Assortment

Son of Shri P. Ranga Rao, Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao was born on June 28, 1921 at Karimnagar. He studied in OsmaniaUniversity, Hyderabad, BombayUniversity and the NagpurUniversity. A widower, Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao is the father of three sons and five daughters.

Being an agriculturist and an advocate, he joined politics and held some important portfolios. He was the Minister of Law and Information, 1962-64; Law and Endowments, 1964-67; Health and Medicine, 1967 and Education, 1968-71, Government of Andhra Pradesh. He was the Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh, 1971-73; General Secretary, All India Congress Committee, 1975-76; Chairman, TeluguAcademy, Andhra Pradesh, 1968-74; Vice-President, Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha, Madras, from 1972.

He was also Member, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, 1957-77; Member, Lok Sabha 1977-84 and was elected to Eighth Lok Sabha from Ramtek in December, 1984. As Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, 1978-79 he participated in a Conference on South Asia convened by the School of Asian and African Studies, LondonUniversity. Shri Rao also Chaired Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan’s Andhra Centre; he was Minister for External Affairs from January 14, 1980 to July 18, 1984; Minister of Home Affairs from July 19, 1984 to December 31, 1984 and the Minister of Defence from December 31, 1984 to September 25, 1985. He then assumed charge as Minister of Human Resource Development on September 25, 1985.

A man of many interests, he likes music, cinema and theatre. His special interest lies in Indian philosophy and culture, writing fiction and political commentary, learning languages, writing poems in Telugu and Hindi and keeping abreast of literature in general. He has successfully published ‘SahasraPhan’, a Hindi translation of late Shri Viswanatha Satyanarayana’s famous Telugu Novel ‘Veyi Padagalu’ published by Jnanpith; ‘Abala Jeevitam’, Telugu translation of late Shri Hari Narayan Apte’s famous Marathi Novel, “Pan Lakshat Kon gheto”, published by Central Sahitya Academy. He translated other famous works from Marathi to Telugu and from Telugu to Hindi, and published many articles in different magazines mostly under a pen name. He lectured at Universities in the U.S.A. and West Germany on political matters and allied subjects. As Minister of External Affairs he traveled extensively to U.K., West Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Egypt in 1974.

During the period when he was Minister of External Affairs, Shri Rao successfully brought to bear his scholarly background and rich political and administrative experience on the field of international diplomacy. He chaired the III Conference of UNIDO at New Delhi in January 1980, within a few days of assuming charge. He also chaired a meeting of the Group of 77 at New York in March 1980.

More recently, his role at the Conference of Foreign Ministers of Non-aligned Countries in February 1981 earned him wide appreciation. Shri Rao has shown keen personal interest in international economic issues and personally led the Indian delegation to the Conference of the Group of 77 on ECDC at Caracas, in May 1981
1982 and 1983 were eventful years for India and its foreign policy.

In the shadow of the Gulf war the Non-aligned Movement asked India to host the Seventh Summit. This also meant India assuming the Chair of the Movement and Smt. Indira Gandhi becoming its Chairperson. Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao presided over meetings of Foreign Ministers of Non-aligned Nations on the eve of the New Delhi Summit and also at the United Nations both in 1982, when India was asked to host the Summit and the following year when, at the initiative of the Movement, informal consultations amongst Heads of State and Government from diverse nations across the world were held at New York.

Shri Rao was also the Leader of the Special Non-aligned Mission that visited countries in West Asia in November 1983, in an effort to resolve the Palestine Liberation Organization. Shri Rao was associated actively with the Commonwealth Heads of Government in New Delhi and with the Action Group set up by the meeting on the question of Cyprus.
In his capacity as Minister of External Affairs, Shri Narasimha Rao has chaired on behalf of India a number of Joint Commissions including those with the U.S.A., U.S.S.R., Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Vietnam, Tanzania and Guyana.

Shri Narasimha Rao took over as Home Minister on July 19, 1984. He was re-appointed to this post, with the additional charge of the Ministry of Planning, on November 5, 1984. Appointed Minister of Defence from December 31, 1984 to September 25, 1985. On September 25, 1985 he took over as Minister of Human Resource Development.

L. V. Prasad: Akkineni Lakshmi Vara Prasada Rao, more popularly known as L. V. Prasad was a famous Indian film actor, producer and director. He was a recipient of the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for lifetime contribution to cinema from the Government of India for the year 1982.

L. V. Prasad was born in a well-to-do agricultural family in Eluru taluk of the current-day Andhra Pradesh. Right from childhood, he showed lot of interest in plays and the then new phenomenon of films, neglecting his studies. In early 1920’s, his family lost its fortunes in trying to convert forest lands into arable lands. In 1924, he married Soundarya Manoharamma, his maternal uncle’s daughter, despite objections from her family on account of his poor financial status. With a view to pursue his dreams in establishing an acting career, he left to Bombay in 1930.

Due to lack of contacts in the film industry, he found it difficult to enter into studios. After doing rounds of studios for over six months, he landed an errands job in the Venus Film Company. After a short time there, he started working for a monthly salary of 30 rupees in the Imperial Light Company. Ardeshir Irani was the owner of the company and was trying to make the first talkie in India. Irani made Alam Ara, the first talkie in India and the first Hindi talkie in which Prasad played the role of an extra. Prasad also made an acquaintance with H. M. Reddy, who was assisting Irani. Reddy was also a Telugu like Prasad and had left the job of a Police Inspector to pursue his dreams in films. Reddy was given the opportunity to direct the first Telugu talkie by Irani and he promptly cast Prasad in a bit role in the first telugu talkie, Bhakta Prahalada.

Prasad also acted in Kalidasa, the first Tamil film, around the same time. Thus, he had the unique distinction of acting in the first talkies in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. It was around this time that his name was shortened to “L. V. Prasad” by an accountant who felt that his name was too long for the daily attendance roll call.

In 1940, he reached Madras and became an assistant director to H. M. Reddy. Due to the Second World War, it became difficult to get raw material for filming and opportunities were limited. In 1946, he got an opportunity to direct a Telugu film Griha Pravesham based on a feminist story by Tripuraneni Gopichand. Apart from directing the film, he also played the role of the anti-feminist protagonist to critical acclaim. The movie was a commercial success. In 1947, he took over direction of Palanati yuddham (a historical based on the “Palnadu battle”) from an ailing Gudavalli Ramabrahmam – its success established him as a popular director. In 1949, he directed Mana Desam and introduced the later-day hero of N. T. Rama Rao in a bit role. In 1950, he directed Samsaram starring N. T. Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageswara Rao. The movie, exploring domestic themes, was a big hit.

In 1955, he turned a producer and also took over an unfinished studio. In 1956, he produced his first Telugu film and in 1957, he produced his first Hindi film. He was a successful producer and had produced, directed or acted in 50 films spread over the four different languages of Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada in his career. In 1970, his Hindi film Khilona celebrated its silver-jubilee at the theatre where he was a watchman in his early days in Bombay. In 1981, Ek Duje Ke Liye (Made for One Another), a Hindi film produced by him, became a big hit. He completed the Prasad Studios in 1965, the Prasad Film Laboratory in 1974 and the recording theater in 1976. The facilities were regarded as the best in India and on par with the best in the world. He was also the principal donor to an eye hospital at Hyderabad that was named after him – the LVPEI (L. V. Prasad Eye Institute). He died in 1994.

Suravaram Pratapareddy (1896-1953) is one of the pioneers of Telangana literature. He enlightened the people of Telangana who were struggling under the darkness of Nizam rule through his literature. Pratapareddy was born on May 28, 1896 in Boravelli village in Gadwal estate of erstwhile Hyderabad State. His mother was Rangamma and father was Narayanareddy. Their native village was Itikalapadu in the district of Mahabubnagar. Pratapareddy completed his primary education at his uncle Ramakrishnareddy’s residence in Karnool. He studied Sanskrit literature and grammar under the guidance of Vellala Sankarasastri. Later he finished his FA at Nizam College, Hyderabad. Then he obtained BA and BL degrees from Presidency College, Madras and became a lawyer for a short while.

He was moved by the sad plight and illiteracy of Telangana people. He was disturbed by the fact that Urdu was the ruling language and Telugu had no respect. There were no facilities for Telangana Telugus to study in their mother tongue. Raja Bahaddur Pingali Venkatramareddy, the police commissioner of Nizam State, employed him as the secretary of Reddy Hostel in Hyderabad. Pratapareddy set up a very good library in the hostel and brought activity and discipline among the students.

He quit his job at Reddy Hostel to launch a Telugu language journal “Golconda” for the benefit of Telangana people. Golconda was published twice a week. In one of the editorials of Golconda he wrote that the purpose of the journal was two fold: 1) to serve Telugu language in Telangana and 2) to help develop everybody in Telangana without any tribal/caste prejudices.

Pratapaareddy was a scholar in Sanskrit, Telugu, Urdu and English languages. He had tremendous admiration for Telangana Telugu. He is famous for his research articles, novels, poetry, story writer, and literary critic. He used to say, “British Andhrulu Brownvandhram (English-Telugu) matlaadite memu tarakyandhram (Urdu-Telugu) matladutamu. (British Andhras speak Tenglish (Telugu-English) and we speak Turdu (Telugu-Urdu).”

He compiled a list of 354 Telangana poets under the title “Golconda Kavulu” to prove that Telangana also had literature and poetry. Pratapareddy wrote approximately 40 books, including Nizamrashtra Palanam, Mogalayi kathalu, Sanghoddharana, Ucchala Vishadamu, Grandhalayamu, Hinduvula Pandugalu, Haindava Dharmaveerulu, Yuvajana Vignyanam etc. Most prominent among his writings was Andhrula Sanghikacharitra (Social History of Andhras), which won him prestigious “Kendra Sahitya Academy Award,” a federal Indian government award for literature. In this book he described a thousand years of Telugu cultural and social history. Some of the interesting points in this book were:

Men used to wear mattelu (toe rings) during Nannaya period (~1000 AD).
Telugu script is called “onamalu” derived from Om Namah Sivaya of Saivism.
Reddys and Velamas were not Telugus. They were immigrants. Rashtrakutas from north became Reddys and Vellalu from Tamil country became Velamas. Velamas were social reformers and Reddys were orthodox and hence there was always rivalry between these two tribes. During the period of Srinadha (~15th century) they were considered equal in the society.

He served many Telugu organizations, including the Legislative Assembly. In 1952, he was elected to the Assembly from Vanaparti constituency. He was a selfless servant of Telangana and Telugu literature.

Gurram Jashuva or G Joshua (1895-1971) was a popular Telugu poet, born into a poor Christian family in Vinukonda, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. His main works include Gabbilam (A bat), Firadausi (A rebel) and Kandiseekudu (A refugee). He was discriminated as an untouchable in school, college and professional life. Protests against untouchability and segregation have been common themes in all his works.

Dr. Yellapragada Subba Row – The man who made miracle drugs “Poverty, Metric failed, Odd Jobs!!! These are the trademarks of a Genius.” Just to draw your attention to this great son of India who fled to USA instead of Benaras to sell Bananas. He is our Subba Rao. He is known as the “MAN OF MIRACLE DRUGS.”
His awards: a fungus is named after him “Subbaromyces splendens” and a commemorative stamp by the Govt. of India.

His achievements are best summed up by the following: “You’ve probably never heard of Dr. Yellapragada SubbaRow,Yet because he lived you may be well and alive today; Because he lived you may live longer”– Doron K. Antrim, American author(1950). The ‘New York Herald Tribune’, in a tribute, called him “one of the most eminent medical minds of the century”.

He rose from the position of cleaning Bed Pans and toilets of patients at Harvard to the Director of Research, Lederle Laboratories,NY and invented several important medicines!! His work is the back bone of Medical Biochemistry. The wonder is, even he did not know that his drugs will have such a huge impact.

Some of his major discoveries were:

1. FOLIC ACID:(1945): A very essential vitamin for the development of growing cells, Blood and Brain, without which even B-complex cannot function properly. It is the only Vitamin that prevents Birth defects and currently recommended regularly for pregnant women. Also protects against heart disease!!
2. METHOTREXATE:(1948) It is the underlying drug in many Cancer treatments, is a derivative of Aminopterin which was isolated by subba rao as anti folic acid substance.
3. HETRAZAN:(1947) The medicine for Filariasis, without which south east asians would be walking with elephant legs!!
4. TETRACYCLINES:(1945) these are broad spectrum antibiotics effective against most pathogens. Subba rao isolated Aureomycin, the first ever tetracycline molecule and paved the way for modern tetracyclines. These helped to contain and eradicate the Plaque epidemic in India (1994).
5. ATP:(1929) this molecule is the fundamental source of energy to life. If something is alive, it is because ATP is being burned.

But none of these are recognized ! A nobel laureate and his colleague George Hitchings who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine said: “Some of the nucleotides isolated by Subbarao had to be rediscovered years later by other workers because Fiske, apparently out of jealousy, did not let Subbarao’s contributions see the light of the day”.

Subba Row was born on January 12, 1895 in Bhimavaram in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh in a poor Brahmin family. SubbaRow’s family had to pass through long years of poverty. He attended the Taylor High School at Narsapuram. In early years his performance at school education was far from satisfactory.

