Rajaraja Narendra Andhra Bhasha Nilayam, Hanumakonda

The Rajaraja Narendra Andhra Bhasha Nilayam was a Telugu library at Hanumakonda, in Warangal district.¹² It opened in 1904, three years after the Telugu library at Hyderabad.³ Its story is part of The library movement.

Founding

The Hyderabad State committee’s history (1957) dates the opening of the “Sri Raj Raj Narendra Andhra Bhasha Nilayam” at Warangal to 29 January 1904.³ It came after the Sri Krishnadevaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam, opened at Hyderabad in 1901.⁴³ Sarojini Regani and P. Krishna Moorthy also give 1904, and place the library at Hanumakonda.¹⁵

Regani writes that Telugu leaders of the Madras districts, helped by the Raja of Munagala, wanted to forge cultural links with the Telugu people of the Nizam’s state.¹ Krishna Moorthy names Komarraju Lakshmana Rao, Ravichettu Ranga Rao and the Raja of Munagala as the men who spread the library movement in Telangana in those years.⁵

G. Venkataramarao, writing in Telugu in 2014, names Madapati Hanumantha Rao as the library’s secretary.⁶ Venkataramarao calls Hanumantha Rao Andhra Pitamaha, the grandfather of the Telugu people.⁶

A centre of the Telugu awakening

The committee’s history says the Hyderabad library became a school of renaissance in Telangana, and that the Warangal library played a similar role.³ Libraries in those years gave readers papers and books, and also gave meetings, poetry gatherings and annual festivals a place to meet.⁷

The Warangal district gazetteer (1976) calls the library a private effort.² It says that before 1948 the Nizam’s government gave the library movement no support, and saw it as an attempt to stir discontent against the government.² Other libraries followed in the district: the Sri Sabdanusasana Andhra Bhasha Nilayam at Warangal, the Yuvajana Granthalayam at Jangaon (1923) and the Bapuji Library at Mahbubabad (1939).²

The library movement of Telangana grew from such beginnings. In 1925 the Andhra Jana Sangham held its first library conference at Madhira, and the movement spread fast.⁸

After 1948

After Hyderabad State joined India, twenty-nine libraries were started in Warangal district.² The Hyderabad Public Libraries Act of 1955, and later the Andhra Pradesh Public Libraries Act of 1960, gave a district body charge of the public libraries.²

Where the sources disagree

The year it opened. The Hyderabad State committee, Regani, Krishna Moorthy and the Warangal gazetteer give 1904.³¹⁵² Venkataramarao gives 1908.⁶

Warangal or Hanumakonda. The committee’s history and the Warangal gazetteer place the library at Warangal.³² Regani, Krishna Moorthy and Venkataramarao place it at Hanumakonda.¹⁵⁶

Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (1956), p. 171 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
M. V. Rajagopal, Andhra Pradesh District Gazetteers: Warangal (1976), p. 184 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
Freedom Struggle in Hyderabad, Vol. III (1957), p. 152 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
The Freedom Struggle in Hyderabad, Vol. III (1957), p. 151 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
P. Krishna Moorthy, Unification of Andhra Pradesh (Ph.D. thesis, Karnatak University, 1987), p. 167 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
G. Venkataramarao, Telangana Charitra (2014), p. 141 (in Telugu) (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Venkataramarao, Telangana Charitra (2014), p. 142 (in Telugu) (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩
Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 179 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