Author, historian Mudigonda Siva Prasad’s residence at Shivam Road, Hyderabad gives us glimpses into his 101st novel, Rohanam , a short story that dates back to the history surrounding the Polavaram project, juxtaposing history with modern incidents. Hailed as the ‘Charitrika Navala Chakravarti’ of Telugu literature, Mudigonda’s armoury comprises a mix of haunting storytelling, uncompromising Telugu wordage and an ability to view history from the eyes of the common man.
Srilekha, Sravani were novels that popularised Mudigonda so much that he received letters of parents naming their children after his characters. He penned them even as he worked for Telugu literary magazines besides teaching at Osmania University and Women’s College, Koti.
Historical fiction
As a child, Mudigonda found it fascinating to read historical novels that were being published post India’s Independence. K M Munshi’s Jai Somnath left a deep imprint on his mind, but Viswanatha Sathyanarayana, Nori Narasimha Sastry and Adivi Bapiraju were his primary influences as a writer. That he was the editor of the magazines that first published classics like Vishnu Sharma English Chadvulu and Paakudu Rallu were his way of fulfilling his literary gratitude.
“What’s most critical for a writer to pen a historical is the time-travel, more like parakaya pravesam . It sometimes takes years to pen a novel, inscriptions and authenticity are issues we grapple with. History gives us a basis to the times we live in but the Britishers left us with concocted evidences, so it was important to undo that. I like the genre also because it helps us learn lessons not only from successes, but also defeats and mistakes.”
- Some novels of Mudigonda have elicited interest from television channels, but production budgets proved a hindrance. Mudigonda was invited to lend his writing acumen to several historical films, however he wasn’t keen except for Rudramadevi where he assisted Gunasekhar. Most of the other figures he has touched upon include Malik Kafur, Annamacharya and Gauthamiputra Satakarni, some of whom films have been made on.
- He says, “Films are mostly politically and commercially motivated, for instance, in Annamayya Raghavendra Rao used sunflowers in the song Ele Ele Maradala. Actually the flowers were found in this country only in the middle of the 20th century. Artistic license is okay only if it mildly deviates from history to tell the truth, you can’t assassinate characters and take audiences for a ride.”
- Mudigonda remembers being stuck for 10 days to verify if a mirror was invented by 78 AD, when he was penning Srilekha . The mention of ‘darpanam’ in Bharata’s Natyashastra and some European literature/cinema references came to his aid, only after which he was convinced. Some of his works mention using gold in food, the use of unique leaves for beauty and medical purposes, all adding sheen to his novels.
His subjects bear striking similarity and importance to political/social issues. The language is artistic and yet not verbose, he addresses issues of historical distortions from several perspectives and thereby has made history more accessible to a Telugu reader than any other writer. For instance, Pattabhi is a socio-historical that tells us the story of Vasireddy Venkatadri Naidu, the man who coined the word Amaravati.
Telugu history is his forte-his novels date back to the Satahavanas, Kakatiya dynasties besides historical figures like Vidyadhara Chakravarthy, Annamayya and Acharya Nagarjuna, to name a few. His stint at Koti Women’s College inspired him to write a novel on Khairunnisa of the residency era.
Evolution as writer
Every now and then, Mudigonda has stepped away from the historical mould to write social/contemporary novels-including Vamsadhaara, Avahana, Pratibha that have also been bestsellers. Yet, the tag of a historical writer remains his identity, and he’s now at peace with it.
He’s realised his transformation as a writer over the four decades. “It was a slow evolution, if not a revolution. From the time I wrote Sravani or Srilekha to a Pattabhi , my writings have gained a philosophical undertone. What has remained the same though are the elements leading to the suspense and the climax, that drive my novels,” shares the 78-year-old.
In contrast to English where historicals and historical fiction are on the rise, Telugu has little. “It’s important that our stories reach the English medium too. The only novel of mine that was translated into another language was in Kannada, one that I had penned on Lady Blavatsky. Ultimately one needs to realise that Telugu is a regional language and English has a global reach. I’m willing to give rights to writers to translate my works in English.”
