Krishna Patrika · Telugu History

The Krishna Patrika was a Telugu paper published at Machilipatnam, started in 1902.¹ Under its editor, Mutnuri Krishna Rao, it became one of the main nationalist papers of the Telugu districts.²³ Its part in the national and Andhra movements is told in Telugu newspapers and journals.

Beginnings, 1902–1907

Sarojini Regani writes that Konda Venkatappayya started the paper in 1902, and that Mutnuri Krishna Rao edited it.¹ That year it wrote about the Indians in South Africa.¹ Now that Britain ruled South Africa, it asked, were not all subjects of the empire equal?¹

The 1961 census handbook of Krishna district tells the story differently. It says the paper was started by the Krishna District Committee.⁴ Krishna Rao joined it as sub-editor and later became its editor.⁴ In another place Regani says he took over as editor in 1907.⁵

The Vandemataram years

The protests against the partition of Bengal in 1905 brought a new, bolder nationalism.² Regani places the Krishna Patrika beside Tilak’s Kesari and Maratha in Bombay and Aurobindo Ghosh’s Vande Mataram in Bengal.² She says these papers played a notable part in teaching people the new programme of Swadeshi and boycott.²

The census handbook says Krishna Rao’s writing in those years was fiercely revolutionary, and left a deep mark on readers.⁴ Under pressure from the government, the paper’s editorials were stopped for some days.⁴ Later the management of the paper came wholly into his hands.⁴ Regani adds that he helped to build the National College at Machilipatnam.⁵

Home Rule and the Andhra movement

During the Home Rule campaign, Regani writes, the Krishna Patrika and the Andhra Patrika spread its ideas in the Telugu districts.⁶ P. Krishna Moorthy names the Krishna Patrika among the papers that helped to start the Andhra movement, the demand for a separate Telugu province.⁷

Not everyone in the Telugu districts wanted that province at first. On 19 July 1913 the paper printed a cartoon about the Rayalaseema districts, which held back.⁸ It showed them as a mountain of snow in the sea, blocking the ship of the Andhra movement.⁸

How it was remembered

The paper trained other writers. Cherukuvada Venkata Narasimham worked on it as a sub-editor.⁹ K. Sitaramaiya wrote in 1943 that the services of the weekly Krishna Patrika and its editor could not be forgotten.¹⁰ P. T. Raju, in 1944, called it a very popular weekly, still edited by Mutnuri Krishna Rao.³ Krishna Rao died on 23 June 1945.¹¹

The census handbook says that most people knew Krishna Rao only through his paper.⁴ The Who’s Who of Freedom Struggle says he was a man of few words, and was called Mauna Mudralankar.¹¹

Where the sources disagree

Who started it. Regani says Konda Venkatappayya started the paper in 1902.¹ The census handbook says it was started by the Krishna District Committee.⁴

Daily or weekly. Regani calls it “a national daily”.¹ Sitaramaiya and Raju call it a weekly.¹⁰³

When Krishna Rao became editor. In one place Regani says the paper was edited by Krishna Rao from its start in 1902.¹ In another she says he took over in 1907.⁵

Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (1956), p. 20 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 28 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
P. T. Raju, Telugu Literature (1944), p. 87 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³
Census of India 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Krishna District (1966), p. xix. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 44 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³
Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 51 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩
P. Krishna Moorthy, Unification of Andhra Pradesh (Ph.D. thesis, Karnatak University, 1987), p. 30 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩
Krishna Moorthy, Unification of Andhra Pradesh (1987), p. 64 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²
Regani (ed.), Who’s Who, Vol. II (1980), p. 298 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩
K. Sitaramaiya, A Hand Book of Telugu Literature (1943), p. 73, note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²
Sarojini Regani (ed.), Who’s Who of Freedom Struggle in Andhra Pradesh, Vol. II (1980), p. 193 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²