Often he would plan to run away from home. In fact once he decided to shift to Varanasi where he thought he would make lakhs of rupees just by selling bananas to the pilgrims but he was intercepted and was brought back. From Taylor High School SubbaRow was shifted to Viresalingam Theistic School at Rajahmundhry but here again he failed and could eventually matriculate in his third attempt from the Hindu High School, Madras.

He passed the Intermediate Examination from the Presidency College and entered the Madras Medical College, where his education was supported by friends and Kasturi Suryanarayana Murthy, whose daughter he married later. Following Gandhiji’s call he decided to boycott British-made goods. He started wearing surgical gowns made of khaddar which incurred the displeasure of his surgery professor. Though he did not attend classes regularly, in his final examination, he did well in all the papers except that of surgery and consequently he was awarded the lesser L.M.S. certificate instead of the M.B.B.S. degree. He neither took up the examination again to attain the M.B.B.S. degree, nor did he start medical practice.

In 1921 he got admission to the postgraduate course in Tropical Medicine of the Harvard School of Medicine. The major hurdle was to collect money for the trip. But then his brother Purushottam died after suffering from tropical sprue, a vitamin deficiency disease. After eight days of Purushottam’s death Subba Row’s younger brother Krishnamurti also died in Eluru of a stomach ailment. SubbaRow had to abandone his plans of going to America. He tried to enter the Madras Medical Service without success. He then took up the job as Lecturer in Anatomy and Physiology at Dr. Lakshmi Pathi’s Madras Ayurvedic College–one of the earliest attempts in India at putting Ayurveda on a modern footing to meet the challenge of western Medicine”. The College traced its origin to a school started by the trustees of Chennapuri Kanyaka Parmeswari Devasthanam for training vaidyas. He realised that the conditions at the college and also the objectives of its founder were not conducive to true research in Ayurveda.

In1923, he got a cable from School of Tropical Medicine at Harvard University “You will be admitted in September. No Scholarship.” So with Rs. 2500 raised by his father-in-law, Subba Row left for America on the ship S. S. Khagar. SubbaRow reached Boston on the night of October 26, 1923, and his real struggle started.Dr. Strong(Dean) came in his rescue. He offered SubbaRow some money so that he could register and meet other immediate expenses. Even with Dr. Strong’s support SubbaRow could not get any fellowship. Moreover his medical degree was not enough for getting internship appointment in Boston Hospitals. He took up a job of night porter in the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. His monthly salary was US $ 50. He had to work for three hours in the night and his task involved washing urinals and bedpans of patients.

Subba Row was awarded the Diploma of the Harvard University School of Tropical Medicine on June1,1924. After completing the Diploma Subba Row became interested in biochemistry and started working with Cyrus Hartwell Fiske. He got his Ph.D. degree in 1930 and a junior faculty position. SubbaRow moved to Lederle Laboratories (now, Wyeth Labs),Pearl River,NY in 1940 where he Directed research. Subbarao remained an alien without a green card all his life, he lived and died(Aug 9,1948) an Indian, even though he led some of World War II’s medical research.

Credit should go to sri S.P.K. Gupta who can be seen at major conferences telling people about Subba Row, to Mahanti and several directors of CCMB,ICMR and CSIR.

Ref: www.ysubbarow.com

From the time of the oracle of Delphi to St. Joan’s hearing of “Voices”, prognostication of future events have had considerable influence on the contours of History. To the vantage vision of a mystic, ‘past’, ‘present’ and ‘future’ may appear as one continuous stream of Time and a prophecy may be more an accurate photographic recording of an occurrence than a wild surmise. Prophecies are sometimes given out as revelations found in a trance-state and sometimes as answers mysteriously suggesting themselves to one while one is sleeping. Whatever may be their genesis prophecies are “forewarnings”. By taking heed of these warnings, people may avert disaster. It is the irony of life that a prophecy will be found true only when people fail to take timely action to thwart a predicted danger. Indian epics are full of prophecies, heeded and unheeded.

Next to “Bhavishyat Purana” a prognostication of mankind’s future Kala Jnana Tatwa of Sri Pottuluri Veera Brahmaendra Swami offers a glimpse of events and trends destined to take place in the coming decades.

Very little is known about Sri Veera-Brahmam’s childhood except that he was the son of Sri Paripurnachari and Smt Prakruthamba and that he grew up under the care of foster parents.

Sri Veera Bhojacharya head of the Papaghni math near Nandikonda and his wife Smt. Veera-Papamba. Lovingly called “Veeram Bhotlayya” he used to impress everyone by his extraordinary intelligence and spiritual bent of mind. When in his thirteenth year his foster father, died he not only bore the blow calmly but proved a pillar of strength to his desolate mother. His philosophic talksNext to “Bhavishyat Purana” a prognostication of mankind’s future Kala Jnana Tatwa of Sri Pottuluri Veera Brahmaendra Swami offers a glimpse of events and trends destined to take place in the coming decades.

Very little is known about Sri Veera-Brahmam’s childhood except that he was the son of Sri Paripurnachari and Smt Prakruthamba and that he grew up under the care of foster parents. Sri Veera Bhojacharya head of the Papaghni math near Nandikonda and his wife Smt. Veera-Papamba. Lovingly called “Veeram Bhotlayya” he used to impress everyone by his extraordinary intelligence and spiritual bent of mind. When in his thirteenth year his foster father, died he not only bore the blow calmly but proved a pillar of strength to his desolate mother. His philosophic talksmade her understand the illusory nature of attachments and the continuum of consciousness in life and death. Realising that her son is an enlightened soul, Papamba gave him permission to leave home and go on a pilgrimage to holy places. While Veeram Bhotlayya was visiting Harihara Kshetra, he came across a yogi named AnandaBhairava. Anandabhairava confessed to Veeram Bhotlayya that he took to Sanyasa as a mark of repentance on his inadvertent killing of a cow. To liberate him from the sin of killing a cow Veeram Bhotlayya initiated him into Dwadasakharimantra and gave him the boon that in his next birth he will be born in a family of cotton growers and when he comes of age he would become his (Veeram Bhotlayya’s) chief disciple.

The next recorded evidence available about Sri Veeram Bhotlayya is his stay as a sage in a Matt built for his use in Banaganapalli by an elderly devotee, Acchamma. Legend has it that Acchamma who initially entrusted Veeram Bhotlayya with the task of tending cows was surprised to hear that the young man was spending more of his time inside a cave scribbling something on palm-leaf parchments. She followed him one-day and saw him draw a line round the cattleand command them to stay within the line. The cattle implicitly obeyed his command and Acchamma realised that the boy was not an ordinary shepherd but must be a God man of great powers. She walked into the cave which was bright and aglow as with the light of a thousand suns, and prostrating herself at his feet begged to be excused for having treated him as a menial. Veeram Bhotlyya gave her initiation into ‘Dwadashakshari’ mantra, and begged by her consented to stay for some more time in Banaganapalli. Acchamma was one of the few who were given the privilege of listening to the future predictions written in the form of chants by Sri Veeram Bhotlayya. During his stay at Banagapalli math, Veeram Bhotlayya used to bury the palmleaf parchments in a secret place underground and visitors to this day make it a point to pay homage to the Tamarind tree that grew in that spot. During the twelve years that he stayed in that village Sri Veeram Bhotlayya performed many miracles. He restored eyesight to Acchamma’s son, Brahmanandareddy by suggesting a retribution for Reddy’s sins of a past life. Once the Nawab of that region who was jealous of the fame of Veeram Bhotlyya sent word to him and after a hypocritical show of respect and Courtesy, presented him a platter covered with a muslin cloth.

Knowing that meat was taboo to the Hindu sage he still filled the plate with dishes made of meat. Veeram Bhotlayya accepted the plate and removed the cloth cover. To the utter amazement of the Nawab and his courtiers the platter was heaped with beautiful flowers with no trace of meat anywhere. The Nawab fell at his feet begging forgiveness and donated land for the founding of an Ashram by Veeram Bhotlayya.. Annajayya, a Brahmin disciple used to look after the math and Ashram and it is he who made the predictions of his master known to the public.
In the twelth year of his stay, entrusting the change of the Ashram to Annajayya, Veeram Bhotlayya left for ‘Kandimallaya Palle, a village in Cuddapa Taluq. He used to work as a carpenter and soon became the spiritual leader of the village community. While visiting the temple in a near by hamlet, Pedakomerla, Veeram Bhotlayya chanced to come across a funeral procession. Going near the bier Veeram Bhotlayya sprinkled holy ash (Vibhuthi) on the corpse and to the amazement of everyone the dead man, one Mr. Reddy, got down and bowed to the feet of Veeram Bhotlayya. This created a sensation in the village and most of the villagers began worshippingVeeram Bhotlayya as the very incarnation of God. A few non-believers wanted to play a trick on him. One of them lay down on a bier pretending to be dead and the rest approached Veeram Bhotlayya with the request that their friend’s life be revived. Wishing to teach them a lesson Veeram Bhotlayya said their friend could not be brought back to life. The non believers gleefully asked their friend to sit up but were shocked to see that he was really dead. Moved by their pitiful pleas for forgiveness and help, Veeram Bhotlayya brought the young man back to life and this won for him the respect and admiration of everyone .

Veeram Bhotlayya accorded to a few seekers of that village knowledge of his Kala Jnana chants pertaining to events that would take place in the first five thousand years of Kali Yuga. Sivakotayya was one of those seekers and he reverentially offered his dauaghter Govindamma as bride to Veeram Bhotlayya. Hearing that Govindamma had chosen to remain unmarried all these years as it was her wish to marry a man who is an embodiment of Divinity, Veeram Bhotlayya smilingly gave his consent. After the marriage the couple returned to Kandimallya Palli and from there left on a pilgrimage to holy places. After a shortvisit to Banagnapalli they returned to Kandimallayya palli. Devotees built an Ashram for them and Veeram Bhotlayya began to be worshipped by devotees as Veeram Brahmam. The couple were blessed with four sons and a daughter. All the children were devout like their parents and took active part in the spiritual programme conducted in the Ashram. One day a fifteen year old Muslim boy, Sheik Saheb came to the Ashram to become a disciple of Sri Brahmam. Brahmendra Swami’s sons refused to allow him in because he was a Muslim. Brahmendra Swami rebuked them for their intolerance and allowed the boy to enter. He renamed the boy Siddhayya who turned out to be the most loyal and devoted of his disciples. Siddhayya is none other than Ananda Bhairava and in accepting him as disciple Sri Brahmendra Swami was fulfilling a boon he granted earlier. Brahmendra Swami gave Siddhayya initiation into many spiritual practices including Taraka Yoga.

Accompanied by his disciples Sri Veera Brahendra Swami made a tour of all the important districts in the Andhra, Telangana and Rayalaseema regions. He halted for some time at Hyderabad and convening a meeting of goldsmiths. He gave discourses on the three important goals of life in the outer, middle and inner planes. He surprised everyone in the court of the Nawab by lighting a lamp that had water in it, instead of oil. After predicting the future of the Hyderabadi regime he started home. On the way back, to teachs a lesson to some of the disciples who resented what they thought was Brahmendra Swami favouritism to Siddayya, he pointed to the carcass of a dog and ordered his disciples to eat it. The carcass was decomposed, wormridden and emitting an unbearably foul smell. No one wanted to go near it. Siddayya sat by its side and began eating it with relish as if it was a succulent sweet dish. This demonstration of Siddayya’s implicit obedience to the words of the Guru shamed the disciples into repentance. One more instance of Sri Veera Brahmendra Swami miraculous powers was revealed to the disciples when a Brahmin couple fell on the feet of Swamiji and begged him to cure the Brahmin of the dreadful disease of leprosy. Brahmendra Swami not only cured him but gave the couple initiation, blessed them and sent them home in a happy frame of mind.

By the privilege of association with Godmen, disciples also acquire spiritual stature. This is proved in the life of Siddhayya who was fortunate to learn from Brahmendra Swamy the significance of reincarnation and the way to achieve liberation form the cycle of births. The Nawab of Cuddapa was angry that the Muslim born Siddhayya became the disciple of a Hindu saint and sent word to Siddhayya to come and give an explanation for his conduct. Siddhayya’s impassioned speech on Adwaita not only placated the Musilm countries but converted all of them into devotees of Brahmendra Swami. The Nawab felt piqued that Siddhayya did not bow down to him and rebuked him for his insolence. Siddhayya them ordered the attendants of the Nawab to bring into the hall a big black chunk of rock. When it was brought in Siddhayya bowed down to it and immediately it broke into a thousand pieces. Siddhayya told the Nawab that had he bowed to him, the Nawab’s head also would have broken into pieces. Understanding that Siddhayya had now acquired such spiritual status that only Brahmendra Swami was fit to receive obeisance from him the Nawab begged for forgiveness.

