Vignana Chandrika Mandali · Telugu History

The Vignana Chandrika Mandali was a society that published books in Telugu.¹² Komarraju Lakshmana Rao founded it in Hyderabad in the first years of the twentieth century, and it later worked from Madras.¹³ P. T. Raju called it, in 1944, the first and foremost of the learned societies that served Telugu literature.⁴ Its place in the history of Telugu books is told in Printing and Telugu books.

Founding in Hyderabad

The Hyderabad State committee’s history (1957) says Lakshmana Rao and his friends started the society at about the time they opened the Sri Krishnadevaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam, a Telugu library, in 1901.¹ Its aim was research and the publication of useful books.¹ Sarojini Regani dates the founding to 1906, and says its books were to bring science and literature to Telugu readers.³

The Raja of Munagala, N. Venkata Ranga Rao, employed Lakshmana Rao as his diwan (chief minister) and gave the work his support.³⁵ G. Venkataramarao, writing in Telugu in 2014, says the society was founded in the Raja’s house, with the help of Gadicherla Harisarvottama Rao and Ayyadevara Kaleswara Rao.⁶ The Who’s Who also names Kaleswara Rao as a founder member.⁷ Its office was in the house of Ravichettu Ranga Rao in the Residency Bazaar, and its first four books came out from Hyderabad.⁶

The move to Madras, 1908

In 1908 Harisarvottama Rao was arrested in British India for his part in the Vandemataram movement.³ Regani writes that the Nizam’s government then grew suspicious of the society, and it had to move to Madras that year.³ Venkataramarao says the Hyderabad police watched Ravichettu Ranga Rao closely, and so the office was moved.⁶ The Who’s Who of Freedom Struggle (1980) describes Lakshmana Rao as the founder of the Vignana Chandrika Grandha Mandali “at Madras”.⁸

The books

K. Sitaramaiya, writing in 1943, says Lakshmana Rao gathered a group of keen young scholars for two tasks: a publishing house and a Telugu encyclopaedia.² The society brought out, one after another, novels and books on history, physics, chemistry, geology, zoology, botany and health.⁹ He lists among them:⁹

the novels Vimaladevi and Vijayanagara Samrajyam⁹
Lakshmana Rao’s own historical works, the Hindu Mahayugam and the Mahammadiya Mahayugam⁹
Chilukuri Veerabhadra Rao’s Andhrula Charitramu, a history of the Andhras⁹
a physics by M. Sambasiva Rao and a chemistry by V. Viswanatha Sarma⁹

Raju adds C. R. Reddy’s Arthasastramu, on economics.⁴ He says this book and Veerabhadra Rao’s history were the first works of their kind in Telugu.⁴

Prizes, examinations and an encyclopaedia

Through a related body, the Vignana Chandrika Parishad, Lakshmana Rao held prize competitions in history, natural science and literature.¹ Kandukuri Veeresalingam was its president and Vavilikolanu Subba Rao its vice-president.¹ The committee’s history calls it the first private body to hold examinations in Telugu.¹ Novel competitions produced books such as Raichoor Yuddhamu and Vijayanagara Samrajyamu.¹¹⁰

Lakshmana Rao also planned a Telugu encyclopaedia, the Vignana Sarvasvamu, and finished its first volume in his lifetime.¹⁰ Sitaramaiya says he was the first to see that Telugu needed new technical words for scientific ideas.⁹

After Lakshmana Rao

Lakshmana Rao died on 13 July 1923.⁸ Sitaramaiya says the scholars he had trained carried on his work for some years.⁹ Raju, however, writes that after his death the society died out for want of money, and his plans could not go further.⁴

Where the sources disagree

When it was founded. The Hyderabad State committee’s history places the founding at about the time of the Hyderabad library of 1901.¹ Regani and Krishna Moorthy give 1906.³⁵

Where it was founded. The committee’s history, Regani and Venkataramarao place the founding in Hyderabad.¹³⁶ The Who’s Who calls it a society “at Madras”, where it worked after 1908.⁸³

The Freedom Struggle in Hyderabad, Vol. III (1957), p. 151 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰
K. Sitaramaiya, A Hand Book of Telugu Literature (1943), p. 82 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²
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 ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
P. T. Raju, Telugu Literature (1944), p. 85 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
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
G. Venkataramarao, Telangana Charitra (2014), pp. 146–147 (in Telugu) (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Sarojini Regani (ed.), Who’s Who of Freedom Struggle in Andhra Pradesh, Vol. II (1980), p. 183 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩
Regani (ed.), Who’s Who, Vol. II (1980), pp. 196–197 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³
Sitaramaiya, A Hand Book of Telugu Literature (1943), p. 83 and notes (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