Sri Krishna Rayabaram
Encyclopedia
Sri Krishna Rayabaram is a popular Telugu drama
written by Tirupati Venkata Kavulu
in the early 20th century. It was made as a Telugu film
in 1960. Many actors and companies have staged this production throughout Andhra Pradesh
, India
, and abroad.
, an ancient Sanskrit
epic. Krishna
acts as an emissary between Pandavas and Kauravas to prevent a war. The play opens with the Dvārakā scene, when Krishna is having a nap at his palace. Duryodhana
and Arjuna
arrive to seek his help in the impending war. Krishna puts himself on one side and his entire army on the other and asks Arjuna to choose first. He promises not to participate in the war himself. Arjuna responds by seeking Krishna's presence in the war as his charioteer. Duryodhana happily gets Krishna's army on his side.
, Puvvula Suri Babu
, Gummadi Venkateswara Rao
, and Tadepalli Lakshmi Kanta Rao
. P. Suri Babu rendered music for the film and rendered some poems.
Films such as Shri Krishna Pandaviyam
and Daana Veera Soora Karna
dramatised the Rayabaram scene, with the poems rendered by eminent playback singers like V. Ramakrishna
. Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao rendered some of the songs for Telugu films.
Telugu drama
The Telugu drama or Telugu theatre is one of the most popular Art forms in India. There are many social and mythological plays performed by many eminent artists and have enthralled the audience from time to time with their magnificent performance. One of the interesting feature is the dialogue...
written by Tirupati Venkata Kavulu
Tirupati Venkata Kavulu
Tirupati Venkata Kavulu refers to the Telugu poet duo Divakarla Tirupati Sastry and Chellapilla Venkata Sastry . This twin poets are acclaimed as harbingers of modern poetry in Telugu. They have dramatized several of the Hindu epics into dramas and plays consisting of singable verses set to...
in the early 20th century. It was made as a Telugu film
Telugu cinema
The Cinema of Andhra Pradesh, also referred to as Telugu Cinema or Tollywood, is the Telugu film industry in India. The Telugu language film industry is known for being one of the three largest in terms of no.of films produced yearly in India. The Prasads IMAX theatre in Hyderabad is one of the...
in 1960. Many actors and companies have staged this production throughout Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and abroad.
The plot
The plot is based on the story of MahabharataMahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, an ancient Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
epic. Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
acts as an emissary between Pandavas and Kauravas to prevent a war. The play opens with the Dvārakā scene, when Krishna is having a nap at his palace. Duryodhana
Duryodhana
In the Hindu epic the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers, Emperor of the world at that time which means Emperor of India or Bharatvarsha as it was known at that time, cousin and the chief...
and Arjuna
Arjuna
Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...
arrive to seek his help in the impending war. Krishna puts himself on one side and his entire army on the other and asks Arjuna to choose first. He promises not to participate in the war himself. Arjuna responds by seeking Krishna's presence in the war as his charioteer. Duryodhana happily gets Krishna's army on his side.
Depictions on film
Sri Krishna Rayabaram was made as a Telugu film in 1960 by Y. V. Ramanujam under Chandrika Pictures. It starred Kalyanam RaghuramaiahKalyanam Raghuramaiah
Kalyanam Raghuramaiah, popularly known as Eelapata Raghuramaiah is famous Telugu drama and film actor and recipient of Padmasri Award.He was born in Guntur district and named as Venkata Subbaiah...
, Puvvula Suri Babu
Puvvula Suri Babu
P. Suri Babu or Puvvula Suri Babu was an Indian actor and singer on stage and cinema. He had a peculiar bold voice and was called Kanchu Kantham Suri Babu.-Early life:...
, Gummadi Venkateswara Rao
Gummadi Venkateswara Rao
Gummadi Venkateswara Rao popularly known as Gummadi was a popular Telugu film character actor. Though he began to act in films much later than famous artistes like N.T.Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageswara Rao he had through the course of his career acquired a niche for himself vis a vis the character...
, and Tadepalli Lakshmi Kanta Rao
Tadepalli Lakshmi Kanta Rao
Tadepalli Lakshmi Kanta Rao, better known as Kanta Rao , was an Indian film actor and film producer from Andhra Pradesh, India. He acted in more than 400 Telugu mythological, social and folklore movies. He also acted in a few Hindi, Kannada and Tamil movies. He produced about five films under the...
. P. Suri Babu rendered music for the film and rendered some poems.
Films such as Shri Krishna Pandaviyam
Shri Krishna Pandaviyam
Sri Krishna Pandaviyam is a 1966 Pauranic film directed by N.T.Rama Rao and produced by N. Trivikrama Rao. It depicts the adolescent age of the Pandavas and Krishna and shows the events in Mahabharatha focussing on the later chapters of Adi Parva and the first half of Sabha Parva...
and Daana Veera Soora Karna
Daana Veera Soora Karna
Daana Veera Soora Karna is a 1977 Telugu Hindu movie produced and directed by N. T. Rama Rao. He played three pivotal roles Karna, Duryodhana, and Krishna. One of his sons, Balakrishna played a short role of Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna, who in the later years became one of the popular movie actors...
dramatised the Rayabaram scene, with the poems rendered by eminent playback singers like V. Ramakrishna
V. Ramakrishna
V. Ramakrishna is a playback singer in South India. Some of his Bhakti Songs are memorable.-Life sketch: He was born to V. Rangasai and Ratnam on August 20, 1947. He is also related to P. Susheela.He graduated from B.Sc in his young age. Impressed by Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao he took up to...
. Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao rendered some of the songs for Telugu films.
Poems from the Rayabaram
- Chellio Chellako
- Alugataye Erumgani
- JandaPai KapiRaju
- Santoshambuna SandhiCheyudu
- Tammuni Kodukulu