Once, over hearning Brahmendra Swam’s expounding of the six energy centres (Chakras) to Siddhayya, the cobbler Kakkayya wanted to see for himself the deities presiding over each of the chakras. He murdered his sleeping wife and dissected her body. Failing to see any deities he rushed to Brahmendra Swami fell his feet and weeping made a confession of what he did Taking pity on him he accompanied him to his house and ordered Siddhayya to follow him. Once inside the hut Swamiji invoked the deities of the chakras and showed them to Siddhayya and Kakkayya and then with a touch of his hand he made whole the dissected body of Kakkayya’s wife and restored her to life.

Among the hundreds of miracles performed by Brahmendra Swami mention may be made of his gulping down molten iron, of teaching a lesson to the arrogant Brahmins of Nandyal by making Siddhayya eat up all the rice they prepared for serving at a feast, of describing to a Nawab the features of a colt still in the womb of its mother, of proving to a group of hostile scholars that there is no scriptural injunction against non Brahmins’ learning and reciting Vedas.

Once a group of thieves who entered the Ashram at dead of night to loot it, lost their eyesight. Next day taking pity on the blind robbers Swamiji talked to them about the need for honesty and right living and restored vision to them. At another time when, without telling him his wife Govindamma cooked payasam to be offered to Goddess Poleramma made the deity come in person to partake of the offering. On the last day of his earthly existence he gave trustee ship of the Ashram to his son Govindachari and then told his wife that all their sons will meet with an early death, that there would be no progeny to supervise the Ashram and that theirs daughter’s descendants would take charge of the math. That day he deliberately sent Siddhayya on an errand to collect flowers for the worship of God because he knew that Siddhayya cannot bear the sight of his beloved Guru’s dying. When Siddhayya came to know of Brahmendra Swami’s death, he was overcome by grief and tired to commit suicide. Taking pity on him Brahmendra Swamiji came out of the grave to present him with his sceptre, sandals, ring and cane. He blessed him with clairvoyance and commanded him to go to the village Mudumala get married and spend his life in the Rajayoga path. Siddhayya obeyed every one of these commands.

At the time of Brahmendra Swami’s advent, India was plunged in religious feuds between Hindus and Muslims. Humanism was crushed in the name of the illusory supremacy of caste. Brahmendra Swami preached the religion of love which cuts across all man made barrlers of creed, sect, and caste. His disciples included Brahmins like Annajayya, Muslims like Siddhayya and ‘untouchables’ like Kakkayya. His progressive outlook is reflected in marrying a mature maiden like Govindamma at a time when child marriages were the accepted social convention. Most Nawabs of the time were his ardent devotees and this helped in promoting communal harmony. After he left the physical body, hundreds of Brahmendra Swami’s disciples propagated his teachings and travelled from one place to another chanting the predictions written by him.

Like Vemana’s teachings, the chants of Brahmendra Swami also are simple and evoke immediate emotional response from listeners. Some of Brahmendra Swami’s predictions are in prose form. Some are written as moral maxims. Some offer exposition on philosophy, spiritualism, and yoga practice. Some are written as couplets. Many poems in praise of Kalikamba have been written by Brahendra Swami. Some of these contain cryptic esoteric truths. These will be intelligible only to initiates in yoga. His songs are most popular among religious mendicants. As in scriptures like Bhavishyapurana, Bhagavatham and Harivamsam, his predictions are mostly about the historical, geographical and social changes that will take place towards the end of Kali Yuga. As is supposed to be the case with the western prophet Nostradamus, Brahmendra Swami’s predictions also have proved to be true. His chants make anticipatory references to British rule in India, the disintegration of the caste system, rapid strides in science and technology, invention of trains and automobiles, growing dependence on electricity and electronic gadgets, the advent of Mahatma Gandhi, widow remarriages and social acceptance of divorces, the fall of aristocracy and the mounting prominence of weaker sections of society; Brahmendra Swami’s chants also mention that power in the millennium will be in the hands of women, and actors and that society will witness a proliferation of fakes and quacks and that there will be a general dwindling of moral values and that honest people would be at the mercy of criminals and rowdies. One positive feature about the chants of Brahmendra Swami is their envisaging of an egalitarian society where all class distinctions and caste division would be eroded and the gates of opportunity would be thrown open to all — the rich and the poor, men and women. As in Nostradamus in the Kala Jnana chants of Brahmendra Swami also freaks and deformities and monstrosities in nature, irrespective of their pertaining to the plant, animal or human kingdoms, are always mentioned as bad omens betokening disasters about to take place. Similarly comets and meteorites are used as indices of imminent social and historical upheavals. Laxity in pointless orthodoxy is condoned but dire warning is consistently used against straying from the path of Dharma. Both wars which are the outcome of human greed and hatred and calamities of nature like floods and earthquakes are traced to the root cause disharmonious life styles.

Sri Pottuluri Veera Brahmaendra Swami or Brahmam Garu is one of the most popular historical saints of the region, otherwise known as Brahmamgaru. He and his doctrines are not only the centre of a living cult but one of the most popular subjects for both yakshaganams and padya natakams in Andhra Pradesh.

One of the natural caves at Yaganti called the Veera Brahmam cave adds beauty and serenity to this holy place. Potuluri Veera Brahmam has written his monumental work, kalagnanam in this cave only. Yaganti is situated at a distance of 17 kms. from Banaganapalle and 100 kms. from Kurnool. The Nandi (Basavanna) of the famous Umamaheswara Swamy and Parvati Devi is a popular tourist destination due to the prediction of Brahmam Garu that the Basavanna of Yaganti will come out and shout when kaliyuga ends. People believe that stone Nandiswara (Basavanna) is increasing in its size. Yaganti Umamaheswara Swamy temple was constructed and completed by the first Vijayanagara Sangama Kings Harihara Bukka rayalu in the 15th century. It was built according to Vaishnavaite tradition.

Sri Sri: Mahakavi Sri Sri as he is populary know in the Telugu Literary world is the Pen name for Srirangam Srinivasa Rao. He thoughtfully took the “Sri” from his first and last names to come up with Sri Sri. The man who went on to say that this ERA was his (as far as Telugu Literature was concerned), proved every bit of those words and indeed gave a new look to the modern Telugu Language.

Sri Sri was by no means a unique phenomenon but a rare, highly gifted product of his times, especially the hungry thirties. Having retained some amount of romanticist legacy both in diction and neo-classicist a’la Viswanatha, he very soon discovered his own mighty poetic expression. In a way contemporaneous with the Communist movement, its birth and growth, he also became the leading light among lesser poets such as Pendyala Lokanatham, Garimella Satyanarayana and Settipalli Venkataratnam. Soon he could attain full floated and unbounded expression.

Without least hesitation, Sri Sri can be mentioned as a master of poetic diction. Not only that, we could even see him revealing in skillful sound patterns conveying powerful and meaningful slices of life as lived by the poor and the wretched. His knowledge of versification is deep which is marked by rhythm rhymings recalling Swinburne whose “Songs Before Sun-Rise” impressed him early in life.

Though conversant with all modern trends such as Dadaism, Surrealism, Expressionism and Existensialism, his inclination towards Surrealism is more pronounced. But these were only passing phases which failed to strike root in the soil of Telugu literature. But these trends enfranchised Telugu literature by familiarising the Telugu reading public with glimpses of the western culture. No doubt it was degenerate in nature but relevant to the western context.

Sri Sri is an acknowledged and splendid alchemist who created superb and marvellous originals in Telugu; absorbing Easter and Western poetic influences. In this context mention should be made of Nazrul Islam, Harindranath Chattopadhyaya in Bengall Gurazada to a great extent, Kavikondala and also Sistla to some extent in Telugu; Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Paul Eluard, Emile Verhaeren Louis Aragon in France; Mayakovsky in Russia; James Joyce, Dylan Thomas and E.A Poe in English. Hence it is but natural that Sri Sri’s poetry possesses universal essence.

Sri sri himself admitted that in those times his knowledge of Marxism was not significant. But owing to suffering in and around himself he could acquire an understanding of it. He also developed an emotional attachement towards communism. Hence he could render its message into the most inspiring poetry e.g. ‘I OWE’. He was deeply influenced by the Spanish civil war in his soul though he did not explicitly put into poem. it is evident that Sri Sri did not stop hating general Franco, the arch enemy of Communism until the last breath of his life. Having presaged the advent of World War II, he longed for the world of peace, plenty and Universal brotherhood not of Utopian but of proletarian or Marxist.

Sri Sri always stood by the cause of fighting masses not only in India but also of Ireland, Poland, Czech, China, Southern Africa, Zulus, and Hottentots. Probably no other Indian poet either before or after Sri Sri is marked by such a unique and universally valid poetry of the highest and most powerful variety.
Though trained up in the school of Romanticism he altogether opened new vistas as early as 1933. Trenchant in a tone, militant in mood, buoyant in spirit he was neither a lotus-eater nor a day-dreamer but a down to earth realist tinged with revolutionary romanticism.

In 1937 and 1940 he dealt only with general themes without stressing here and now. But in 1950s and afterwards he rid himself of adolescent nationalist illusions as well as the wishy-washy tearful and weak-kneed progressivism. Hence Sri Sri’s view point in his own words is “realist- internationalist” but not “nationalist-idealist”. His modest claim that there were only “Progressivism” in Mahaprasthanam with an iota of “revolutionism”, it was the latter which marked him out for Par excellence.

More so after 1967 i.e., from Khadgasristhi his message as well as music were meant for mankind in its onward march to the fulfilmetn of its historic destiny.

Date of Birth jan 2 1910..
Expired on Jun 5 1983

Potti Sreeramulu: (16 March, 1901-16 December, 1952) was a freedom fighter. He became famous for undertaking a fast-unto-death for achieving the state of Andhra and losing his life in the process.
His sacrifice became instrumental in the linguistic re-organization of states. He is revered as Amarajeevi (Immortal being) in Andhra Pradesh for his sacrifice. As a devout follower of Mahatma Gandhi, he worked life long to uphold principles such as truth and non-violence and objectives such as Harijan upliftment.

He was born to Guravayya and Mahalakshmamma on 16th March 1901 in house no. 165, Annapillai Street, Chennai. His ancestors belonged to the Patamatapalle village of Nellore District. He studied in Madras till he attained the age of 20. Later, he studied Sanitary Engineering in the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute in Bombay. He joined the Great Indian Peninsular Railway and worked for about four years there.

After the death of his wife in 1927 when he was only 25, he lost interest in the material world and resigned from his job. He divided property between his brothers and mother and joined Sabarmati Ashram as a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.

In an effort to unify the Telugu people, he attempted to force the government to listen to public demands for the unification of Andhra based on linguistic lines. He went on a lengthy fast, and only stopped when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru promised to support unification. However, there was no movement on the issue for a long time. He started fasting again for attaining statehood for Andhra in Bulusu Sambamurthy’s house in Madras on 19 October, 1952. It started off without fanfare but steadily caught people’s imagination despite the disavowal of the fast by the Andhra Congress committee.

The government of the day however did not make a clear statement about the formation of a new state despite several strikes and demonstrations by Telugu people. On the midnight of 15th December (i.e. early 16 December, 1952), Potti Sreeramulu passed away and laid down his life trying to achieve his objective. In his death procession, people shouted slogans praising his sacrifice. When the procession reached Mount Road, thousands of people joined and raised slogans hailing Sriramulu. Later, they went into frenzy and resorted to destruction of public property. The news spread like wildfire and created uproar among the people in far off places like Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Eluru, Guntur, Tenali, Ongole and Nellore. Seven people were killed in police firing in Anakapalle and Vijayawada.

The popular agitation continued for three to four days disrupting normal life in Madras and Andhra regions. On 19 December, the Prime minister of the country Jawaharlal Nehru made an announcement about formation of a separate state. On 1st October 1953, the state of Andhra was established. On November 1, 1956, Andhra Pradesh was formed with Hyderabad as its capital. Kerala, Tamilnadu and Karnataka states were formed the same day, followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra in 1960. The formation of linguistic states is the single most important event in the history of South Indian languages, as it provided an opportunity for these languages to develop independently, each of them having a state to support.

Tripuraneni Ramaswamy: At the dawn of 19th century a reassessment of the existing cultural values began in India and stalwarts like Ram Mohan Roy, Eswara Chandra Vidya Sagar, Ranade, Dayananda Saraswathi were pioneers of the renaissance movement. In Andhra area K. Veeresalingam, Gurazada Appa Rao and others took it up. Tripuraneni Ramaswamy had been a worthy successor of the great reformers who undertook the task and strove for the spread of new ideas among Telugu speaking people.

Tripuraneni Ramaswamy was born on 15-01-1887 in Anagaluru village in the Krishna District of the present day Andhra Pradesh in a family of Agriculturists. Ramaswamy grew up in an agricultural background, but tempered by literary refinement. At the age of 23 he passed Matriculation Examination and in the same year he wrote two plays ” Karempudi Kadanam” based on Palanadu battle and also “Kurukshetra Sangramam” based on Mahabharatha war. He joined the Noble College at Bandar in 1911 to study for Intermediate Course. In those years he displayed his literary skill and prodigious memory in his Avadhanam.

In 1914, he went to Britain and studied law in Dublin. There he studied not only law but also the vast English Literature and the modern European culture. After returning to India he practiced law for some years mostly in Tenali town. But his main activity was directed towards social reform. He launched a full scale attack on the caste system and the social injustice which were propagated by Smritis and Puranas and the institutionalized religion. He led the fight against social inequality and inequity.

