Veyipadagalu

Veyipadagalau (pronunciation: veɪjɪpədəgɑlʊ) is an epic Telugu novel written by "Kavi Saamraat" Viswanatha Satyanarayana. He has written over 120 books and received Jnanpith award for his ‘Ramayana Kalpavruksham'. Veyipadagalu is a critically acclaimed novel that can be viewed as one of the best creative work in Telugu literature.
It was translated into Hindi by India's 9th Prime minister Sri PV Narasimharao, with the name "Sahasra Phan" (In Telugu "Veyi" means Sahasra (Thousand) and "Padagalu" means Phan (Snake hood). Again "Sahasra Phan" translated into Sanskrit with the same name by Prabhavati Devi.^[1]

Background

This novel was written for a competition organised by Andhra University in 1934, in which this entry was declared joint winner along with Adivi Bapiraju's Narayana Rao. It was drafted while Viswanadha was dictating, by his brother, Venkateswarlu. It was completed in 29 days fitting into exactly 999 pages. Later, it was published in 1937-38 in Andhra Patrika as a serial. Again in 1987-88, it was republished in the golden jubilee edition of the same newspaper.
It is opined by many of the author's close associates as his own biography.^[2]

The Plot

• The initial chapter has the story of the protagonist's parents and ancestors.
• The story revolves around Subbannapeta village. How virtues, traditions and customs are deteriorated day by day are shown in the novel as the story unfolds.
• Main roles are :

1. Girika or Devadasi
2. Dharma Rao
3. Ranga Rao
4. Ganachari

Translations

This great epic work was translated into Hindi by PV Narsimha Rao, former PM of India as Sahasra Phan in 1968. In 1995, it was aired on Doordarshan as a serial. In 1976, Chandrakant Mehta and Prof, 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 by name "Nootana".

This great novel was serialized in English on a web journal www.newaavakaaya.com as Thousand Hoods during 2013-14. It was translated as a retelling of the story by Dr. Syamala Kallury. Due to objections raised by Jr.Viswanatha Satyanarayana and his brothers - grandsons of the author and legal heirs - who hold copyright of the author's books, serialization of this translation was stopped and archives were deleted.^[3]

References

1. ↑ "Sanskrit translation of 'Veyi Padagalu' released". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 26 October 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2010. 
2. ↑ Veyi Padagalu Telugu. Prologue. 2012. 
3. ↑ Syamala, Kalluri. "Afterword for 'Veyi Padagalu'". http://www.newaavakaaya.com/. Retrieved 25 October 2014.  External link in |website= (help)