Classical Telugu Poetry "ss1.40"

― 240 ―

COURTESAN SONGS
[2] Ksetrayya, Padamulu, ed. Kandadai Appan Krishnamacaryulu (Madras: Vavilla Ramasvamisastrulu and Sons, 1951), 2:51 [cěragu māsiyunnānu]; 2:73 [icccinā mañcide].

	A Woman Speaks to Her Lover
	It's true, I have my period,
	but don't let that stop you.
	No rules apply
	to another man's wife

	I beg you to come close,
	but you always have second thoughts
	All those codes were written
	by men who don't know how to love
	When I come at you, wanting you,
	why do you back off?
	You don't have to touch my whole body
	Just bend over and kiss.
	No rules apply.

	What if I take off my sari
	and crush your chest with my breasts?
	I'll be careful, except with my lips.
	Here is some betel: take it
	with your teeth. No one's here.
	I'm watching.
	No rules apply.

	You don't seem to know yourself.
	Why follow these false taboos?
	Haven't you heard that women like it now?
	It's not like every day.
	You'll never forget
	today's joy.
	No rules apply.

	A Courtesan to the Madam
	Never mind if he doesn't pay.
	Let him come.

	When he was rich,
	he gave me whatever I dreamed of.
	Some days you have money,
― 241 ―
	some days you don't.
	Time doesn't flow evenly.
	Never mind if he doesn't pay.

	If I don't remember the good times,
	God won't be good to me.
	Why hesitate?
	He's one of us.
	Time goes, but the deed survives.
	Never mind if he doesn't pay.

	What's lost if he comes today?
	Can I forget how he made love?
	I don't want to be blamed.
	Boats go on carts,
	and carts on boats.
	Never mind if he doesn't pay.

	A Young Woman to a Friend [3] Ksetrayya, Padamulu, ed. Vissa Appa Rao (Rajahmundry: Saraswati Power Press, 1963), no. 264 [mosabucciŕ amma magavāni yādat'anta]; translation reprinted from When God is a Customer, 70–71.
	These women, they deceived me.
	They told me he was a woman,
	and now my heart is troubled
	by what he did.

	First I thought
	she was my aunt and uncle's daughter,
	so I bow to her, and she blesses me:
	"You'll get married soon,
	don't be bashful. I will bring you
	the man of your heart."

	"Those firm little breasts of yours
	will soon
	grow round and full," she says.

	And she fondles them
	and scratches them
	with the edge of her nail.

	"Come eat with me," she says,
	as she holds me close
	and feeds me as at a wedding.
― 242 ―
	Those women, they told me he was a woman!

	Then she announces:
	"My husband is not in town.
	Come home with me."
	So I go and sleep in her bed.

	After a while she says,
	"I'm bored. Let's play
	a kissing game, shall we?
	Too bad we're both women."

	Then, as she sees me falling asleep,
	off my guard,
	she tries some
	strange things on me.
	Those women, they told me he was a woman!

	She says, "I can't sleep.
	Let's do what men do."
	Thinking "she" was a woman,
	I get on top of him.

	Then he doesn't let go:
	he holds me so tight he loses himself in me.
	Wicked as ever, he declares:

	"I am your Muvvagopala!"
	And he touches me expertly
	and makes love to me.
	Those women, they told me he was a woman!

	The Madam to a Courtesan [4] Ksetrayya, Padamulu, ed. Vissa Appa Roa, no. 176 [cěllabo pālagiri cěnnude vīdu kômma]; reprinted from When God is a Customer, 63–64
	Woman! He's none other
	than Cěnnudu of Pālagiri.
	Haven't you heard?
	He rules the worlds.

	When he wanted you, you took his gold—
	but couldn't you tell him your address?
	Some lover you are!
	He's hooked on you.
― 243 ―
	And he rules the worlds.

	I found him wandering the alleyways,
	too shy to ask anyone.
	I had to bring him home with me.
	Would it have been such a crime
	if you or your girls
	had waited for him by the door?
	You really think it's enough
	to get the money in your hand?
	Can't you tell who's big, who's small?
	Who do you think he is?
	And he rules the worlds.

	This handsome Cěnnudu of Pālagiri,
	this Muvvagopāla,
	has fallen to your lot.
	When he said he'd come tomorrow,
	couldn't you consent
	just a little?
	Did you really have to say no?
	What can I say about you?
	And he rules the worlds.

	A Courtesan to the Messenger [5] Ksetrayya, Padamulu, ed. Vissa Appa Rao, no. 283 [vadaraka po pove]; reprinted from When God is a Customer, 109–10.
	Don't go on chattering, just go away.
	Why should he come here?
	Tell him not to come.

	It all happened so long ago,
	in a different age,
	another life.
	Who is he to me, anyway?

	Think of the long nights I spent
	waiting for him, minute after minute,
	saying to myself, "He'll come today,
	he'll come tomorrow!"—

	the hot sighs,
	lips dry with longing,
― 244 ―
	nights aflame with moonlight.
	What more is there to say?
	Just go away!

	I wore myself out watching the road.
	Counting the moons, I grieved.
	Holding back a love I could not hold,

	listening to the screeching
	of peacocks and parrots,
	I passed the months of spring.
	Let's have no more empty words.
	Just go away!

	I even asked the birds for omens
	if Muvvagopala was coming.
	I grew weak, watching my girlfriends
	join their husbands for love.

	O god, do I ever have to see
	his face again
	with this body of mine?
	Once was enough!
	Just go away!

[This padam is said to have been composed in two stages. When the court poets of Vijayarāghavanāyaka at Tanjavur complained to the king that he was elevating Ksetrayya—an "unlearned" singer, more at home with courtesans than with scholars—to an undeserved status, Ksetrayya sang all but the last two lines of this padam and went away, leaving the king's poets to complete it. They were unequal to this task and eventually begged Ksetrayya himself to complete the poem upon his return to Tanjavur. The story attempts to assimilate Ksetrayya to the familiar status of a court poet—despite the obvious inappropriateness of this category for a peripatetic devotional singer of love songs addressed to the god.]

COURTESAN SONGS [2] Ksetrayya, Padamulu, ed. Kandadai Appan Krishnamacaryulu (Madras: Vavilla Ramasvamisastrulu and Sons, 1951), 2:51 [cěragu māsiyunnānu]; 2:73 [icccinā mañcide].

COURTESAN SONGS
[2] Ksetrayya, Padamulu, ed. Kandadai Appan Krishnamacaryulu (Madras: Vavilla Ramasvamisastrulu and Sons, 1951), 2:51 [cěragu māsiyunnānu]; 2:73 [icccinā mañcide].