He chose literary writing as the vehicle for expressing his rationalistic thought for the awakening of his people. His famous work ‘SUTAPARANAM’ in four cantos was a fierce attack on ancient Puranas which were powerful instruments to spread unquestioning faith among the people in custom, tradition, caste system. His inimitable logic and wide range of knowledge displayed in his works are amazing. His poetic work ” Kuppuswamy Satakam” reveals the theme of ?Social Revolution and tells many home truths about social evils, blind faith and indignity to man. In this work he blazed the train which Vemana centuries back heralded.

In all his other works such as ‘SAMBHUKAVADHA”, “SUTHASHRAMA GEETHAALU’, ‘DHOORTHA MAANAVA’, ‘KHOONI’, ‘BHAGAVADGITA’,
‘RANA PRATAP’, ‘KONDAVEETI PATHANAM’, he made a rational analysis of dogmas prescribed by ancient classics and the injustice done to people belonging to lower social order and attacked all the discriminating standards advocated by the Smritis. He was a fighter for the upliftment of the down trodden and the hapless.

Ramaswamy not only expressed his ideas in literature, he tried to put them into practice. He was against the cumbersome procedure of Hindu marriage resulting in unnecessary expenditure. He prepared a simple procedure in Telugu called,
‘Vivaha Vidhi”, himself officiated as priest and conducted many marriages. When he was the Chairman of Tenali Municipality he did not permit animal sacrifice to appease Devatas. He fought against the Scourge of untouchability. He was reformer in thought and in practice.

Ramaswamy was an ardent patriot even when he was a student, he wrote a patriotic play “RANA PRATASP”, which was proscribed by thee British government. When he was studying law at Dublin he wrote to Krishna Patrika, a Telugu weekly appealing to Indians to support the Home Rule movement stared by Annie Beasant. He pleased for India’s independence. Ramaswamy wrote many patriotic songs inspiring the people to great heights of sacrifice during the independence movement.

He was an ardent lover of Telugu language and culture and was proud of their history.
He was an educationist and was a member of the senate of the Andhra University for three terms. He was recipient of many honors and was popularly known as ‘KAVIRAJU’, a title conferred on him.

This great revolutionary thinker and poet died in 1943 but left him imprint on the development of rational thought among Telugu speaking people.

His eldest son Tripuraneni Gopichand had left his own indelible mark on the telugu literature. Gokulchand Tripuraneni has contributed his literary might to the telugu literature. One of his most famous and outstanding works is in the form of a drama, reflecting the drought of Bengal in the 1950s.

Ramaswamy’s eldest daughter Sarojini Devi married Subba Rao Kanumilli, an officer of Indian Administration Services known for his ethical standards.

Pitcheswara Rao Atluri, a Royal Indian Navy mutineer, during the Indian Freedom movement, married Ramaswamy’s youngest daughter Chouda Rani. She is perhaps the first woman, to run a bookstore exclusively in Telugu language in Tamilnadu. She too contributed to the telugu literature in her own way. She passed away in 1996.

Bammera Potana: (1450-1510) was born in Bammera, a village twenty miles away from Warangal, into a Niyogi Brahmin family. His father was Kesanna and his mother was Lakkasanamma. He was considered to be a natural scholar (sahaja panditha) without a teacher. Potana was a very polite gentleman. He was an agriculturist by occupation. Though he was a great scholar, he never hesitated to work in the agricultural fields.

At an early age he wrote ‘Bhogini Dandakam’ a poem wrote in praise of king Sri Singa Bhoopala’s concubine Bhogini. This was his first poetic venture which had the seeds of his great poetic talents. His second work was “Virabhadhra Vijayamu” which describes the adventures of Lord Virabhadhra, son of Lord Shiva. The main theme was the destruction of a yagna performed in absence of Lord Shiva by Daksha Prajapathi.

As a young man, he was a devotee of Lord Shiva. Later, Potana became a devotee of Lord Rama and more interested in salvation. His conversion from Shaivism to Vaishnavism was triggered by an incident. One early morning during a lunar eclipse, on the banks of river Godavari, Potana was meditating on Lord Shiva. At that auspicious moment, Lord Rama appeared dressed like a king and requested Potana to translate Bhagavatam into Telugu and dedicate it to him. This inspired him to translate Vyasa’s Sanskrit Bhagavatam into Telugu.

The king of Warangal, Sarvajna Singa Bhoopala, wanted Potana to dedicate ‘Andhra Maha Bhagavatamu’ to him. But, Potana refused to obey the king’s orders and dedicated the Bhagavathamu to Lord Rama, whom he worshipped with great devotion. It is said that Potana remarked, ‘it is better to dedicate the work to the supreme Lord Vishnu than dedicate it to the mortal kings.’ He was of opinion that poetry was a divine gift and it should be utilized for salvation by devoting it to the God.

He was quite fond of using rhythm and repetition of sounds giving a majestic grace to the style of writing. He was very skilful in using alankaras (figures of speech) like similes and metaphors. Potana imparted the knowledge of the divine to the Telugu people along with lessons in ethics and politics through Andhra Maha Bhagavatamu.

Even illiterate Telugus readily quote verses from chapters ‘Gajendra Mokshamu’ and ‘Prahlada Charitra’ of his work, ‘Andhra Maha Bhagavathamu,’ the crown jewel of Telugu literature. Andhra people are greatly indebted to the most beloved poet Bammera Potana.

Potana, who lived in the later part of the 15th century, is the author of several works like Narayana Satakamu, Veerabhadra Vijayamu and Bhogini Dandakamu. Potana also translated the Bhagwata Purana into Telugu in his great classic Andhra Mahabhagavathamu.

Dasaradhi: Krishnamacharyulu Dasaradhi was born on July 25, 1925 in a middleclass Vaishnava family (Vaikhaanasa Brahmin). His native village was Chinnaguduru in Manukota taluqa in Khammam district. He was a great pundit in Andhra, Sanskrit, and Tamil languages and puranas (mythology). He was an orthodox Brahmin and strictly followed Brahminism and its principles without any exceptions. He graduated in Matriculation from KhammamGovernmentHigh School and gave up higher education to join the movement against autocratic Nizam Muslim rule in the HyderabadKingdom.

As a volunteer in Andhra Mahasabha (Left Wing), Krishnamacharyulu traveled from village to village in Telangana to enlighten the public. Mahatma Gandhi and Veeresalingam Kandukuri influenced him. However, he joined leftwing, as most of his friends were leftists and communist revolutionaries.

Krishnamacharyulu began writing poetry very young as a student. His poetry was revolutionary and was influenced by communist and leftist ideology of Carl Marx. Downtrodden, poor, exploited, workers etc. were his subjects in poetry. He strongly believed that the capitalist, feudalist and autocratic society under Muslim rule would give way to democracy and equality.

The Indian Continent was liberated from the British Rule and the Indian Union was formed in 1947. Many independent kingdoms and principalities joined the newly formed Indian Union. However, HyderabadState under autocratic rule of the then ruler Mir Osaman Ali Khan did not join the Union. Mir Osaman Ali Khan failed to control the atrocities committed by Mazlis Ittehadul Muslimeen Party. At this juncture, State Congress Party under the leadership of Swamy Raamaanandateerdha called for an action against the autocratic Muslim rule. Thousands of people went to jail by responding to this call and participating in “satyagraha (civil disobedience).” Dasaradhi was arrested in 1947 and was sent to Warangal central jail, along with many other eminent leaders like Kesavarao Jamlapuram, Hiralal Moria, Kesavarao Gella, Kishanrao Kolipaka, Narayanarao Utukuri, Manikyarao Gandham, Kaloji etc. Dasaradhi was later moved to Nizamabad central jail. He wrote poetry in jail. He left Telangana when released from jail and went to Vijayawada and wrote poetry against the King in “Telugu Desam,” a daily paper devoted to news and articles related to Telangana and Nizam’s rule.

In 1948, the Indian Union took over the HyderabadState in a police action and put an end to to the autocratic Nizam rule and to the violence unleashed by the Muslim Razakars and Mazlis Ittehadul Muslimeen Party. Later, the Telangana part of the Hyderabad state was united with the state of Andhra, which was separated in 1953 from the MadrasProvince of the British India, and formed the present state of Andhra Pradesh in 1956.

In 1949, his first poetry compilation entitled “agnidhaara” was published. It contained tiles such as [i]maatrubhoomi, desabhakti, prajaporatam, dharmachakram, vasantakumari, silpi etc. He published rudraveena in 1950, in which he described the life of starving poor. His works includemahaandhrodayam, punarnavam,mahaboadhi, Galib geetaalu, Dasaradhi satakamu , kavita pushpakam, timiramto samaram , aalochanaalochanalu etc. In addition, he wrote lyrics for many Telugu movies. His debut movie was vaagdanam. He wrote approximately 2000 lyrics for the film industry. His “timiramto samaram” bagged the Sahitya Akademy (the Indian National Academy of Letters) Award in 1967. (The Sahitya Akademi was formally launched by the Government of India on March 12, 1954. Sahitya Akademi gives twenty-two awards to literary works in the twenty-two national languages it has recognised and an equal number to literary translations from and into the languages of India, both after a year-long process of scrutiny, discussion and selection.) In 1975, the AndhraUniversity honored Dasaradhi Krishnamacharyulu with title “kalaprapoorna.” In 1976, the AgraUniversity honored him by conferring D. Litt. Degree.

After a democratic rule was established in Hyderabad, Krishnamacharyulu served in the government of Andhra Pradesh for sometime. Later, he worked for All India Radio Vijayawada and Madras (Chennai) as a prompter and retired in 1971. He served as the Government Poet from 1971 through 1984. He also rendered services as an emeritus producer for All India Radio and Doordarshan (Television). He died in 1987.

Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao (1922-1974): It is possible that someone else was accorded more recognition, better paid, more in demand (hardly), more titled. But for generations of Andhras born between 1940 and 1985, Venkateswara Rao, popularly known as Ghantasala was numero uno and no one else stood a chance for this special place in their hearts.

Before Ghantasala found himself in the spotlight of public attention, through the media of films and gramophone records, he was an accomplished singer with impeccable training in Carnatic music.

He was born on 4 December 1922 in Choutupalle near Gudivada into an ordinary family. His father Surayya was an itinerant singer of Narayana Teertha’s tarangas; he also played the mridanga. He was the first teacher of little Venkateswara Rao. Ghantasala would dance, as a child of six to his father’s singing of taranga-s and this earned him the title of Bala Bharata.

Surayya, who was always more into music and musing than looking after the family fortunes, died when Ghantasala was 11. The family was then taken care of by maternal uncle Ryali Pichiramaiah. Ghantasala was interested in music but had no opportunity to improve himself. At this time, someone made fun of him when he gave a concert. Stung to the quick, he solemnly vowed to himself that he would seek proper and systematic training and silence his critics.

In those days, proper coaching was available (in Andhra) only in Vizianagaram (then in Visakhapatnam district). As family circumstances did not permit him to go there for further study, he decided to sell his gold ring and get there surreptitiously.
When he reached Vizianagaram, however, the MusicCollege was closed for the summer. And there seemed to be little chance of getting admission when it opened. Into this darkness came a ray of light through Paatrayani Sitarama Sastry of Salur who taught singing at the college. (P. Sangeetha Rao, the asthana composer of Vempati Chinna Satyam is his illustrious son; he also assisted Ghantasala for many years in films). Through his kindness and as per the decision of the principal Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu, who auditioned him, Ghantasala found himself a student of vocal music.

Before gaining admission, and with it the eligibility for eating free at the Maharaja’s choultry, he had to fend for himself. He did that by eating once a day through the week at different houses (aayavaram) or even by madhukaram (begging for food as a brahmin student).
Around this time, a lady from a family of traditional entertainers, Kalavar Ring aka Saride Lakshmi Narasamma, a singer, recording (gramaphone) artist, dancer and harikathaka, as well as a woman famed for her charity, showered kindness on the eager student. This he recalled fondly and gratefully even 45 years later.
After getting his degree, Ghantasala got home and eked out a living by giving wedding concerts mostly classical music with a large sprinkling of taranga-s, keertana-s, of Ramadas, etc.- apart from singing at nine-day festivities associated with Sree Rama Navami, Dasara and Vinayaka Chaturthi. As a matter of fact, even after settling in Madras, Ghantasala’s early broadcasts from AlR were strictly classical music.
Finding it difficult to make ends meet, he dabbled in traditional drama, starting his own company and sometimes sharing the stage with the stalwarts of the time. Inspired and incited by the revolutionary fumes that enveloped the country in 1942, he joined the Quit India movement; as a consequence he was sentenced to Eighteen months’ rigorous imprisonment. Once he came out, however, he found that there was no residue of the political fever in him.

