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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Vedam Venkataraya Sastri

Telugu scholar, critic and playwright, counted in 1928 among the leading critics of the day, given the title Mahamahopadhyaya. He wrote learned commentaries on classical poems, the historical play Prataparudriyamu about the last Kakatiya king, and translations from Sanskrit. A defender of the classical literary style, he argued with Kandukuri Veeresalingam and opposed Gidugu Ramamurti's spoken-Telugu movement.

Vedam Venkataraya Sastri was a Telugu scholar, critic and playwright.12 In 1928 he was among the leading Telugu critics of the day.1 P. T. Raju calls him by his title, Mahamahopadhyaya (great teacher).3 He was best known for his commentaries on the classical poems and for his historical play Prataparudriyamu.24 He was a leader of the scholars who defended the old literary style of Telugu.5

Scholar and critic

K. Sitaramaiya, writing in Hyderabad in 1943, judged him “a greater scholar than a poet”.2 He wrote learned commentaries on three classical poems:2

  • Krishnadeva Raya’s Amuktamalyada
  • Srinatha’s Sringara Naishadhamu
  • Chemakura Venkatakavi’s Vijayavilasamu2

He also put the Sanskrit Sahityadarpana, a book on poetics, and the Kathasaritsagara, a great collection of stories, into Telugu.2 See Chemakura Venkatakavi.

P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao, in their history of Telugu literature (1928), named him first among the respected critics of their day.1 They praised his learning, his “critical acumen and sympathy for new developments in literature”.1 Raju counted his criticism, with that of Veeresalingam and Kokkonda Venkataratnam, as the work of “the old school”.6

Playwright

Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao wrote that among the plays on Puranic stories, “the plays of Vedam Venkata Raya Sastri are amongst the best”.7 They also listed his Prataparudra among the historical plays.8 Raju named his Prataparudriyamu among the best-known Telugu plays.9

Sitaramaiya called Prataparudriyamu “the greatest of his works”.2 It is a historical play about the last Kakatiya king, Prataparudra.24 He admired two of its characters above all: the king disguised as a common man, and the minister Yugandhara, who pretends to be mad.4 He also translated Kalidasa’s plays, though Sitaramaiya thought his style too heavy for them.4

The language quarrels

Raju wrote that Kandukuri Veeresalingam had a long literary quarrel with Kokkonda Venkataratnam and with Vedam Venkataraya Sastri.3 “Their triangular fight”, he wrote, “was a literary treat for the educated of the time”.3 See Kandukuri Veeresalingam and Kokkonda Venkataratnam.

Later, Vedam opposed the movement to write in spoken Telugu.105 Sitaramaiya named “Vedam” among the great pandits on the orthodox side.10 He wrote that Gidugu Ramamurti pointed out mistakes in the writings of Vedam and others, judged by their own rules of grammar.11 In Sitaramaiya’s view this left them “very nearly silenced”.11

Footnotes

  1. P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 112 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. K. Sitaramaiya, A Hand Book of Telugu Literature (1943), p. 76 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  3. P. T. Raju, Telugu Literature (1944), p. 57 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Sitaramaiya, A Hand Book of Telugu Literature (1943), p. 77 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. Raju, Telugu Literature (1944), p. 80 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  6. Raju, Telugu Literature (1944), p. 79 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  7. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 114 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 115 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  9. Raju, Telugu Literature (1944), p. 73 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  10. Sitaramaiya, A Hand Book of Telugu Literature (1943), p. 87 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  11. Sitaramaiya, A Hand Book of Telugu Literature (1943), p. 88 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

References

Sources (3)
  1. P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (The Heritage of India Series) (opens in a new tab), Association Press (Y.M.C.A.), Calcutta / Oxford University Press, London, 1928, pp. 112, 114–115. [Public domain]
  2. K. Sitaramaiya, A Hand Book of Telugu Literature (opens in a new tab), Hyderabad Telugu Academy, Hyderabad (Deccan), 1943, pp. 76–77, 87–88. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  3. P. T. Raju, Telugu Literature (Andhra Literature) (The P. E. N. Books, The Indian Literatures, No. XV) (opens in a new tab), International Book House, Bombay, for the P. E. N. All-India Centre, 1944, pp. 57, 73, 79–80. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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