Here
Is the jasmine garland
To our Telugu mother
Here are our oil-lamp
offerings
To our beloved birth mother
Full of golden resources
Her stomach,
Her glances full of compassion
Riches sprout with her smile
(Our dear mother)
When the Godavari meanderingly
flows gurgling
When the Krishna runs fast with
frolicking jumps
(Verily) Golden*
crops grow on the land
Lovely pearls roll down all
over
The extraordinary sculptures
Of Amaravati caves
The lilting tunes of Tyagayya
The delectable honeyed verses
Dripping from the pen of
Tikkana
Till they get etched all
across
Till they spread everywhere
Rudramma’s valor
Mallamma’s fidelity
The shrewd strategy of
Timmarasu
And the great Krishnaraya’s
fame
Until they echo in our ears
We’ll sing - only your songs
We’ll play - only your games
Hail the Telugu mother
Hail the Telugu Mother!
*Here the imagery refers to
the color of rice (paddy) fields at harvest time. Soon after harvesting mounds
of white rice is seen in the rice mills next to mountains of rice husk (bran). Later
rice is processed into cereals like puffed rice, a favorite snack of children. Citrus
fruits (lime, orange, citron, and pomelo) are also grown abundantly in Andhra
Pradesh. The little juice sacs of the fruit are known in Telugu as “pearls”.
Copyright 2017 tvrao
Both the poet Sri Sankarambadi Sundarachari and Tanguturi Suryakumari achieved extraordinary fame with this single song (State Anthem). Credit also goes to the sweet language; people often ascribe its musicality to its vowel ending. But there is more to it, Telugu has close affinity with Sanskrit (అందుకే అన్నారు సంస్కృతమును 'గీర్వాణ భాష' అని. తిట్టులు కూడా సొంపుగా ఉంటాయి మరి!)
