Doddi Komaraiah · Telugu History

Doddi Komaraiah was a young man of Kadavendi, a village in Jangaon taluk where the deshmukh (hereditary revenue chief and landlord) of Visnur held land and grain.¹² He was shot dead in 1946 while marching in a procession of the Andhra Mahasabha’s village volunteers.³⁴ P. Sundarayya dates the killing to 4 July 1946.¹³

Almost all that is known of him comes from two histories written by leaders of the Communist Party, which led the Telangana armed struggle.¹⁴ Both are in Telugu: Sundarayya’s Veera Telangana Viplava Poratam (1973) and Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao’s Telangana Prajala Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988).¹² Both call his death a turning point of the struggle.⁵⁶

Kadavendi and the deshmukh of Visnur

Sundarayya writes that Visnur Ramachandra Reddy, the deshmukh of Visnur, was hated across the area.⁷ Shortly before, a quarrel over the crops of Chakali Ilamma, a washerwoman of Palakurthi, had ended in a defeat for him.¹ Sundarayya says the deshmukh then planned, with the help of the police, to kill the leaders of the village sangham (association) at Kadavendi.¹ Fifteen villagers were arrested and later freed on bail.¹³

Devulapalli gives a different setting.² He writes that the Nalgonda district committee of the party had decided to form volunteer squads in every village.² At Kadavendi a squad of 20 young men marched through the village every evening.² The Andhra Mahasabha had also asked the government to seize the deshmukh’s stocks of grain instead of taking levy (compulsory grain quota) from the farmers.⁴ Devulapalli says the deshmukh wanted a clash in the village, so that cases could be brought against the volunteers and the inquiry into his grain stopped.⁴

The shooting

Sundarayya writes that on 4 July 1946 drunken men in the deshmukh’s pay threw stones at the houses of the sangham leaders.³ The villagers marched in protest, carrying sticks and slings.³ As the procession passed the deshmukh’s house, men waiting in a hut beside it fired on it.³ Komaraiah, who was leading the procession, was hit in the stomach and died on the spot.³ His elder brother Doddi Mallayya was hit in the leg, and two other villagers were hurt.³

Devulapalli tells it differently.⁴ He writes that the deshmukh’s chief clerk, Miskin Ali, came from Visnur with some armed men and waited inside the gadi (the deshmukh’s fortified house).⁴ When the evening procession of about 20 volunteers passed, Miskin Ali fired through a hole in the wall.⁴ Komaraiah was killed at once, and his elder brother and some others were wounded.⁴

The day after

Sundarayya writes that about 2,000 people gathered and surrounded the deshmukh’s house.³ The deshmukh’s son, Baburao, brought about 200 armed men from Visnur, but the villagers drove them off with stones from their slings.³⁵ About 60 reserve police then arrived.⁵ In his account the police took the armed men safely back to the deshmukh, and brought six cases against the sangham leaders.⁵ He says none of the deshmukh’s men was arrested.⁵

Devulapalli writes that about 4,000 people from nearby villages had gathered by noon the next day.⁸ The deshmukh sent 70 to 80 armed men under his son Babu Reddy and a clerk named Rami Reddy.⁸ The villagers broke their guns and chased them away, and caught Rami Reddy.⁸ Devulapalli says a “people’s court” of three judges tried Rami Reddy and sentenced him to death, then cancelled the sentence when he begged pardon.⁹ The police, he writes, said they had arrested Miskin Ali, Babu Reddy and the others and would bring cases against them.⁹ They took the body for a post-mortem and returned it for the funeral.⁹

How the sources describe his death

Sundarayya writes that thousands of people from the nearby villages walked in Komaraiah’s funeral procession.⁵ He says Komaraiah’s death set the farmers of every taluk of Nalgonda district rising.⁵ He adds that people sang songs about him long afterwards.⁵

Devulapalli lists what he saw as new in these events.⁶ The people were not frightened by the shooting, they used slings against armed men, and they set up a people’s court.⁶ In his view this court was the beginning of a rival government in the village.⁶ Within a week, he writes, farmers of nearby Dharmapuram divided about 200 acres of a landlord’s dry land among themselves.⁹

Sarojini Regani, writing from the Congress side, does not name Komaraiah.¹⁰ She writes that the communists stepped up a violent struggle against the landlords of Jangaon and Bhongir taluks from October 1946.¹⁰

Where the sources disagree

The two communist histories differ on several points:

Who fired. Sundarayya says men hidden in a hut beside the deshmukh’s house.³ Devulapalli names the deshmukh’s chief clerk, Miskin Ali, firing through a hole in the wall of the gadi.⁴
Komaraiah’s place. Sundarayya calls him the village sangham leader at the head of the procession.³ Devulapalli says he was not yet even a local leader, only one of the volunteers.⁶
The size of the crowd and of the deshmukh’s band. Sundarayya gives about 2,000 people and 200 armed men.³ Devulapalli gives about 4,000 people and 70 to 80 armed men.⁸
The police. Sundarayya says no one on the deshmukh’s side was arrested.⁵ Devulapalli says the police told the people they had arrested Miskin Ali and Babu Reddy.⁹
The date. Sundarayya gives 4 July 1946.¹ Devulapalli places the shooting in 1946 but does not give the day in this account.²⁴

Sundarayya, Veera Telangana (1973), p. 44 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
Devulapalli Venkateswara Rao, Telangana Prajala Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), p. 349 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
Sundarayya, Veera Telangana (1973), p. 45 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³
Devulapalli, Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), p. 350 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰
Sundarayya, Veera Telangana (1973), p. 46 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹
Devulapalli, Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), p. 353 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
P. Sundarayya, Veera Telangana Viplava Poratam: Gunapathalu (1973), p. 43 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Devulapalli, Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), p. 351 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Devulapalli, Sayudha Porata Charitra (1988), p. 352 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (1956), p. 208 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²