge to be peculiarly refined.
But I have been led to adopt a new arrangement which may facilitate the study, and have excluded much which is intended for the guidance of native poets or etymologists alone. It will be seen (in page 247) that the elder grammarians wrote principally for poets: but I, as a foreigner, have chiefly regarded the wants of beginners. Much that I have excluded from the first chapters is now placed in the last, because some topicks which may be interesting to learned natives are to us of no advantage. These are the poetical sandhi or Elision (see pages 39, and 254) the saral adesam or softened Initials (see page 250) the sacata repha or Obsolete R (see pages 22, 245, and 252,) and ardha bindu or obsolete N (see pages 26, 116, 252). A perusal of the Chintamani (see page 180) and of the elaborate treatise on Telugu philology and prosody written by Appa Cavi (the Varro of the language) led me to consider that if the refined principles of Orthography which that indefatigable etymologist inculates, are grounded on truth, they surely must be verified in the Mahabharat, and other ancient works to which he continually refers. I therefore examined these standard poems and found them indeed to corroborate all that he and other criticks declare regarding saral-adesam; but the sacata repha occurred very rarely and apparently was used or neglected at the option of the transcriber. My doubts as to the cogency of his doctrines (which indeed very few of the Telugus themselves comprehend) were confirmed by observing that among many manuscripts of the Mahabharat, no two agreed in the spelling of those words wherein he requires the introduction of the Sacata Repha: which therefore seems to be, like the Greek digamma, wholly fallen into oblivion.
The same observations may apply to the ardha bindu, or semicircle; a character, or accentual point, rarely to be found in any ancient manuscript, however warmly advocated by many pandits at the present day. But I have had the assistance of men of acknowledged learning; of whom mention is made in an Essay on Telugu Literature printed in the Madras Literary Society's Journal for July 1839, page 59. One of these was the commentator on the Manu Charitra and other celebrated poems. They held Appa Cavi in high veneration but were constrained to admit that even on his authority these two letters (the obsolete R and N) could not be reasonably revived, while opposed by all the older manuscripts of all the Telugu poems. In Sanscrit poems the arddh' anuswaram or Semi-nasal, is indeed very properly retained, but they who introduce this Sanscrit point into Telugu appear to act upon no fixed principle; and as our business is with the Telugu as now spoken and written, we may safely neglect a refinement unknown to the bulk of the people. Accordingly these two obscure letters are wholly excluded from the new editions of the Vasu Charitra, the Mahabharat, and the Dwipada Ramayan, wherein the ordinary and popular mode of spelling is uniformly observed.
Bowing to the authority of Appa Cavi I had originally introduced the obsolete R and N into the Grammar and dictionary; but in progress of time I observed that no pandit or scholar of acknowledged authority in the language laid any stress on these refinements, which, as already mentioned, are unknown to the people at large. By reasoning on these facts, as opposed to the assertions of the ordinary (sastris) tutors and moonshees I at last was led to exclude these needless characters from the grammar: my object being to describe the language as it is; not such as philologists assert it ought to be. The removal of these fictitious obstacles has rendered my task much easier and I now hope that Telugu will no longer be considered the most difficult of the Peninsular languages.
The greater part of this Grammar is devoted to the common Telugu of every day life, but at the conclusion (page 246–7; and 266) I have given a short account of the Telugu literature, comprizing the names of the more celebrated poems. Probably many of these favourite volumes will be as unavailable to a foreigner as Shakspeare or Milton would be to a bramin, for no one can read the higher Telugu poems with pleasure, unless he possesses a familiar acquaintance with Sanscrit literature, and with the braminical mythology. It therefore becomes necessary (see page 246–7) to substitute a different course of study; less aspiring but more profitable; which will ultimately enable us to understand and enjoy the more celebrated compositions. On similar grounds foreigners who learn English must often commence their studies with Defoe, Addison, Swift and Goldsmith: who among us have become so far popular as to be no longer considered classical.
The first attention of the student should be given to attaining, under the guidance of a native, (from the northern districts) a correct pronunciation and a fluent ease in reading verse and prose. To write the Telugu character with readiness is also an indispensable accomplishment in one who is called upon to transact business. The written character differs very widely from that used in printing, which is modelled on the round text hand used in books, whereas the running hand used in business is far from being equally legible. After reading a few Trials and common Letters, a volume of which is now ready for publication, the pleasure should peruse Vemana, (in the edition which is accompanied by an English translation) with a few other Satacams (see page 203) and the Adventures of Saranga Dhara.[1] To this may succeed the Adventures of Nala (Nala Chacravarti Dwipada) which is now in course of publication. He may then finish a very moderate but sufficient course of Telugu reading by perusing the Lila (see page 238) which if carefully studied ought to give us an ample stock of the expressions daily required in speaking and writing. The Cuchelopakhyanam recently published will also be found useful by beginners.
