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 7. Anger 58 8. Enmity 27 9. Pride 59 10. Prosper 56

THE TRADITION OF GRAMMATICAL FIXITY

105. So much for the vocabulary. The grammar of the literary dialect acquired practical fixity long long ago. Grammarians have laid down in unmistakable terms that the usage of the most ancient poets was the standard. Appakavi whose authority Mr. J. Ramayya Pantulu sets very high, quotes from ‘‘‘ reputed to be an ancient poet, the dictum that poets should use only such words as were used by Nannaya in his translation of the Mahabharata. The same idea appears in Ahobala Panditiyamu (Vide page 3, Ellore Edition). In another place Appakavi defines a Satkavi or ‘good poet” as fS i.e., one who is skilled in using the language of the ancient poets. With a vocabulary largely obsolete and a grammar which had acquired practical fixity in the dim distant past, the Kavya dialect is not indicated as a suitable instrument of modern prose.

THE MAKERS OF NEO-KAVYA PROSE

106. British Rule with its broad educational ideals necessitated the creation of a modern prose, but the task fell into the hands of persons who had no notion of the requirements of a modern prose. An intimate acquaintance with English literature and literary history, and a mastery of at least the technique of literary art, were the qualifications required in a writer who undertook the creation of a modern prose in Telugu. The pandit who assayed it in the first instance and the layman who followed in his wake with an uncritical and superficial knowledge of English literature, were both not qualified for the task. They gave Telugu prose a wrong start and the result proved injurious to literature and to education. 1313 Minute of Dissent