He got married to Savitri of Pedapulivarru. It was in this village that he met Samudrala Raghavacharya who was responsible for his induction into the film industry in Madras.
By 1944, he was hanging around the periphery, by singing in choruses, doing bit roles. He was seen fleetingly and heard distantly in Nagaiah’s ‘Tyagaiah’ (1946), as part of the disciple band. In ‘Yogi Vemana’ (1947), thanks to Nagaiah again, he was both seen and heard as a nattuvanar in the beautiful song and dance sequence (Aparani taparnayera, Sreeranjani/Adi) featuring M.V. Rajamma.
Then child actress, heroine, singing star and producer C. Krishnaveni took him on as an individual composer for her film ‘Manadesam’ (1949). ‘Keelugurram’, released the same year, established him once for all as a composer-cum-singer, the most prolific till the seventies in Telugu cinema.

Many of Ghantasala’s compositions were ragapure in the early days. He was less fastidious later, realising that, for films, this was not necessary. Surprisingly, he never sang a Tyagaraja Kriti in a film, though he can be heard singing Marugelara (Marga Hindolam / Adi) on the LP he made on his only visit to the United States.

It is not very well known that Ghantasala wrote some lyrics too at one time. He sang many of them on AIR-Madras. One, Bahudoorapu batasari, was recorded by Gramco and he was neither paid for it nor given credit. These lyrics, seven of which have been collected in the book titled Bhuvanavijayam published on his triumphal return from the U.S., are simple and philosophical in nature. Or about rustic love that lost its way. He had a great regard for Malladi Ramakrishna Sastry who was associating himself with Samudrala’s film output at that time. The substance of Malladi’s mellifluent lyrics, if not the style, must have influenced him. This is particularly discernible in Bhoomi pommannadi, aakasam rammannadi (The earth bids goodbye, the sky says welcome).

His way with the Telugu padyam (verse) was incomparable. Padyam was a part of the performing arts of Andhra, mostly through mythological dramas, for 50 years. The intent was primarily musical- with what intricate curlicues, what breath control the singer managed being more important than characterisation or serving the needs of the moment in the play.

Ghantasala changed all this with his sophisticated interpretation (not on stage but on 78 rpm gramophone records) of the author’s intent, the character’s intent, the character’s turmoil being at once musical and accessible. These verses were rendered without tala (rhythm) as before but he generally had a short, metrical musical interlude doing what background music does in films, setting the stage and emphasising the mental stage of the character. Poets Karunasri and Jashuva enjoyed great regard amongst the literatteurs, but it was Ghantasala who rendered their songs and introduced their work to the man on the street.

Long before singers got on to the TTD/Annamacharya bandwagon, Ghantasala recorded at least a dozen sides singing the praise of Venkateswara (not through Annamayya though, only the US LP had Kolani dopariki, alas the pallavi wrongly split!) Ashtapadi-s on a Super Seven disc, Bhagavad Gita on an LP were the other assets he created.

Seshasailavasa, the beautiful composition of Pendyala in Reetigaula in ‘Sree Venkateswara Mahatyam’ (1960). This will continue to introduce to the future generations the physical attributes of Ghantasala. The musical ones are forever enshrined in the musical scores of ‘Shavukaru’ (1950), ‘Chiranjeevulu’ (1956) and the songs in ‘Rahasyam’ (1967) that won wah-wahs from Chittoor Subramania Pillai, a strict traditionalist. It is no rahasyam that Malladi Ramakrishna Sastry’s lyrics inspired him to this sublime level.

Alluri Sitaramaraju: One of the great and famous freedom fighters was ever born on the soil of Andhra Pradesh was Alluri Sita Rama Raju. He was born on the 4th of July 1894. His father died when Rama Raju was very young; therefore he has to stay with his relatives to complete his education. Rama Raju was very well versed in the arts of using a spear and horse riding. He liked to exercise and was a very good archer too. Rama Raju was a great patriot right from his childhood. As he grew up, Rama Raju developed aesthetic interests and spent most of his time meditating. Since he wanted to lead a aesthetic life, Rama Raju left for jungles in the year in 1917 and reached a place called Krishna Devi Peta. He was loved and respected by the tribals lived in the Krishna Devi Peta. After the brutal murder of the freedom fighter named Kannaganti Hanumanthu, by the Britishers in the present district of Guntur, Rama Raju became more prominent on the scene of the freedom movement. During those days Britishers levied heavy taxes on the tribals and also caused a lot of hard ships to them. An officer by name Bastion had insulted the head of the village of this jungle named Gantam Dora. He also kicked Gantam Dora’s brother Mallu Dora. Bastion had assigned one of the tribals, Endupadal with the work to lay a road, but refused to pay him the wages. The tribals then Sought Sita Rama Raju’s help. Suspecting Rama Raju to create a supposed mutiny, The britishers increased their vigilence on him. A deputy superindent, in the year 1922, came to interrogate Rama Raju.

The British government, inorder to prevent him from taking an active part in the freedom struggle gave him a pair of oxen and a field to cultivate. Rama Raju too started leading a life of a farmer. But Rama Raju gave up farming just after four months. He then started an ajitation against the British Government’s atrocities, along with Endupadal, Gantam Dora and Mallu Dora and the other tribals. In August 1922, Sita Rama Raju along with 500 other people attacked a police station in a place called Chinta Palli. They seized all the weapons in the police station. They also attacked the Krishna Devi peta police station and seized the weapons from this station too. When the Government realized this, it deployed additional forces to Krishna Devi peta. Once the british officers were attacked on a ghat road in which an officer named Trimenmore was killed and though Bastion was injured, he put up a brave fight. When the police came to know that Rama Raju performed a Devi pooja at Krishna Devi peta as apart of a custom, they planned to capture him then. But this plan was failed when they were on their way to the place, by Rama Raju’s men and the police had to retreat. The chief officer-in – charge of the Madras state wrote a letter to the Central government briefing them about this incident. In the mean time the attacks of Rama Raju and his men were claming the lives of many a British officer.Rama Raju also attacked the police stations of places called Adda Teegala and Rompa chooda Varam, but because of the Government’s precautionary measures he could not get hold of many weapons. The Government appointed additional officers to tackle Rama Raju and was constantly informed of the developments by the officials in their letters. The british troops under the officer John Charles on 6th December, 1922 attacked Rama Raju and his men, in which four of Rama Raju’s men were killed. In another attack , the next day many other Rama Raju’s men were killed. On 7th April, 1923, when Rama Raju attacked the police station at Anna Varam people gave him a divine welcome and sang to his praise. When another freedom fighter named, Vegi raju Satyanarayana Raju, heard about Rama Raju, he too joined agitation and later came to be know as Aggi Raju.

On 18th September 1923, police caught Mallu Dora. Later, Sita Raju and his men attacked camp in a place called Gudem They also attacked a police in a place called Paaderu but found no weapons there. The British Government now declared Rama Raju WANTED and declared prize money to the person who informed them of his whereabouts. Therefore, according to the earlier devised plan, the officials captured most of Ram Raju’s men. When Rama Raju came to know of this, he grieved and decided to surrender. He then wrote a letter to the British officials informing them of his surrender and asked them to com to a village named Mampa. Sita Rama Raju, who had come to surrender, was ruthlessly shot by the British Officials led by officer Ruther Ford. Thus the life of a great freedom fighter was put to an end by the cruel Britishers on 7th May 1924.

Ballari Raghava(1880-1946) : Raghava Ballari was one of the greatest Telugu drama artists. He was born on August 2, 1880 in Tadapatri, a village in Anantapuram district. His father was Narasimhachari and mother was Seshamma. His religion was Vaishnava and belonged to a caste/tribe called Srivaishnava. He was married to Krishnamma, daughter of Lakshmanachari of Kurnool.

He finished his Metric in Ballari High School and graduated from Christian College, Madras (now Chennai). He practiced law after graduating from Madras Law College in 1905. Very soon he became rich and popular as a criminal lawyer and well known for his cross examination tactics. The British Government recognized his talent and appointed him as a public prosecutor and also awarded him the title “Rao Bahaddur.”

From his childhood, he was very interested in drama and started his acting career at the age of 12. He founded Shakespeare Club in Ballari and played Shakespeare dramas. Raghava portrayed main characters in various dramas in Sreenivasarao Kolachalam’s group called Sumanohara in Bangalore.

Harischandra, padukapattabhishekamu, savitri, brihannala, ramaraju charitra, ramadasu, tappevaridi, saripadani sangatulu, etc. were his famous dramas. He visited various countries like Sri Lanka, England, France, Germany and Switzerland and gave seminars and lectures on Indian drama art. He was also invited to America and Russia, but he was unable to go to these countries. Eminent people like Mahatma Gandhi and artists like Rabindranath Tagore were impressed by his dramas. He was very popular among the common people as well.

He encouraged women to participate in drama. His students who later became very popular included female artists like Sarojini Kopparapu, Padmavati Kommuri and Annapurna Kakinada, and male artists like Vasudevarao K.S., Apparao Basavaraju and Kanaklingeswarrao Banda.

He flirted with film industry briefly. In 1936, he played Duryodhana in Reddy H.M.’s “draupadi maana samrakshanam.” He also acted in raitubidda and chandika. However, he quit the film industry quickly.

Raghava was influenced by a spiritual master Pandit Taranadh who established an ashram on the banks of Tungabhadra river and contributed a lot to this ashram. He used to provide financial help to anyone in need. He was against traditional extravagant marriages and ghettoism. He lived a simple life, in spite of his tremendous wealth.

He believed that music should be down played in drama and social dramas related to social reforms should be given more importance. He advocated that drama should bring some social benefit to the society, in addition to entertainment. He continued his interest in drama until his last day on April 16th, 1946. A prestigious award “Ballari Raghava Puraskaram” was instituted in his memory and is awarded to talented artists who contributed to drama and cinema.

Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu (1872 – 1957):Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu was an Indian freedom fighter and the first Chief Minister of the state of Andhra. He was widely revered as Andhra Kesari.

Childhood and Education
He was born in a Niyogi Brahmin family in the current-day Andhra Pradesh.When he was 11, his father passed away and his mother had to run a boarding house (restaurant) at Ongole to make ends meet and ensure that her kids had good education.When E. Hanumantha Rao Naidu, his mentor and teacher at school, shifted to Rajahmundry, he took Prakasam along with him as that place had better opportunities for education. Though interested in becoming a lawyer since childhood, Prakasam failed to clear his matriculation examination as he fell into bad company and regularly entered into brawls apart from devoting a lot of time to acting in plays. He however managed to go to Madras and become a second-grade pleader. He became a successful lawyer in Rajahmundry and made a lot of money in a short time. He also became well regarded in a short period of time and was elected the Chairman of Rajahmundry when he was 30. This was the beginning of his stint in public life.

He reached England in 1904 and took to his studies diligently. He joined the India Society and worked for the election of Dadabhai Naoroji, a famous nationalist, to the parliament. His exposure to other nationalist leaders and experiences in England further aroused his interest in public life.

Struggle for independence

When Simon Commission visited India, the congress party decided to boycott it with the slogan “Simon, Go back;” There were a host of reasons for this boycott, the most important being that the commission did not have a single Indian in its ranks. The commission was greeted with demonstration of black flags wherever it went. When the commission visited Madras, the police did not allow protests in some sensitive areas. Nevertheless, the crowd grew large and restive near the high court (Parry’s corner) and the police resorted to firing with a view to control it. However, a young man was killed
on the spot. The police warned the people that they would shoot if anyone tried to come near the body. At this, Prakasam grew enraged and tore open his shirt, baring his chest and daring the police to shoot at him. Understanding the situation, the police gave way to him and other supporters. After this incident, people respected him with the epithet
of “Andhra Kesari” (Lion of Andhra).

Prakasam was the first prominent leader from South India to offer individual Satyagraha against the war effort in 1941.He was arrested for more than three years for participating in the Quit India movement of 1942. After his release in 1945, he toured South India to get back in touch with the
masses. In 1946, congress party again contested and won in the Madras Presidency. This time, Prakasam became the chief minister as he and Kamaraj, a Tamil leader, were against Rajaji – the choice of leaders such as Gandhi and Nehru – becoming the chief minister.

However, the government lasted for only 11 months, as it was felt that Prakasam was not accommodating enough to various varying interests. He was not gracious in losing power and levelled corruption charges against the new ministry.
However, he was more interested in the welfare of common people and visited Hyderabad state during the Nizam rule in 1948, without heeding warnings for personal safety by Jawaharlal Nehru. He met Qasim Rizvi, the leader of Razakars (who were allegedly under the pay of Nizam and terrorised general public) and warned him about pushing his luck too far. The Razakars were impressed by his courage and accorded him a march of honour.In 1952, he formed the Praja Party (People’s party) and ensured that all the sitting
ministers of the Congress Party were defeated. However, Praja party could not come into power by its own and the coalition that he cobbled up collapsed even before a show of strength could be contemplated.

Meanwhile, in December 1952, Potti Sriramulu died fasting for the cause of a separate state for the Telugu-speaking people. On 1st October 1953, the state of Andhra was created and Prakasam, due to his reputation, was made the chief minister. However, due to opposition from the communists and halting support from the socialists, the government fell after a year. Mid-term elections were held in 1955 by which time Prakasam had more or less retired from active politics. On 1st November 1956, the erstwhile Hyderabad state
was merged in the Andhra state to form Andhra Pradesh. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, a staunch follower of Prakasam became the chief minister.

