Adibhatla Narayana Das – The legend

Adibhatla Narayan Das (1864 -1945) is synonymous with 'Harikatha' and vice versa. He is also a musician, poet, dancer, litterateur and linguist and wrote prose and poetry in pure Telugu without any mixture of Sanskrit.

Das was a cultural hero, who made music a daily need in Vizianagaram and brought name and fame. Das was a great musical genius, a dancer of delight and a poet of rare eminence and was also known for his ability to make extempore poetry in Sanskrit and Telugu. He was a multi-faceted personality and belonged to the league of saint-litterateurs.

His dancing and abhinaya were exquisite which were prominently featured in his Harikatha performances and received accolade from 'Nightingale of India' Sarojini Naidu. Das has been a wanderer entertaining huge masses of people with his distinctive art form of Harikatha.

The Maharajah of Vizianagaram came to know through newspapers on the glowing tributes that were paid to Das at Madras, Bangalore, Mysore and other places and the highest reward presented by Mysore Maharajah. On the return of Das to Vizianagaram from Mysore, the Maharajah appointed him as 'Asthana Vidwan' of the royal court.

Apart from composing Harikathas, Das also authored few Shatakas, works of poetry 'Omar Khayyam' and 'Batasari'. He translated the Ruks of Rigveda into Telugu verse.

Das extensively travelled from Kolkata to Kanyakumari delivering Katha Kalakshepams, Avadhanas, Veena recitals. He was invited by almost all the then Maharajas and Zamindars, greatly honoured him for his impeccable knowledge in literature, poetry, dance, music, Veena and Harikatha rendition. While his disciples are many, only a few disciples could glean at least some of his unusual dancing skills. Vajapeyajula Subbayya Das, Neti Lakshminarayana Bhagavatulu, Vadlamani Narasimha Dasu and Karuru Krishna Das were prominent disiples.

The citizens of Singareni Collieries in Kothagudem organised unique honour of Gajarohana procession in 1934 to celebrate 70th birthday of Das. In 1936 when Das delivered Harikatha in Tulja Bhavan, Hyderabad over 5,000 plus audience gathered to listen and appreciate.

Rich tributes were paid to the literary achievements of Das by his contemporaries, the highest of which was that of 'Satavadhani' Chellapilla Venkata Sastry, who said that 'Narayana Das' is the only man who deserves to be called as 'Kalaprapurna'.

Das reached the abode on 'Pushya Bahula Panchami', on January 2, 1945.

The statue of Das has been installed in Sivalayam temple premises at Satyanarayanapuram in Vijayawada on January 25, 1951 by his disciples Neti Lakshminarayana Bhagavatar, Vajapeyajula Subbayya Das Bhagavatar and Peddinti Suryanarayana Deekshita Bhagavatar. The disciples are continuing the legacy by celebrating his birth anniversary (Sravana Bahula Chaturdasi) and death anniversary (Pushya Bahula Panchami) every year.

The 158th Jayanthi of Narayana Das will be celebrated in Vijayawada from August 23 to 26 in Sri Seetharama Kalyanana Mandapam, Sivalayam temple premises at Satyanarayanapuram in Vijayawada.

(Yanamandra Venkata Krishnaiah, grandson of 'Harikatha Kesari' the late Neti Lakshminarayana Bhagavatulu, beloved disciple of Narayana Das and Annamayya Parivaramu founder at Hyderabad.)