The Lila being considered by bramins to be heretical, because opposed to their superstitions, we should obtain the assistance of any well educated Jangam in perusing it. Learning is not very general among the the Jangams who belong to the Telugu people, but some of them are men of superior attainments, and possess a liberality of mind which is remarkably pleasing.
But the student who desires to make further progress in Telugu should next read a part of the Dwipada Ramayan, the Pancha Tantram, the Bhanumad Vijayam, (see page 228.) and the Uttara Ramayan written by Canacanti Paparaz. Or he may proceed at once to the Aniruddha Charitra and the Vijaya Vilasam. Until he can read the Dwipada Ramayan with ease he should not attempt the other books now named. All these works have been carefully edited by learned natives.
if however, after reading the Lila he wishes to acquire a knowledge of the poetical dialect without studying the braminical works now named, the student may with advantage peruse the Vedanta Rasayan or Summary of the Gospels, a Telugu poem of considerable merit,[2] which is illustrated by a commentary written in the same language by a learned Jangam.
But as the Vedanta Rasayan can only be read after we have made a very considerable progress in Telugu, the reader may, if he prefers modern composition, read the Dwipada version of the Gospel of St. Luke, which I understand is about to be printed. The style herein adopted is generally an imitation of that used in the Lila, but the narrative is sedulously written in the plainest and most literal style. Many phrases are borrowed from the Vedanta Rasayan, and from the Tamil Gospels.
The books I first named (all of which are short and plain, and some are very popular) are selected out of many which appear equally easy. But a few of those are objectionable as not calculated to interest or benefit the beginner: who in time will meet with many useful volumes which I now leave unmentioned.
The course of study now recommended, is different from that which learned Bramins would point out. They would wholly reject the books first named: and though they may concur in recommending the Ramayan and the works named in conjunction with it (of course rejecting the Vedanta Rasayanam) they would urge us to read the Bhagavat, and some other favourite works named at close of this grammar. But they seldom reflect that much which is quite easy to them, is disheartening to a foreigner who is far from familiar with the Sanscrit dialect, who does not understand the mythology, and who cannot enter into the beauties of mysticism. The wild superstitious fables which delight the taste of a Hindu often excite unmingled disgust in the minds of our countrymen: and as all aliment to be nutritious must be in a measure agreeable, I have in the present list, first recommended those popular poems which may most agreeably conduct us to the higher portions of Telugu literature.
If, in the arrangement of this grammar I have considerably deviated from the course laid down in the older works it is because the great object kept in view has been, to facilitate self instruction and to render the reader independent of oral explanations: this I hope will be the result of the adjustment now made. “Every man” says Parkhurst (in the preface to his Greek Grammar) “who has thought much upon such a curious and extensive subject as Grammar, may justly claim some indulgence to his own notions concerning it and to be allowed his own peculiar method of arranging his conceptions and communicating them to others.” This discretion may be most profitably used when we have to examine principles which the commonalty evidently understand correctly, and which the refinements introduced by the learned have much obscured.
A familiarity with the spoken Telugu as already alluded to, gives so little aid in reading the superior language used in poems, that some have hence imagined the latter to be obsolete: just as the Telugus, Canarese or Tamils, however fluent in colloquial English, are unable to read English poems; which we look upon as perfectly easy. And yet their poets are read with delight by persons of ordinary education: a fact which led me to the conclusion that the “high or Sanscrit dialect” was neither obsolete nor in general pedantic. An attention to the poets gradually dissipated those difficulties in Syntax which equally exist in both the strict and in the free dialect; and in time the path became easy.
As an Englishman residing in France or Germany must study Corneille or Goethe before he can converse idiomatically, so the true key to those modes of thought and peculiarities of expression which in India occur daily, can be found only in the classicks of India.
- ↑ A summary of this book (the Saranga Dhara Charita Dwipada) may be found in the Journal of the Madras Literary Society for October 1839, page 376. The Telugu poem is now about to be printed. Regarding the Dwipada metre see page 238 of this grammar.
- ↑ See Journal above-mentioned, for Jan. 1840, pages 155 and 173.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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