The uniqueness of India and its Indianness lies in its natural diversity. Therefore, ancient sages and saints made efforts to bind humans with nature. Since ancient times, poets have composed poems sitting in the lap of nature. In Telugu language, animals like snakes, spiders and elephants were shown crossing the boundaries of devotion. The epic Kalahastishwara Mahatmyam Kavya, written by Dhurjati, the court poet of Sri Krishnadevaraya, is one such example. Humans learnt the form of satvik bhakti from shri or kaala (snake) and hasti (elephant), which are deadly creatures.
Our ancestors said bathing in the river and sea is a sacred act. Bathing in the river and sea during special festivals in special seasons was called a virtuous act and their importance in life was propounded. They found a way to preserve the mountains which are full of stones, by establishing temples of gods and goddesses on them. Van mahotsav or vana bhojana—a celebration to lead the happiest moments in gardens or a place full of trees—is also an act to preserve and safeguard the trees. This concept was to preserve the forests and enjoy the delightful environment in the lap of nature.
Every creature of the forest, whether it is a tree, animal or bird, all were forest deities in Dhurjati’s view. Therefore, the ancient poet imagined the beauty of nature with his mind and through manifesting it he gave life to nature in his poetry. This is the history of the people of Telugu Nadu and their soft feelings towards nature.
But time started changing. The changes that have come in modern humans are the result of destruction of nature. Due to humans’ selfishness, they lead a life against nature. It has resulted in pollution exploding in different forms. Modern poets have depicted this misconduct of humans against nature. In modern Telugu literature, poets like Vishwanath Satyanarayana, Rayaprolu Subba Rao, Devulapalli Krishna Shastri, Gurram Jashuva, Venkateswara Parvatish Kavi, Nayani Subbarao, Vedula Satyanarayana, Srirangam Srinivasa Rao and Arudra Narayana have depicted the movement. Like the Hindi Chhayavadi poets, the Telugu Bhaav poets have connected subtle feelings with nature. They made nature the main part of their poetic creations.
After Bhaav Kavita (romantic poetry), Abhyudaya Kavita (progressive poetry), which is famous as Pragatisheel Kavita in Hindi, emerged. Due to this, instead of the subtle form of nature, the struggle of humans for existence started getting expressed in Telugu literature. Since then, nature became a secondary subject in poetry and the frustrations of humans, their struggles and dissatisfactions, have become the main subjects.
The lack of public welfare sentiment in the poet and individualistic thinking kept poetry away from nature. Therefore, Abhudayavadi poetry developed after Bhaav Kavita, and instead of the pleasant form of nature, the poets started to depict its vigorous forms. The poets also started expressing their anger and struggle through nature. This was the condition of nature in Telugu literature till the last few years. In the era of globalisation, due to mutual competition among the countries and economic progress, humans forgot humanity and human qualities.
The efforts of the sages and saints for the protection of Mother Nature for centuries have become ineffective today. Now, in these distorted circumstances, it is important to free humans from their distorted mentality. There is a need to awaken the tender feelings in them again. They have to be made human again and inspired to protect the nature around them. In modern civilisation they are moving away from nature. Their language and feelings have also started becoming unnatural. Cities have been established. Where there were green fields, factories have been built. Due to the cruel and foul mentality, which developed in recent times, the tender feelings of human beings have almost disappeared. Due to the changed nature of humans, the gentle thinking and ideology of the poet has also disappeared. Therefore, in modern poetry, the poet has concentrated on their own feelings, their own sorrows instead of giving importance and depicting the sorrows and feelings of others and a collective life of the people. Their pain, their frustrations, their ego have become the main issues of today’s poetry. That is why the description of beauty blooming in nature is nowhere to be seen in modern poetry.
Today’s poetry is divided in the name of gender, caste and religion; the beauty of poetry has vanished and along with it, the delicate nature of poetry. Nature is also neglected in poetry. Environmental protection is now being recognised as an issue in Telugu literature. Poets and writers are focusing their attention on this aspect. Telugu writers are writing literature to create awareness about the environment by explaining the reasons for environmental degradation and making people aware of the ill effects of it. They are also writing poems to make people aware of the consequences of environmental pollution. Bengal Saidachari’s poem “Mera Gaon” (Na Palli) presents a view of a village, crowded, full of trees, plants and crops, full of happiness and satisfaction, which attracts the reader towards the beauty of villages surrounded by nature.
A few poets have adopted the technique of awakening love for nature in a person’s mind by describing the beauty of nature. Much earlier, Jandhyala Papayya Sastry has described nature as the natural teacher of humans, and the benefits of trees as:
“Trees, which bear the burning heat on the head and give cool shade to the travellers, which grow even on hard rocks and give fruits and flowers, which give their bodies to be cut even after sacrificing their lives, which make the human race understand the altruism in this world, are his Guru.”
It has the message of learning from the altruistic, selfless intelligence of trees. Papineni Sivasankar in his poem “Aakupachchani Lokam” (Green World) has shown that even the trees of the dense forest—the abode of cruel animals—have given shelter to gurus and have appeared as the forest deity guiding human life.
Humans have established their lives on riverbanks. Cultures have flourished on riverbanks. They are a source of our cherished life. But today rivers have become polluted due to human selfishness and have become fatal for the creatures that depend on water. Mohammad Sharif, while describing the ill effects of water pollution, requests the human communi-ty to save water from getting polluted. In the poem “Prakritini Rakshinchu” (Protect Nature), he writes:
“By releasing polluted water into drains, diseases are spreading, the essence of the earth is getting depleted and life span is decreasing, agriculture has weakened, cattle wealth has decreased, water pollution has spread, speech pollution has spread. Stop it now, O man! Protect this earth”.
The attack on the environment started only when humans started disrespecting their parents. How far will the child, who expels his/her parents from their home in their old age, understand and protect Mother Nature? This mentality has become the first step of his/her downfall. Human’s ego, selfishness and pleasure mentality have proved fatal for the environment. Poet Sircilla Gafoor Shikshak teaches man, who behaves forgetting his limits, in his poem “Pranulu Paryavaran”:
“If you spit on the sky, it will fall on you, nature’s anger will burn you like a curse, it is ego, which will drown man like a catastrophe, it is selfishness that makes the lives of creatures questionable.”
In present times, many literary works are being written with environment as the central theme. The contribution of Telugu poets in this direction is commendable.
(Chitti Annapurna is professor and head, Hindi department, University of Madras, Chennai)
This series explores the most pressing environmental issues through the prism of literature
This article was originally published in the May 16-31, 2025 print edition of Down To Earth