Though retired from politics, Prakasam was active in touring the state. On one such visit to Ongole, he suffered from severe sunstroke. He was admitted in a Hyderabad hospital and passed away on 20 May, 1957.
However, his legacy as a freedom fighter is cherished to this day, especially in Andhra Pradesh.

Dr C Narayana Reddy: Dr. Cingireddy Narayana Reddy (born on July 29th 1931) in Hanumajipeta, a remote village in the interior of Karimnagar district. Born as Singireddy but his association with telugu made him to keep c instead of S as initials aka C Na Re received the prestigious Jnanpith Award in 1988 for his contribution to Telugu literature.
He completed his Master’s degree and Ph.D. degree in Telugu literature from Osmania University.

He worked in Osmania University as a professor and attained very high positions and earned many awards. It could be surprising to learn that Dr.CNR studied in Urdu medium till his graduation. Dr.CNR is the only Telugu person who has received Jnanpith Award other than Sri Vishwanadha Sathyanarayana. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha later. Students of Dr.CNR are often heard recollecting his grip over the language, especially his poetry reading sessions.

He is also popular by virtue of being a lyricist to several famous Telugu films.

The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 1977 and the second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan in 1992.

Durgabai Deshmukh: Durgaibai, was married (at the age of 15) when she was a child just like, every other girl in those times , in India. After hearing Gandhiji’s sermons, she joined the freedom struggle, took to wearing khadi clothes and selling them in the streets in Kakinada and Rajamundry. She was activiely involved in the “Videshi vastra dahan, Swadeshi vastra apnao” andolan [burn foreign clothes and wear native material movement], a boycott of Clothes manufactured in the foreign (English) mills and promotion of the Khadi (locally woven material).

In her childhood, she did not study much, later she completed her Intermediate [program], BA Honours from Andhra University (Vishakhapatnam). At Vizag, she was dynamic even on the campus. She would even cook for the entire hostel, if the cook was absent for days. She worked with Congress Workers like Bulusu Sambha Murthy, Tanguturi Prakasam, Pandit Nehru, etc., and went to Gandhiji frequently for advice. She achieved great academic excellance too.

At Madras, she started the Chinna Andhra Mahila Sabha, in Mylapore for the betterment of womenkind. She was intrumental in starting Hindi, English, music classes for women. She sought and got, donations from the rich for her cause and made Andhra Mahila sabha a very big institution.

After India got its independance, she was one of the most important people in the Indian Congress Party. While working here, she met Chintamani Deshmukh, her true soul mate, and ICS officer, who later became the Finance Minister in the first Cabinet under Prime Minister Nehru. Deshmukh was a widower. They got married in Delhi about 1954. Later they came to Mumbai, to the house where Deshmukh’s younger brother and mother lived.

At that time V.N.Murti was in Mumbai too. Durgabai was V.N.Murti’s
batchmate from Vishkhapatnam college days.While working at RBI, as a
Statistician, he hosted a reception for the newly wed couple in Mumbai. He invited Maharashtrian friends of Deshmukh and the Telugu friends of Durgabai for dinner and hosted the reception to Mumbai in grandeur.

After that they came to Hyderabad, and bought land next to Osmania Univ and built a house and called it Rachana. They were also instrumental in convincing V.N. Murti to buy a plot nearby.In the same neighbourhood, they got the Literacy House built, eminent leaders like Indira Gandhi, Sarojini Devi and M .Venkat Rangaiya came to give lectures at the Literacy House.In Hyderabad , she established and started the Andhramahila sabha, elimenatry school and then went on to build larger institutions like the hospital, and the colleges , which even today run succesfully. It was started with the vision of providing illetrate people of AP an opportunity to learn how to read and write.

The colony was named after her as Durgabai Deshmukh Colony. Durgabai left her husband to join the Congress, later she got him married
to another brahmin girl who was more suited to be the home maker that he needed, than Durgabai herself. Soon after the wedding, the girl became a widow. Durgabai then brought Timmaiamma (who is still alive) to Andhramahila sabha and involved her activily for the upliftment of women in Andhra Pradesh.

After she passed away, Shri V.N Murti was appointed the Chairman, and he generated funds and grants for continuing her good work. Forwarding the cause of the women, Shri VN murti started a puppetry cell to use puppetry as a medium to communicate with the help of Ratnamala Nori . The purpose was to spread the message of literacy to villagers and the uneducated population in a familiar medium (puppetry has traditionally been used in India to tell stories). Today the Cell is a self sustaining unit and carries on the good work that was the vision of Durgabai Deshmukh.

She was called ‘Veeravanitha’, another name for a woman warrior on India and a very apt one for her life and its work.

Shyam Benegal: Born in 1934 as Vangala Shyam Sundar Rao in Andhra Pradesh, Shyam Benegal originated what has come to be called “middle cinema”. He was initially involved in the advertising industry and produced over 900 advertisements before his interest turned to films. His first feature film in Hindi, Ankur tells the story of an arrogant urban youth who returns to his ancestral home in feudal Andhra Pradesh. His subsequent affair with the wife of one of his laborers (played powerfully by Shabhana Azmi in her debut) and her eventual call to arms against the feudal system brought him criticism for using a purportedly “un-Indian” approach in his films and also for “victimizing” women. The film unquestionably had the merit of bringing the problem of feudal and patriarchal structures to the fore. In 1969 he received a special fellowship to study operations of the Children’s Television Workshop in New York. Later he did a brief stint as a TV producer in Boston. Benegal did not direct his first feature film, The Seedling (1973), until he was 40. Since then he has become a popular director in India, noted for creating films sensitive to the role of women in Indian societies. His films are also gaining international recognition and acclaim

Nishant (Night’s End, 1975), starring Shabhana Azmi, is in some sense a continuation of Ankur. Again sexual exploitation of women is used to bring out the evils of feudal oppression. Manthan (The Churning, 1976) was financed in the most unusual manner, in that 500,000 members of the milk co-operatives in Gujarat each donated Rs. 2 towards the production of the film. This was truly a people’s enterprise. In this film, Shyam Benegal introduces a westernized doctor to a village who sparks off an uprising of the local untouchables. The doctor is also attracted to a local woman, and consequently Benegal is once again able to explore the nexus of sex and power. Benegal was to explore the roles to which women are confined in Indian society in Bhumika (The Role, 1976), where he reveals the highly ambivalent attitudes of Indian society when it comes to letting a woman assert herself independently. The film is based on the autobiography of the Marathi/Hindi actress Hansa Wadkar, deftly played by Smita Patil.

Benegal’s diversity of producers is actually a reflection of the diversity of his films. But through this wide variety of themes – rural exploitation, development of workers’ co-operatives, the feudalism in industrial or royal families, to give some examples – there is a discernible common thread. That thread is about change.

Whichever film you look at, you see Shyam Benegal’s pre-occupation with the cataclysmic forces which are taking India from tradition to modernity, from a deeply conservative, rigidly hierarchical society to a more open, democratic and egalitarian one.

For many years, Benegal’s films were associated with grim representations of Indian realities, and the same set of characters appeared in many of his films and those associated with the New Indian Cinema: the oppressive landlord, the corrupt official, the hypocritical politician, the subjugated tribal woman, the struggling villager, and so on. But Benegal has always had wider interests, and in Kalyug he attempted to give the Mahabharata a modern interpretation by representing the dispute within a large business family. Moreover, the films of recent years show his lively engagement with questions of narrativity. The same experiment in narration is witnessed, though less successfully, in Sardari Begum (1996), which is said to be a fictional exploration or representation of the life of the great vocalist, Begum Akhtar.

During the 1980s, when Indian New Wave cinema witnessed a collapse, Benegal turned his attention to an upcoming mass media, the television. He produced the teleserial Bharath Ek Khoj (1988) for Doordarshan, based on Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘Discovery of India’. Which even after two decades stands as one of the best teleserials produced in India He is also a respected documentary film-maker, and his most recent endeavor in this direction is a cinematic study of the early years of Gandhi in South Africa: thus the Making of the Mahatma. He has also taught at the Film and Television Institute in Pune and continues to be an influential presence in Indian film circles. He returned to feature filmmaking after a gap of almost six years and has since been making features regularly but with mixed results, Suraj ka Saatwaan Ghoda (1992) and Samar (1998) particularly standing out in this period. The former, based on Dharmveer Bharati’s well known novella, focuses on a bachelor who recounts over two evenings to a group of his friends, the stories of three women who came into his life at different periods of time. Rich in texture, it becomes abundantly clear that more than love stories; they are reflections on shifting social values, indeed an individual’s growing up.
A pioneer of the new cinema in India, Shyam Benegal has been considered as the leading film-makers of the country ever since his first feature film, ANKUR was released. His films have been seen and acclaimed widely not only in India but in international film festivals for the last twenty-five years. The core subjects of his films have been varied in nature but mainly centered on contemporary Indian experience. Problems of development and social change appear on many levels as a continuing thread in practically all his films.
Apart from fiction features, he has made a number of documentaries on different subjects ranging from cultural anthropology and problems of industrialization, to music and so on. His work on television consists of several popular series based on international short stories, by well-known Indian writers and a mammoth 53 part series on the history of India. He has also made an extra-mural educational series for children.

Shyam Benegal taught mass-communication techniques between 1966 and 1973 and later took an active role in shaping film education as Chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India during 1980-83 and 1989-92.
As a person deeply committed to social integration in India, Shyam Benegal was a part of the National Integration Council (1986-89) and the National Council of Arts. The Government of India has conferred on him two of its most prestigious awards PADMA SHRI (1976) & PADMA BHUSHAN(1991).

Shyam Benegal’s career started with a job as a copy writer in advertising from where he graduated to become the creative and accounts and group head before becoming a full time film maker. He has lectured in many institutions in India and abroad as well as participated in seminars on subjects dealing with Cinema, Television, Information Technology and different aspects of social and cultural changes.

Practically all his films have won national awards and several of them have been awarded internationally. He was a Homi Bhabha Fellow (1970-72) during which time, he studied children’s television and work for a few months as an Associate producer with WGBH Boston, USA and devoted sometime with the Children’s Television Workshop in New York. Shyam Benegal runs a film production company in Mumbai called Shyam Benegal Sahyadri Films.
Shyam Benegal entered the arena of the Hindi film industry with his first feature film, Ankur which was widely appreciated by the masses & the critics and was also felicitated with prestigious awards.

Benegal laments the decay in the parallel cinema movement in India. He feels that in the modern day market driven by global commitments, the loss of art work in cinema could have more to do with lack of right packaging and market management then the viability of its content. But then these thoughts could be wishful thinking of a die-hard optimist.

On 31st October Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh conferred on Benegal the Indira Gandhi Award For National Integration for his role in strengthening the values of society.Since then there has been no looking back for this immensely talented director. Till date, he has created an array of thought provoking films that catapulted Indian talent in the international platform of film industry.

Films he made/associated with:

• Ankur (1973)
• Charandas Chor (1975)
• Nishant (1975)
• Manthan (1976)
• Bhumika (1976)
• Kondura (1977)
• Junoon (1978)
• Kalyug (1980)
• Aarohan (1982)
• Mandi (1983)
• Trikaal (1985)
• Antarnaad (1992)
• Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda (1992)
• Mammo (1994)
• Hari Bhari
• Sardari Begum
• Zubeida (2000)
• Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2005)

“Mr. Benegal is an affable person with a great sense of humor, and that made it so much easier to talk to him. I wish I had taped him when checked my facts on some notes I had gathered. He is a great story-teller, and some interesting portions of his story remained untaped” says kamla batt who had a conversation/interview with shyam.

Kancherla Gopanna: (alias Bhadrachala Ramadasu, CE 1620-80 approx)is one of the most popular personalities in Telugu history, music and literature. There is hardly anyone in Andhra Pradesh that never heard his songs. Many people, from scholars to beggars know some of them. They are known for their superb lyrical quality and Bhavaucityam. His Dasarathee Satakam has also been an extremely popular Satakam. Many old timers know several poems of the Satakam by heart. He became popular not by virtue of being a king, a warrior or a great scholar but because of his captivating life story and his equally touching songs and poems.

Kancerla Gopanna was born in Nelakondapalli village of present day Khammam District. He was a nephew of the famous akkanna and madanna. They were the chief-of-army and the prime minister, respectively, in the court of the Muslim king Abul Hasan Kutub Shah (alias tanasha or taneesha). This Kutubshahi king was the last and the most liberal in a line of very open-minded rulers of Golconda (which later became the Hyderabad State under the Nizams). akkanna and madanna rose from the ranks of courtiers and in CE 1682, occupied the highest offices under the king. Their popularity with the king as well as with the general population was partly responsible for the court intrigues that eventually lead to the downfall of this once prosperous kingdom in CE 1687.

He was said to have drawn towards the worship of Rama even as a boy. It is said that he received the Taraka Mantra:

“Sri Raama Raama Raameti Rame Raame Manorame
Sahasranaama Tattullyam Raamanaama Varaanane ”

from Saint Kabir, he took to the chant of this mantra with his heart and soul. He became ultimately God realised soul.

