Some clarifications regarding Telugu Literature in civils mains

[For those who are planning to give mains 2011 and opting for telugu, I suggest that they join Nagaraju sir's classes as early as possible. I think classes started on June 27, 2011. You can call sir on 9492849025.]

I opted for Telugu literature as I wanted my preparation to be enjoyable and not too heavy. Also, I felt other option would make my preparation monotonous. Some of my background also helped me in preparation – I was telugu medium student till 10^th class, I used to read telugu magazines and news papers, telugu stories and few novels. This background and Nagaraju sir's solid classes made me ready for the exam within short period of five months. There are some negatives as well – my engineering background etc. but I feel these are not hurdles.

Now, every one is unique, so depending on your interest, background and patience the subject will suit you and your time for preparation may vary.

For those who are interested in telugu but not taking this option due to some ill founded fears, here are some clarifications:

1. Telugu Literature doesn't mean that you have to mug up many verses/poems. But if you can remember some, it would be better.

2. It also doesn't expect you to master telugu grammer.

3. Before choosing this option, talk to faculty, discuss with friends who are attending classes/gave exam in Telugu Literature, think about your capabilities and interests. Go through the syllabus fully, clarify all your doubts and then start. You will be ultimately responsible for your decision.

4. The subject is

   1. [Paper I]scientific study of language, history and evolution of language, history and evolution of literature, application and usefulness of language.

   2. [Paper II]Few illustrations/text both from classical and modern literature.

5. Now, let me try to differentiate between language and literature in simple terms. Language is mainly meant for communication and includes some rules (syntax, grammer etc.) to avoid mis-communication. Literature is using language for beautiful expression (say, of our thoughts), for sharing knowledge(eg. Literature on nuclear energy, computer literate) etc.

   Eg. “Beloved of Gods” is expression used by Ashoka in his inscriptions.

   The above sentence contains three words- beloved, of, Gods which if arranged in different fashion – “Gods of Beloved” etc. will make no sense. The individual words, their arrangement etc. is the language aspect. The divinity in the expression, the inferred love and compassion of Asoka towards his people is literature aspect.

   Another example is “do or die”. You try to see what is language in it and what is literature.

6. If you like the subject, you could do reasonably well in exam. You'll read some aspects like language syntax, influence of other languages on telugu, translation, standardization of language, dialect, terminology, fork arts(which is really interesting for people from villages) etc. which is applied language. You'll read about poets and their contribution, different literary movements like feminist literature etc.

7. Paper II has set of verses from classical literature like Mahabharata, poems from modern literature, few stories and novels. Again this is enjoyable if you follow classes well and enjoy the beauty of expression.

8. You should try to rectify some short comings like – very slow writing, lot of spelling mistakes, too bad handwriting etc. But don't worry too much about these. Some spelling mistakes are acceptable and your writing should be legible.

About mugging up poems --- when you listen to classes or read a story (in verses) you are obviously going to like some lines from it. For eg. "Vachinavadu phalgunu davasyamu geltu manunga radu" [Srikrishna Rayabaram]. In each chapter you'll find more and more such lines if you really enjoy telugu. It's like remembering movie dialogues. You should appreciate the beauty of expression and quote it in your answers at appropriate place. If you can remember full poem and quoting it with right pre text, it is much better. I feel our time and effort should not be wasted in mugging and we should focus on analyzing the chapter from different perspectives, which is more helpful.

About paperII, i'll write soon.

Books for Telugu Literature:

I have read mostly from Nagaraju sir's notes for paper I and II. I also read text books prescribed for part II as much as possible. Apart from these, you can refer to

For Paper I part A

Telugu-Bhasha-Charitra · Velamala Simmanna or

Telugu-Bhasha-Charitra-by-Bhadriraju-Krishnamurti

For Paper I Part B

Andhra Sahitya Charitra by NagayyaNagaiah

For Paper II

Nagaraju sir's notes

GV Subrahmanyam sir's material(Hyderabad study circle) – a bit tough