Andhra Prasasti

His Andhra Prasasti roused patriotic zeal in the hearts of readers. It was an impassioned recital of the vanished glories of Andhra history and culture. Standing as a column of triumphy on the soil of Vengi, poet Viswanatha recalled the many sided achievements of the race in a tone of high rapture. He kindled in the hearts an intense desire to recapture the splendours of the bygone days.

Kinnersaani Paatalu

lyrical genius accomplished an amazing feat in Kinnersaani Paatalu. The sequence of songs unfolds the moving tale of a maiden who in harassed at home and transformed into a stream. Her loving and helpless husband is transformed into a rock that is washed by the ripples of the stream. The lustful sea-god amorously longs for a union with the stream that is rescued by her mother Godavari.

The stream Kinnera fulfils her destiny by serving the pilgrims that go to the temple of Rama in Bhadradri. Such simple theme was handled with rare mastery and fashioned into a masterpiece of literary art. The melodious supple rhythms match the subtle shades of feeling and the songs bear testimony to the poet's mastery of verbal felicity and lyrical intensity. For sheer originality of conception and dexterity of execution Kinnersaani has achieved universal acclaim.

Girikumaaruni Prema Geetaalu Viswanatha contributed his Girikumaaruni Prema Geetaalu as a distinct offering at the altar of love which establishes a kinship between the worm beneath the sod and the celestial God. In the manner of Shelley he addresses the monsoon cloud and remarks, "You are the poet of the sky and I am the poet of the earth ; Let us chant the agonies of our hearts !" In these lyrics we find the alchemy that transmutes drops of tears into drops of nectar.

We catch glimpses of this hopeless longing and consuming anguish in the love-lyrics of Viswanatha.

(source: Triveni April-June 1977)