As we discussed before, let’s take a tour of the Tank Bund, the bridge that virtually divides the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The great N.T. Rama Rao, during his regime as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, made superb efforts to popularize his mother tongue, Telugu. He insisted Government Organizations to use Telugu in their official correspondence, used Telugu extensively in his speeches during his tour of Andhra Pradesh, both before and after his historical triumph in the state of Andhra Pradesh. He was the one who instituted many statues of prominent Telugu personalities along the road that is known as ‘Tank Bund’ in Hyderabad.

Incidentally, more than half the personalities excelled in the field of literature.

For a king to be immortal in the history of mankind, he needs to have performed his best among his contemporaries and also among those from the past and the foreseeable future (This would be our past). And more importantly, it is necessary to have his deeds lauded by a literary master. The work of art (literature) then carries the incidents into the distant past like a time machine and the king, or the emperor remains famous as long as the literary work remains (that’s forever) in the history.

For that matter, in any field, except of course, literature, for a person to become famous, for a long, long time, it is necessary to have his deeds written about by an author. Otherwise, who would have any clue to some great man’s existence in the annals of history?

It is important here, to remember that, although there are many people concerned with literature, the few who performed at the heights of their excellence, only are remembered. Others remain as obscure as their talent.

Those who could please the majority of population with their works of art would be remembered forever. That, certainly, is a difficult task, because to please the readers, a writer should have the quality to think a little ahead of his readers and make them feel that the writer is gifted. If everyone writes as well as, say, Shakespeare, how would Shakespeare be popular? We would have a Shakespeare in everyone around!

Well, let’s discuss the eminent personalities who stand tall on the Tank Bund of Secunderabad. On either side of the Tank Bund, as if welcoming visitors, stand the most famous Salivahana and Rudramadevi. Salivahana was the first ruler of the land. Rudramadevi, who, in spite of being a lady, won the laurels and accolades of people for her bravery, courage and righteousness. Bellary Raghava is a theatrical personality who also forayed into filmdom a long time ago. Arthur Cotton was the Englishman who built the first dam in Andhra Pradesh for better utilization of water resources. Pingali Venkaiah, who designed the Tri-colour of India, though forgotten by the country (very few know his details), is righteously allotted a place on the Tank Bund, albeit with the flag in his hands to prove his identity, even to the Telugus. Mehaboob Ali Khan and Tanisha were famous rulers, the former was a kind ruler of the Asaf-Jahi Dynasty and the latter being the ruler during the period of Ramadasu, a great devotee of Lord Rama, who built the Bhadrachalam Temple. Suravaram Prathap Reddy and Raghupati Venkataratnam Naidu were the knowledgeable politicians of yesteryears. They too contributed to the field of literature. Brahma Naidu was the ruler of Palnadu, during 1600s. Siddhendra Yogi was the founder of the dance form, Kuchipudi. Maqdoom Mohiyuddin was a famous Urdu poet. Lastly, it’s quite difficult to talk about Sri Krishnadeva Rayalu, the famous Vijayanagara emperor, who defies classification. He was the greatest ruler of Tuluva Dynasty, but has distinguished himself as a great patron of literature. Not just that, he was also a poet of great distinction, and authored ‘Aamukta maalyada’ (More about this later).

All the others who grace the Tank Bund with their presence are from the field of literature. This is an interesting fact.

The great personality who pioneered the art of Telugu poetry, during 11th Century A.D. was Nannaya Bhattu. Rightly described as the ‘Aadi kavi’ (First Poet) of Telugu literature, he started translating the epic ‘Mahabharata’ into Telugu. During his times, the effect of Sanskrit literature was much more and so the poems also contained a lot many Sanskrit words. Before he could finish translating three chapters out of eighteen in the great epic, he passed away.

Tikkana Somayaji, who hails from Simhapuri (presently, Nellore) continued the Herculean task of translating the fifteen chapters untouched by Nannaya. His poetic expertise went well to recreate magic in Telugu. The monumental work of translation of the Mahabharata was almost done. But, somehow Tikkana left the unfinished third chapter as it were.

Errapragada was the one to finish the job. He considered himself lucky enough to be part of the trio who translated the Mahabharata. These three poets are called the ‘kavi trayam’ (the poet trio). And they occupy a very respectable place in the world of Telugu literature.

Then, there is Potana, the poet who translated the Sanskrit Bhagavatam into Telugu. He is, by far, the most respected and written about in Telugu literature and deserves it more than many others. He is known to be a humble, generous and quite a devoted soul ­ (more about him later). His poems are the sweetest in Telugu literature.

Molla was a poetess, and was a potter by profession. She translated the ‘Ramayana’.

Tyagayya was one of the music maestro-trinity and composed many songs (keertanas) in praise of Lord Rama. His renderings are quite famous even today in all parts of Southern India. Students of the Carnatic Music practice his songs with reverence. Annamayya and Ramadasu also belonged to almost the same cult as Tyagayya. Annamayya wrote about 32,000 songs in praise of Lord Venkateswara, the world-famous deity of Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, India. He pioneered the composition of songs in people-friendly language of that time and is rightly called the ‘pada kavitaa pitaamaha’, when loosely translated, means ‘the father of prosaic poetry’. Ramadasu, whose original name was ‘Kancherla Gopanna’, was an officer under the Tanisha rule and built the Bhadrachalam temple for Lord Rama, with the people’s money. Legend has it that, when Ramadasu was jailed for misusing the funds, Rama and Lakshmana in disguise met Tanisha and paid the sum, making Tanisha realize the true devotion of Ramadasu. Ramadasu also has to his credit a book called the ‘Dasarathi Satakam’. Next in this genre of poets is Kshetrayya. He authored hymns in praise of Lord Krishna, called the ‘Muvva gopala padaalu’.

Vemana was a revolutionary poet, who detested meanness in human beings. He was the descendent of the famous Reddy rulers and had a life of a ‘spoiled brat’ during his day but renounced even his clothes when he realized what life really meant. But for his time in history, he would have started a new religion. His poems subtly point out the superstitions and nuances of his time in a very efficient manner. Sir Charles Philippe Brown (a British, who settled in Andhra Pradesh, and offered invaluable services to the language, Telugu. He deserves a lot more credit than he got and will be given a rightful place in this site) studied Vemana’s poems and compiled an anthology.

Potuluri Veerabrahmendra Swami was a saint, belonging to Banaganapalle of Andhra Pradesh. He is Indian Nostradamus. He wrote a book called ‘Kaala Gnaanam’ (Knowledge of Time), in which he depicted incidents as he visualized them during his meditation sessions. He also entered his grave alive (Jeeva Samaadhi). He is worshipped by many and the town of his dwelling is now named after him, ‘Brahmamgaari Matham’.

Gurajada Apparao was a multi-faceted personality, his abilities ranging from Poetry to Drama. His work ‘Kanyaa Sulkam’ (Dowry that the grooms used to offer the bride’s parents for the marriage to take place) was a famous drama, which was made into a successful feature film in Telugu.

Then, there is Kandukuri Veeresalingam who is the pioneer novelist in Telugu, although there is a slight controversy whether it is true (More about it later). Gurram Jashua was a famous poet of Telangana (the north-western region in Andhra Pradesh). Tripuraneni Ramaswamy Chaudhary was the one who worked hard to popularize colloquial Telugu. He headed the ‘Vyaavahaarika Bhaashodyamam’ which popularized the Telugu, which people spoke.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who also served as the President of India, was a scholar. His works are available in English too. His contributions range from literature to philosophy.

Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy, or CR Reddy as he is popularly known, served as the first Minister for Education of Andhra Pradesh. He was a great literary critic and contributed a lot to literature. Mutnuri Krishna Rao was the founder-editor of ‘Krishna’ patrika, a literary magazine of great repute.

Sri Sri (Sreerangam Sreenivasa Rao) was a revolutionary in his own right. He also started as a conventional Telugu film lyricist and one could only wonder how he wrote those romantic songs. His reputation mainly stems from his anthology of poems ‘Mahaa-prasthaanam’. He was influenced by the Communism. He deserves a separate chapter for himself in any discussion about Telugu literature. And will be given his due credit in a separate page later.

Bye for now. Jai Telugu Talli!