“Traditional arts like harikatha, burrakatha, drama and folk forms should never be ignored in the name of modernity,” urged Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, at the release of the book Dasa Roopakas a compilation of plays by noted playwright D. Vijay Bhasker that he wrote in the last ten years and also the translated works of his plays into other languages, at a function held at Ravindra Bharati, last week. The function was presided by K.V. Ramanachari IAS, Principal Secretary, Endowments Revenue. The function was inaugurated by C. Narayana Reddy. Vijay Bhasker dedicated this work Dasa Roopakas to Sri Dharmana Prasada Rao, minister for roads and buildings.
Later Vijay Bhasker was felicitated by the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues. On the occasion Santa Sundari and G.V. Satyavani who translated Vijay Bhasker's plays into Hindi and Tamil languages, respectively were felicitated.
The evening opened with the staging of Yogi Vemana play by Satya Sai Niketan featuring Gummadi Gopala Krishna in the title role. The play was written by Vijay Bhasker and verses in the play were of thespian and poet Burra Subrahmanya Sastry. Gopalakrishna in the role of Vemana and Surabhi Prabhavati as Viswada, a courtesan were the cynosure. It narrates the story of Vemareddi, brother of Kumaragiri Anavemareddi, ruler of Kondaveedu. Abhirama is a close friend of Vemana thus the two names ‘Viswada' and ‘Abhirama' appear in the fourth line of each verse of Vemana - Viswadaabhirama Vinura Vema . In a court scene Vemareddi gets attracted to a courtesan Viswada. Right from his young age Vema Reddi is concerned about treacherous life of the poor and the downtrodden.
Viswada too falls in love after watching Vema Reddi's human acts. The narration takes a turn much later when Viswada decides to marry him and asks him to fetch the much revered nose ornament ‘mukkera' from his sister-in-law, the queen, who treats him as her own son. She obliges but with a condition that he should offer the ornament only after she disrobes herself. Once he sees Viswada in nude, wisdom dawns in him and he turns into a yogi. And from then on he is called Yogi Vemana. The preaching of a Siva yogi further turns him away from mortal pleasures. He begins commenting on fallacies in social life and rituals. These verses have now become a part of the school curriculum.
