Kattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy

Kattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy, usually called C. R. Reddy, was an educationist and writer from the Chittoor country.¹² He was the first Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University.¹ He also wrote poetry and criticism that changed the way Telugu readers thought about literature.³⁴

Early life and Cambridge

The Census handbook of Chittoor district (1961) says he was born at Kattamanchi village, in Chittoor district, in 1880.¹ He was educated at Chittoor and Madras.¹

P. Raghunadha Rao adds that while still a student at Madras he wrote a poem, Musalamma Maranamu (“the death of Musalamma”), and was at once accepted among poets and scholars.⁵ He passed his degree in 1901 and won a government scholarship to study in England.¹⁵ At Cambridge, Raghunadha Rao says, he was the first Indian elected to lead the college union.⁵

Baroda and Mysore

On his return he became vice-principal of the college at Baroda.¹⁵ Raghunadha Rao notes that Aurobindo Ghose had left that same post shortly before.⁵ After about two years Reddy entered the service of the Maharaja of Mysore.⁵ There he worked as Assistant Inspector-General of Education, as a professor, as principal of the Maharaja’s College, and finally as Inspector-General of Education.¹

Andhra University

In 1920 he joined the Justice Party.¹ When Andhra University was founded in 1926, he was made its first Vice-Chancellor.¹ He resigned in 1930.¹ He was elected to the Madras Legislative Council in 1935, and joined the Congress for a short time in 1936.¹

In 1936 he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University again. The census handbook says he held the post until his death in 1951.¹ Raghunadha Rao adds that he was made Pro-Chancellor of Mysore University in 1949, and died in 1951.⁶

Poet and critic

Reddy wrote little, but what he wrote mattered.⁶ Raghunadha Rao dates Musalamma Maranamu to 1900.³ His other works include Kavitva Tattva Vicharamu, a book on the nature of poetry, and the poem Navayamini. His prefaces to other writers’ books were also full of new ideas.⁶

P. T. Raju, in his survey of Telugu literature (1944), wrote that Kavitva Tattva Vicharamu “inaugurates the new school” of Telugu criticism. It was a school shaped by Western ideas about literature.⁴ Andhra University later set the book as a prose text for its Telugu students.⁷

What later writers said

The Chittoor census handbook calls him “a great educationist and a good orator”.¹ Raghunadha Rao writes that his learning, his quick wit and his sharp jokes made him a legend in his own lifetime.²

Census of India 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Chittoor District (1965), p. xi (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³
Raghunadha Rao, Adhunika Andhrapradesh Charitra (1997), p. 362 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²
P. Raghunadha Rao, Adhunika Andhrapradesh Charitra (rev. ed. 1997), p. 337 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²
P. T. Raju, Telugu Literature (1944), p. 79 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²
Raghunadha Rao, Adhunika Andhrapradesh Charitra (1997), p. 363 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
Raghunadha Rao, Adhunika Andhrapradesh Charitra (1997), p. 364 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³
Andhra University: The Annual Register 1935–36 (1935), p. 110 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