Taneesha was well versed in telugu like his predecessors. He appointed Gopanna as the tahaseeldaar of the present day Bhadracalam area. Gopanna for a while was busy collecting taxes on behalf of the Nawab and looking after the areas. One day, Ramadasu heard the news that the villagers of palvoncha paragana were proceeding to witness Jatara at Bhadrachalam , He too out of curiosity visited Bhadrachalam . He found the deities in an amazing appearance and was quite disturbed at the sad and dilapidated state of the once famous temple. Ramadasu then asked the villagers to contribute liberally for the construction of the temple .The villagers in response appealed him to spend the revenue collections for the construction of the temple with a promise to repay the amount after harvesting the crops .

Towards the completion of the temple , he had a problem of fixing ‘Sudarshana Chakra’ at the crest of the main temple . He was deeply distressed and fell into sleep . On the same night , Rama in his dream asked him to have a holi dip in river Godavari where he will find that – accordingly . On the next day morning Gopanna did so and found holi Sudarshana Chakra in the river with out much difficulty . He presumed that Sudarshana Chakra itself was shaped up with the divine power of his beloved God Rama. His private coffers ran out in no time. Undaunted, he used up the revenue he collected for the nawab and straightened up the place to a much better condition than when he originally found it.

The king, however liberal he might be, demanded the revenue due to the government. Failing to get a satisfactory answer, he remanded Gopanna to a jail cell with orders that he be released only after the exchequer received all the taxes in full. Apparently, his influential uncles could do nothing to intervene on his behalf. Gopanna spent the next eleven or twelve years in the jail. One can still see this particular cell inside the Golconda fort. Gopanna, by now famous amongst the local populace as Ramadasu (Lord Rama’s servant), began writing many beautiful musical compositions while in the jail cell. They praise the Lord for all his mysterious ways and plead with the Lord to ease his suffering. If that doesn’t work, they plead with his consort Sita to recommend to her husband to ease his devotee’s pain. All else failing to invoke a response, they even resort to accusing God of being an ingrate. Of course, the songs quickly apologize for the harsh language and end in a state of total and unconditional surrender to the will of the Almighty. These are some of the most endearing songs in the entire Indian musical literature. Many of his compositions are second to none in terms of feeling and Bhavaucityam. In spite of this, for some mysterious reason, Gopanna does not seem to have been given his due as an early pioneer of the Karnatic music. It is said that the Tondaiman rulers of Pudukkottai in Tamil Nadu loved Ramadasa keertanas very much and took great interest in popularizing them.

At long last, it is said that Lord Rama decided that his devotee’s suffering had reached its pre-ordained ending (because of a certain transgression his soul had committed in a previous birth). Rama and Lakshmana took the disguise of two young warriors and entered the bedchambers of the king in the middle of the night. They gave the king the requisite money in gold coins imprinted with Rama’s own seal. The king was bewildered at the presence of these charming but strange youngsters in his inner quarters. They demanded and obtained on the spot, a written receipt for the money. The receipt was shown to the Jailer who released Gopanna the same night. The next day, both Gopanna and the nawab realized what had happened. Gopanna did not care much for his release but was inconsolable at his not having seen his Lord even with all his devotion while the nawab, in spite of being a Muslim, had a visit from the Lord. The Lord then appeared to Gopanna in a dream and explained him the real reasons for his actions and promised him salvation at the end his natural life. The king was convinced that what had happened was a miracle of Allah. He sent the entire money back to the Bhadracalam temple. Until recently, it was the royal custom of the Hyderabad State to send gifts to the temple on the occasion of Sree rama navami celebrations every year. Even if we concede that there are inevitable embellishments in the story of Gopanna, it has certainly captured the popular imagination. In that sense, he ranks as one of the greatest devotees in the Indian religious systems -along the same lines as annamacharya and others in Telugu Bhakti tradition, the famous Alvars and nayanars of tamil tradition or tukaram of Maharashtrian tradition.

It is unclear at what point of life had Ramadasu composed his famous Dasarathee Satakam. From internal evidence, we can conjecture that the bulk of the poems were written either before the jail term or well after his imprisonment ended. We see in the poems, a devotee firmly entrenched in his belief system, content at the thought that he received his calling in life, convinced that there is salvation at the end of the tunnel. Compare the poems with the KalahasteeSwara Satakam by dhurjati. dhurjati was also a great devotee. Some of the sentiments expressed by the two are very similar. Both were firmly attached their own chosen forms of the Supreme Being. Both sought the same end result-salvation from the cycle of pain and suffering. Ramadasu was convinced that he was going to get it. dhurjati knew that it was possible but was unsure. dhurjati was negatively preoccupied with all the ills of the society. He could not explain all the problems and troubling aspects he saw in the world around him. Ramadasu also saw the same things to some extent, but just imagined that they were part of life and that his Lord will take care of them. dhurjati could not calm himself that way and could not contain his tongue from lashing out. In the end, both the Satakams became famous.

Dr.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was born in Tirutani on September 5, 1888 into a poor brahmin family. His father Sarvepalli Veeraswami was employed on a meagre salary in the zamindari. His mother’s name was Sitamma. It was difficult for Radhakrishnan’s father to educate him with a meagre income and a large family to take care of.
Radhakrishnan went through most of his education on scholarships. He initially went to school in Tirutani and then to the Lutheran Mission School in Tirupati for his high school. He joined the Voorhee’s College in Vellore but switched to the Madras Christian College at the age of 17. He chose philosophy as his major and attained a B.A. and M.A. in the field. He was afraid that his M.A. thesis, “The Ethics of the Vedanta” would offend his philosophy professor, Dr. A.G. Hogg. Instead, Dr. Hogg commended Radhakrishnan on doing an excellent job. Radhakrishnan’s M.A. thesis was published when he was only 20 Radhakrishnan was married to Sivakamuamma at the age of 16 while still in Vellore. Radhakrishnan accepted an Assistant Lectureship at the Madras Presidency College in 1909. While at the College, he mastered the classics of Hindu philosophy, namely the Upanishads, Bhagvad Gita, Brahmasutra, and commentaries of Sankara, Ramunuja and Madhava. He also acquainted himself with Buddhist and Jain philosophy. At the same time he read philosophical commentaries of Plato, Plotinus, Kant, Bradley, and Bergson. Later on in his life, he studied Marxism and Existentialism.

In 1914, in a strange twist of fate, Radhakrishnan met Srinivasa Ramanujan, the mathematical genius. Srinivasa was leaving for Cambridge for studies and had come to seek Radhakrishnan’s blessings because a goddess came in his dream and told him to do so before undertaking the trip. The two never met again.

In 1918, Radhakrishnan was selected as Professor of Philosophy by the University of Mysore. By the time, Radhakrishnan had written many articles for journals of repute like The Quest, Journal of Philosophy and the International Journal of Ethics. He completed his first book “The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore.” He believed Tagore’s philosophy to be the “genuine manifestation of the Indian spirit.” Radhakrishnan’s second book, “The Reign of Religion in Contemporary Philosophy” was published in 1920.
Radhakrishnan’s books and articles, drew the attention of Ashutosh Mookerjee, Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University. He nominated Radhakrishnan to the prestigious George V Professor of Philosophy at the Calcutta University, 1921. In 1923, Dr. Radhakrishnan’s “Indian Philosophy” was published. The book was in response to the request made by Prof. J. H. Muirhead, to write a book on Indian philosophy for the Library of Philosophy. Radhakrishnan accomplished this mammoth task by producing a systematic and readable account of Indian philosophy. The book was hailed as a “philosophical classic and a literary masterpiece.”

Radhakrishnan was called to Oxford University, England, to deliver the prestigious “Upton Lectures” on “The Hindu View of Life.” The lectures were followed by an invitation to head the Department of Comparative Religion at Oxford. A philanthropist, Spalding, created a professorship for Radhakrishnan to teach Religion and Ethics at Oxford.
Radhakrishnan used his lectures as a platform to further India’s cause for freedom. He thundered, “India is not a subject to be administered but a nation seeking its soul.” He would graphically describe the “shame of subjection and the lines of sorrow” apparent on every Indian’s face.

In 1931, Radhakrishnan was elected Vice Chancellor of the Andhra University. The University was in a state of stagnation. Radhakrishnan restructured the Honors and Post- Graduate teaching in Humanities and Languages, and Science and Technology Departments from scratch. By the time he left in 1936, he had transformed the University into a robust and well-recognized institution.

In 1939, Radhakrishnan became the Vice Chancellor of the Benaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh, founded by Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya. The University was under pressure from the Governor, Sir Maurice Hallet, to turn the campus into a war hospital in response to the Quit India Movement launched by Gandhiji and the Congress. Radhakrishnan rushed to Delhi and successfully persuaded the Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, to halt the Governor’s action. The Governor instead suspended financial support to the University. Radhakrishnan went on “a Begging Pilgrimage,” to collect funds from sympathizers and philanthropists. When Malaviyaji retired from University work completely, the Benaras Hindu University requested Radhakrishnan’s services for an indefinite period which Radhakrishnan acquiesced to.

After independence on August 15, 1947, Radhakrishnan was requested to Chair the University Education Commission in 1948. The Radhakrishnan Committee’s suggestions helped mould the education system for India’s needs.

In 1949, Dr. Radhakrishnan was appointed ambassador to the Soviet Union. The appointment raised many eyebrows because people wondered what kind of an impression Radhakrishnan, a student of idealist philosophy, would make on Joseph Stalin, an ardent communist. In 1950, Radhakrishnan was called to the Kremlin to meet with the Premier. This was rather irregular. Radhakrishnan was accompanied by Indian Embassy Minister, Rajeshwar Dayal and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Vyshinsky and interpreter Pavlov. Radhakrishnan told Stalin, “We had an emperor in India who, after bloody victory, renounced war and became a monk. You have waded your way to power through force. Who knows that might happen to you also.” Radhakrishnan was referring to Stalin’s infamous “bloody” purges. Stalin smiled and replied, “Yes, miracles do happen sometimes. I was in a theological seminary for five years!”

On April 5, 1952, a few days before Radhakrishnan’s departure for India, Stalin called on Radhakrishnan. Radhakrishnan records Stalin’s face being bloated. Radhakrishnan patted him on the cheek and on the back. Stalin said, “You are the first person to treat me as a human being and not as a monster. You are leaving us and I am sad. I want you to live long. I have not long to live.” Stalin died six months later. Radhakrishnan’s legacy in Moscow was a firm and friendly understanding between India and the Soviet Union. A relationship which has flourished over the years and has become even stronger.

Radhakrishnan was elected Vice-President of India in 1952. The Vice-President presides over the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) sessions, much like the Speaker does in the Lok Sabha (Lower House). Often, during a heated debate, Radhakrishnan would intervene with slokas from the sanskrit classics or quotations from the Bible to calm the charged atmosphere. Nehru commented later, “By the way in which Radhakrishnan conducted the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha, he had made the meetings of the House look like family gatherings!”

Dr. Radhakrishnan was honored with the Bharat Ratna in 1954. Around the same time, an 883-page compilation titled “The Philosophy of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan” was released in America.

In 1956, Radhakrishnan’s devoted wife, Sivakamuamma, passed away after sharing 50 years of married life. The couple had five daughters and a son.
After serving two terms as Vice-President, Radhakrishnan was elected President of India in 1962. Radhakrishnan’s tenure as President was marked by the disastrous Indo-China war of 1962, his state visit to the United States in 1963, the end of the Nehru-era with Nehru’s death in 1964, and India’s victorious performance against Pakistan in 1965 under Lal Bahadur Shastri. Radhakrishnan guided each of the Prime Ministers wisely and helped see India through those trying years safely. Radhakrishnan refused to continue for another term as President after his term ended in 1967.

At the age of 79, Dr. Radhakrishnan returned to Madras in May 1967 to a warm homecoming. He spent his last years happily at his house “Girija” in Mylapore, Madras.
Dr. Radhakrishnan died on April 17, 1975.

Vishwanadha Satyanarayana (1895-1976): Satyanarayana was born on October 10, 1895 in a Shaivite Brahmin family to Shobhanadri and Parvatamma in Nandamuri village. His wife was Varalakshmamma. He had his primary education in Nandamuri, Indupalli and Pedapadu villages and higher education in Bandaru City. He was lucky to have Venkatashastri Chellapilla as Telugu teacher in Bandaru High School.
After finishing his BA, he joined Bandaru High School as a teacher. He continued his studies part time in the pursuit of MA and graduated from Madras University. He resigned from his teaching position to paticipate in Mahatma Gandhi’s Non-cooperation Movement.

Later he took up various teaching positions at Bandaru National College (1928), Gunturu Christian College (till 1933), a private college in Vijayawada (1933-1959), and Karimnagar Arts and Science College (1959). Satyanarayana started his writing career in 1916 with “Visweswara Satakam,” a devotional poetic composition as a tribute to his family God, Lord Visweswara (the God of the entire World).

