Raghupati Venkataratnam Naidu

Raghupati Venkataratnam Naidu was a teacher and social reformer of the Telugu country.¹² He led the Brahmo Samaj in Andhra and spent most of his life on the uplift of women, Harijans and devadasis (temple dancers).³⁴ P. Raghunadha Rao writes that the Andhra people came to see him as the greatest social reformer after Kandukuri Veeresalingam.¹

Childhood and studies

He was born at Machilipatnam in 1862.²¹ His father Appayya Naidu served in the army, so the boy moved with him from place to place and spent his childhood in northern India.²¹ He passed the matriculation examination at Hyderabad, where he studied under Aghorenath Chattopadhyaya.² He also became very good at Urdu.²

In 1885 he joined the Madras Christian College and studied under its principal, Dr. William Miller.²¹ He took the M.A. in 1891 and the L.T. (teaching degree) in 1897.² His wife died when he was only 27. He never married again.²³

A teacher

He taught at several places, among them Eluru, Rajahmundry, Secunderabad and Machilipatnam.² From 1889 to 1904 he was principal of the Mahbub College at Secunderabad.²¹ From 1905 to 1919 he was principal of the Pithapuram Raja’s College at Kakinada.²¹

D. Anjaneyulu, Veeresalingam’s biographer, says he “made his mark first” as principal at Kakinada.⁵ A whole generation of young men took their ideals from him.⁵ Anjaneyulu names among them the scholar V. Ramakrishna Rao, the teacher Peddada Ramaswami and the poet D. V. Krishna Sastri.⁵ The Krishna district census handbook (1961) adds the journalist Mutnuri Krishna Rao, who studied at the Noble College while Venkataratnam taught there.⁴

The Brahmo Samaj

Anjaneyulu counts the Brahmo Samaj belief in one God among the ideas that shaped him.⁵ Already in 1897 Anjaneyulu calls Venkataratnam, then at the Noble College, “a rising leader of the Brahmo Samaj movement in Andhra”.⁶ That year he opened the Prarthana Samaj hall that Veeresalingam had built next to the town hall at Rajahmundry.⁶

Raghunadha Rao says that while he was at Kakinada, the town became a strong centre of the Brahmo movement in Andhra.³ According to the census handbook, Brahmo Samaj members called him Brahmarshi out of respect.²

Devadasis and the uplift of women

After his wife’s death he gave the rest of his life to the uplift of Harijans and devadasis.³ Raghunadha Rao explains that the devadasis danced in temples and at weddings, but over time many had been forced into prostitution.³ Veeresalingam had tried to stop dancing by devadasis at weddings, and Venkataratnam carried this work forward.³ Raghunadha Rao credits his efforts with ending the devadasi system in the Andhra country.³

Vice-Chancellor

He became Vice-Chancellor of Madras University.²³ In that post he gave special weight to the Indian languages.³ The census handbook says the Dravidian languages got due recognition and research facilities in his time.² The government gave him the titles Rao Bahadur, Dewan Bahadur and finally Sir (a knighthood).²³ He died in 1939.³

Where the sources disagree

When he became Vice-Chancellor. The Krishna district census handbook says he was the first elected Vice-Chancellor of Madras University, from 1925 to 1928.² Raghunadha Rao says he was appointed in 1924.³

P. Raghunadha Rao, Adhunika Andhrapradesh Charitra (Telugu version of History of Modern Andhra Pradesh, rev. ed. 1997), p. 348 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
Census of India 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Krishna District (1966), p. xviii (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶
Raghunadha Rao, Adhunika Andhrapradesh Charitra (1997), p. 349 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²
Census of India 1961: District Census Handbook, Krishna (1966), p. xix (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²
Anjaneyulu, Kandukuri Veeresalingam (1976), p. 118 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
D. Anjaneyulu, Kandukuri Veeresalingam (1976), p. 45 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²