POTHANA GARI BHAGAVATHAM

Hi Friends this is my first blog; after a lot more struggle in my mind finally, I chose " Bammera Pothana Bhagavatham" which admires me a lot, and the poems in this Andhra Maha Bhagavtham were sweet pills and lovable. The Telugu language is my mother tongue for this reason I would like to share this great translation of the Hindu mythology of Maha Bhagavatham from Sanskrit to Telugu through this blog.

Shri Bammera Pothana was a natural poet (Sahaja Kavi) in Telugu literature who belongs to the era of 1450 -1510 years and he belongs to the village called "Bammera" which is 40 Km distance from Warangal town situated in current Telangana state. Pothana's father's name was Kesanna and his mother was Lakkasanamma. Potana was a nice and polite man. He was an agriculturist by profession. Even though he was a great poet, he never hesitated to work in his agricultural fields.

Bammera Pothana at an early age wrote Bhogini Dandakam, this was his first poem and shows his vibrant poetic talents. His second work was "Virabhadhra Vijayamu" which describes the adventures of Lord Virabhadhra. The main theme was the destruction of a Daksha Yagnam performed in absence of Lord Shiva by Daksha Prajapathi.

At a young age, Pothana was a devotee of Lord Shiva. Later, Pothana became a devotee of Lord Rama. On one early morning during a solar eclipse, on the banks of river Godavari, Potana was meditating on Lord Shiva. At that auspicious moment, Lord Rama appeared dressed like a king and requested Pothana to translate Bhagavatam into Telugu and dedicate it to him. This inspired him to translate Vyasa's Sanskrit Bhagavatam into Telugu. Later he was renowned for his great translation of Maha Bhagavatham from Sanskrit to Telugu with the blessings of Lord Sri Rama Chandra Prabhu. His poems are evergreen in Telugu and take us nearer to the god without any prayers.

Bammera Pothana led a happier life and was in complete devotion without any greed. Usually, any mythological script written in Sanskrit was deemed to be powerful and nearer to the god, and most were written by "Vyasa Maharshi" but comes to the "Maha Bhagavatham", it was reverse and this Telugu translated Bhagvatham is called as "Pothana Bhagvatham" which is surely one step ahead than the Vyasa's written Bhagavatam.

Bhagavatham's main soul is praising Lord Vishnu in 09 ways and means, Pothana explained this in a simple sloka here it is.

Bhagavatham was written by "Vyasa Maharshi" in Sanskrit and it was the first doctrine by "Suka Maharshi" to "Parikshittu" in seven days, Suka Maharshi was the son of Vyasa Maharshi. In those 07 days, Parikshittu got nirvana (moksha) after listening to the Maha Bhagavatam. Maha Bhagavatham contains 12 chapters (called skandhas in Sanskrit).

Shri Pothana starts his Bhagavatham for his will and wish to get Moksha and explained in a beautiful poem. This is the beginning sloka of Maha Bhagavatham.

Here is the beautiful sloka wrote by Shri Pothana on Goddess "Durga" which was the best of its kind in Telugu literature. The same was displayed inside the kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada

The person who doesn't take the credit for his success and thinks that God is behind his/her acts represents a simple lifestyle with peaceful living and without any worries. See how Pothana briefed about this in the simple two-line poem.

King Sarvajna Singa Bhoopala, wanted Pothana to dedicate Andhra Maha Bhagavatam to him. But, Pothana refused to obey the king's orders and affectionately dedicated the Bhagavathamu to only Lord Rama, whom he worshipped with great devotion. Pothana perceived that it's better to dedicate the work to the supreme Lord Vishnu than dedicate it to the mortal kings.

The specialty of Shri Bammera Pothana's literature is the rhythm in his poems and the repetition of sound that touches the common people and can also able to understand of verses used by him and readers as well.

Many more sweetest (madhura) poems were there in the Shri Bammera Pothana's Telugu Bhagavatham and in fact, this was the first translation of Bhagavatam from Sanskrit to the local Indian language across India and of course the best among of all translated.

If we keep saying about Pothana and Bhagavatham it's nothing but counting drops in an ocean. The only thing we can give respect and gratitude to Pothana is to learn or by heart a few poems.

Here are a few of those poems for all our life success and a few tiny steps towards devotion and for peace of mind in a busy life......

The above poem briefing about lord Vishnu's residence and his stature in Vaikunta, one fact about this poem is that this was written by lord Rama directly as the Pothana struggle to narrate the Vaikuntam.

This poem narrates bout the kids who enrich the lives of parents by praying to the Lord Vishnu and worshipping lord shiva.

This was sung by the Elephant King in Gajendra Moksham about the almighty with a bit of doubt in his mind.

This was one of the best from Pothana by explaining the increase of celibate Vamana avatar for taking his third step from King Bali.

Like those many of Pothana's poems were really taken to us to a new feeling and enlightened our lives and taking us nearer to the god and moving a step towards the understanding of Sanathana Dharma.

This blog was my small tiny attempt towards the greatest saga of understanding Indian mythological literature like Ramayana, Maha Bharatham, Bhagavatam, Bhagavadgita, and the greatest saints who gave to us this literature for our true living in this modern yuga.

Your's

Raja Krishna