At the same time, he wrote “andhra pourusham,” a patriotic poetical composition. A drama “dhanya kailaasam” and a novel “antaraatma’ include his devotional works composed by his at that time. He wrote kinnerasaani song, girikumaara geetaalu, nartanasaala, sringaaraveedhi, and anaarkali in 1921-23. He wrote his famous composition “veyipadagalu” in 1933-34 for which he was awarded with titles and awards, such as “kavisaamraat (emperor of poets)’ and an award by Andhra University. Later he wrote ramaayana kalpavriksham, paamupaata, terichiraaju, pillala ramaayanamu etc.

For his contributions the Andhra nation felicitated him with various awards and festivals. Telugu People felicitated him in 1942, during Sankraanti festival with an elephant ride and celebrated his 60th birthday festival in 1956 in Gudiwada. He served as vice president of Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy in 1957 and as a nominated member of Legislative Council in 1958. Andhra University celebrated his achievements by awarding him with “kalaaprapoorna” title in 1964. The federal government of the Indian Union honored him “gnyaanapeeth” award for his ramaayana kalpavriksham in 1971 and the Andhra Pradesh government honored him by hiring him as the State Poet.

Satyanarayana is considered one of the greatest Andhra poets and writers. He was the first Telugu to receive the federal gnyaanpeeth award. He died in 1976 leaving behind more than one hundred works that include poetic compositions (~15), satakas (6), song collections (13), dramas (20), novels (60), Sanskrit dramas (10), literary cricisms (10), and many essays and radio speeches.

Maadapaati Hanumantharao (1885-1970): is one of the prominent founding fathers of modern Telugu Nation. He awakened the sleeping Telugu people of Telangana to rise against the autocracy of Nizam rule in the independent state of Hyderabad. He stirred up love and nationalistic feelings for Telugu language and Telugu nation. He played a huge role in the renaissance of Telugu literature and Telugu language. His role in development and spread of movement for libraries and Andhra movement and in the formation of State of Andhra Pradesh is historical.

Hanumantharao was born on January 22, 1885 in his maternal grandparents’ home in Pokkunuru village of Krishna district. His father was Vekatappayya and mother was Venkatasubbamma. Venkatappayya was karanam (clerk or accountant) of Kasarabad village.
Hanumantharao finished his primary education in Suryapeta and Warangal. After graduating from high school, he joined the Office of Educational Inspector in Warangal and worked for 8 years as a clerk. Then he went to Hyderabad and worked for 5 years as a Telugu translator in the Nizam’s government. Then, he graduated in law in 1917 to become a lawyer. He became one of the prominent lawyers soon after he started his law practice. He retired after 24 years of successful law practice.
His first marriage was with his niece Annpurnamma in 1903. Annapurnamma gave birth to a daughter. After his first wife’s death in 1917, he married Manikyamma in 1918 and had a son, Sukumar.

He founded Andhra Janasangham in 1921 for the benefit of Telugu speaking people in Hyderabad kingdom. He became the secretary of Andhra Janasamgham and spread its branches throughout Telangana. This association became Nizam State Andhra Mahaasabha in 1930 and played a historical role in inspiring Telugu people. Hanumantharao chaired the fourth convention of Nizam State Andhra Mahaasabha.

In addition, Hanumantharao played an important role in establishing Sri Krishnadevaraayaandhra Bhaasha Nilayam, Vemanaandhra Bhaasha Nilayam, Naraayanguda Aandhra Baalikonnatha Paathasala, Mahila Kalaasala etc.

Hanumantharao is also a first rate writer and poet. His writings include Roman Samraajyam, Kshetrakaalapu Hindvaaryulu, Mahabharata Sameeksha, Garibaldi Jeevitacharitra, Mallikaaguccham etc. He wrote several articles in the journals like Sujata, Andhrabharati, Desabandhu, Golaconda etc. He also wrote editorials in Musheer-E-Deccan, an Urdu journal. After Hyderabad kingdom joined the Indian Union in 1948, he was elected as mayor of Hyderabad in 1951. Government of India awarded him “Padma Bhushan,” in 1955 and Osmania University conferred him honorary doctorate in 1956. After the Andhra Pradesh state was formed (in 1956), he served as the first Chairman of Legislative Assembly from 1958 through 1963.

Yogi Vemana :There is no agreement among the scholors regarding the year of birth of the great poet. No definite dates are, therefore, available regarding his birth or death. However, Vemana is believed to have lived in the later half of the seventeenth century and the first decades of the eighteenth century. He had spent the best part of his life in the Cuddapah and Kurnool Districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Vemana , a Telugu poet, was a farmer by profession, Vemana was not designed to lead an easy life. He had more than an ordinary man’s share of trials and tribulations, and they at once toughened and refined him into a remarkable man. His original insight and varied experiences enabled him to propound three trends in philosophy, a social philosophy, an ethical philosophy and a religious philosophy.

He has composed numerous poems in Telugu in Aata Veladhi metre which consists of four lines; but the fourth line, with some exceptions, is a mere refrain or chorus in these words Viswadabhirama Vinura Vema. Vemana’s style is simple and his poems deal with various social problems and they propose some solutions too. He expresses the feelings of a social reformer and many of his poems criticises and awakens the ardent followers of the old traditions.

Many lines of Vemana’s poems managed to become colloquial phrases of the Telugu language. All poems end with the signature line Viswadhaabhi Raama, Vinura Vema. There are also many interpretions of what the last line signifies. It is commonly believed that Viswadha was his lover and neglected other responsibilities in his youth and later realised and became a saint and poet. He is also known as Yogi Vemana.

Though Vemana Satakam (literally means collection of 100 poems though he actually wrote a couple of thousands) is very famous in Telugu literature relatively very less is known about the actual poet. His poems are of many kinds, social, moral, satirical and mystic nature. All of the vemana poems are in Ataveladi(dancing lady) meter.

Vemana was a kapu and native of Cuddapah district and believed to have lived in Gandikota area of the district but there is no unanimous agreement among scholars about the period of Vemana. C.P.Brown who did extensive work on Vemana in his preface to English translation Verses of Vemana states that the date of birth Vemana states in verse 707 to be Vemana’s date of birth. The cyclical date of Hindu calendar coincides with 1652.

YOGI VEMANA defies all labels. He is not an atheist but cannot be called a theist either, although a believer. He is part of the daily lives of the Telugu people. He did not go about preaching his ideas, but they nevertheless form part of the daily thinking of the people; again, his ideas and logic are unchallengeable but no one follows them. A poet of the people, a philosopher of equality and a fighting saint, Vemana was unique in many ways. His teachings have much contemporary relevance for he was a dreamer of one world and of the universal brotherhood of man.

Vemana is a people’s poet. Not formally educated, he seems to have acquired some knowledge of poetics. He could not obviously handle Sanskritised Telugu and used pure Telugu, simple and straightforward, and wrote his poetry in one particularly simple metre, Aata Veladhi.

Vemana’s language is chaste and crisp, his diction is limpid and smooth, his analogies fresh and bold. His poetry is a spring, pupae and spontaneous and original in thought and style. The metre chosen by Vemana for his poetry is ataveladi. literal meaning is ‘A dancing damsel’, and Vemana made it dance exquisitely. In his thought, Vemana is akin to Tiruvalluvar, kabir and Sarvajna. He is a bard of universal man. His conception of oneness of man is indeed so grand, so all inclusive that he urges-Serve food to all all the people of the world in one plate; make them dine together forgetting all their differences; and with uplifted hand bless them live like one.

Sample poems
Uppu Kappurambu nokka polika nundu
Chooda chooda ruchulu jaada veru
Purushulandu Punya purushulu veraya
Viswadhaabhiraama, Vinura Vema

Translation: Although salt and camphor look alike, they can be distinguished easily by taste. So are virtuous people different from the normal run.

Pingali Venkayya: The man who designed Tiranga Few of us associate the name of Pingali Venkayya with anything else other than as being the original designer of the national flag. But how many of us know that this versatile genius was a prolific writer, a Japanese lecturer and a geophysicist? Born on August 2, 1876 to Hanumantharayudu and Venkataratnamma at Bhatlapennumaru in the Divi taluk in Krishna district, Pingali was a precocious child. After finishing his primary education at Challapalli and school at the Hindu High School, Masulipatnam, he went to Colombo to complete his Senior Cambridge. Enthused by patriotic zeal, he enlisted himself for the Boer war at 19. While in Africa he met Gandhi, and their rapport lasted for more than half a century. On his return to India he worked as a railway guard at Bangalore and Madras and subsequently joined the government service as the plague officer at Bellary. His patriotic zeal, however, did not permit him to stagnate in a permanent job, and his quest for education took him to Lahore where he joined the Anglo-Vedic College, and learnt Japanese and Urdu. He studied Japanese and history under Prof Gote.During his five years? stay in the north, he became active in politics. Pingali met many revolutionaries and planned strategies to overthrow the colonial rule. The 1906 Congress session with Dadabhai Naoroji witnessed Pingali emerging as an activist and a force behind the decision making committee. Here he met the famous philanthropist, the Raja of Munagala, and from 1906-11, he spent his time in Munagala researching on agriculture and the crops. For his pioneering study on the special variety of ?Cambodia cotton?, he came to be called ?Patti Venkayya?. Even the British were taken up by his contributions in the field of agriculture and conferred on him honorary membership of the Royal Agricultural Society of Britain.

Finally, this man went back to his roots at Masulipatnam and focused his energies on developing the National School (at Masulipatnam), where he taught his students basic military training, horse riding, history and knowledge of agriculture, soil, crops and its relation to nature. Not content with being a theoretician, Pingali’s day-to-day activities also reflected a deep commitment to his liberal values. In 1914, he turned his agricultural land into an estate and named it Swetchapuram.
The prismatic colours of his personality reflected an unusual ray in the years 1916-21. After researching into 30 kinds of flags from all over the world, Pingali conceived the design of a flag which became the forbearer of the Indian national flag. Though all credit goes to Pingali for having conceived the national flag in its present form, its antecedents can be traced back to the Vande Mataram movement.

For a brief history of the origins of the Indian flag we have to go back to August 1, 1906 to the Parsee Bagan Square (Green Park) at Calcutta where the first national flag of India was hoisted. This flag was composed of horizontal stripes of red, yellow and green. The strip on the top had eight white lotuses embossed in a row. On
the yellow strip were the words Bande Mataram in deep blue
Devanagari script.

Madame Cama and her group of exiled revolutionaries hoisted the second flag in Paris around 1907. This was similar to the first flag except that the top strip had only one-lotus andseven stars denoting the saptarishis. This was exhibited at a socialist conference in Berlin. By the time the third flag went up in 1917, the political struggle had taken a definite turn. Annie Besant and Tilak hoisted the flag during the Home Rule Movement with an addition in the left hand corner (the pole end), the stamp of the Union
Jack.

There was also a white crescent and star in one corner indicating the aspirations of people of those years. The inclusion of the Union Jack symbolised the goal for dominion status. However, the presence of the Union Jack indicating a political compromise, made the flag unacceptable to many. The call for new leadership brought Gandhi to the fore in 1921 and through him the first tricolour flag.

The years 1921-31 constitute a heroic chapter in not only Pingali Venkayya’s life but also in the history of the freedom struggle of Andhra. The AICC met at a historic two day session at Bezwada (March 31 and April 1, 1921). It was at this session that this frail middle aged gentleman, Pingali, approached Gandhi with the flag he designed for India. Pingali?s flag was made of two colours, red and green representing the two major communities of the country. Thus the Indian flag was born but it was not officially accepted by any resolution of the All India Congress Committee. Gandhi?s approval made it popular and it was hoisted at all Congress sessions. Hansraj of Jallandar suggested the representation of the charkha, symbolising progress and the common man. Gandhi amended, insisting on the addition of a white strip to represent the remaining minority communities of India.

A consensus could not be reached until 1931. The designing of the colours in the flag ran into rough weather even as communal tension broke out on the issue of its interpretation. The final resolution was passed when the AICC met at Karachi in 1931. The flag was interpreted as saffron for courage, white for truth and peace, and green for faith and prosperity. The dharma chakhra which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath at the capital of Emperor Ashoka was adopted in the place of spindle and string as the emblem on
the national flag.

Interpreting the colours chosen for the national flag, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan explained the saffron colour denoted renunciation or disinterestedness of political leaders towards material gains in life. The white depicted enlightenment, lighting the path of truth to guide our conduct. The green symbolised our relation to the soil, to the plant life here on which all other life depends. The Ashoka wheel in the centre of the white strip represented the law of dharma.

Speaking philosophically, he remarked that the national flag ought to control the principles of all those who worked under it. The wheel denoted motion and? India should no more resist change as there was death in stagnation?. Pingali Venkayya, the illustrious visionary, the designer of the national flag died, unhonoured on July 4, 1963, in conditions of poverty. It was only a few years ago that his daughter began to receive pension from the government. There is not even a memorial in his hometown Machilipatnam to the man who brought such glory to Andhra. Even the original house has been razed to the ground

Gurajada Apparao: Gurajada Venkata Appa Rao panthulu garu [1862-1915] is perhaps the most celebrated modern Telugu writer. There may be controversies and strong sectarian feelings surrounding other great writers like Sree Sree and Viswanatha. But Gurajada is universally respected for heralding the modern era. His epochal writings had far reaching influence and encompassed many aspects of modern Telugu Literature. