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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Komarraju Lakshmana Rao

Telugu scholar and organiser who, as diwan (chief minister) to the Raja of Munagala, helped open the first Telugu library in Hyderabad in 1901. He founded the Vignana Chandrika Mandali, which published Telugu books on history and science, held Telugu examinations and prize competitions, and began a Telugu encyclopaedia. A Hyderabad history of the freedom movement calls him the first to see the need for close ties between Telangana and the Andhra districts.

Nationalist and diwan

Komarraju Lakshmana Rao appears in the histories of the freedom movement first as a young nationalist.1 In September 1905 he was one of a group of Andhra students in Madras who called a meeting on the Madras beach.1 The meeting supported the Vande Mataram agitation against the partition of Bengal.1 At the Calcutta session of the Congress in 1906 he, the Raja of Munagala and Gadicherla Harisarvottama Rao sided with the nationalists.2

N. Venkata Ranga Rao, the Raja of Munagala, employed him as diwan (chief minister), according to Sarojini Regani’s history of the freedom movement.3 The Raja’s support allowed him and others to build cultural links between the Andhra districts and Telangana.3

The first Telugu library in Hyderabad

On 1 September 1901 the Sri Krishnadevaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam, the first Telugu library in Hyderabad, opened in Sultan Bazaar.4 The history compiled by the Hyderabad State committee credits it to the Raja of Munagala, Lakshmana Rao, Ravichettu Ranga Rao, Adipudi Somasekhar Rao and Mailavaram Narasimha Shastry.4

The same history calls Lakshmana Rao the first person to see the importance of close relations between Andhra and Telangana.5 It says that the awakening in Telangana began with these libraries.5 Libraries followed at Hanumakonda in 1904 and Secunderabad in 1905.6

The Vignana Chandrika Mandali

With the same circle Lakshmana Rao founded a literary society, the Vignana Chandrika Grantha Mandali.7 It was meant for research and the publication of useful books in Telugu.7 The Hyderabad history dates it to about the same time as the library, and Regani gives 1906.7

Through a related body, the Vignana Chandrika Parishad, he held prize competitions in history, natural science and literature.8 Kandukuri Veeresalingam was its president and Vavilikolanu Subba Rao its vice-president.8 The Parishad was the first private body to hold examinations in Telugu.8 The Mandali also held competitions for novels, which produced works such as Raichoor Yuddhamu and Vijayanagara Samrajyamu.8

Lakshmana Rao argued that Telugu needed an encyclopaedia.9 He prepared the first volume of a Vignana Sarvasvamu in his lifetime.9 The Hyderabad history sums up his two aims as research in history and the creation of a scientific literature in Telugu.9

Regani writes that Harisarvottama Rao was arrested in British India in 1908.3 After that, she says, the Nizam’s government grew suspicious of the Mandali, and it moved to Madras that year.3 The Andhra Jana Sangham was founded in Hyderabad in 1921.10 Its founders, she adds, resolved to follow the example Lakshmana Rao had set.10 Its work is described on the pages for Madapati Hanumantha Rao and Reform, freedom & people’s movements.

Footnotes

  1. Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (1956), p. 32 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 25 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  3. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 171 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. The Freedom Struggle in Hyderabad, Vol. III (1957), p. 151 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. Freedom Struggle in Hyderabad, Vol. III (1957), pp. 151, 169 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  6. Freedom Struggle in Hyderabad, Vol. III (1957), p. 152 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)); Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 171 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  7. Freedom Struggle in Hyderabad, Vol. III (1957), p. 151 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)); Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 171 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. Freedom Struggle in Hyderabad, Vol. III (1957), pp. 151–152 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  9. Freedom Struggle in Hyderabad, Vol. III (1957), p. 152 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  10. Regani, Highlights (1956), p. 178 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

References

Sources (2)
  1. Hyderabad State Committee Appointed for the Compilation of a History of the Freedom Movement, The Freedom Struggle in Hyderabad: A Connected Account, Vol. III (1885-1920) (opens in a new tab), Hyderabad State Committee, Hyderabad, 1957, pp. 151–152, 169. [Public domain in India]
  2. Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (opens in a new tab), Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, 1956, pp. 25, 32, 171, 178. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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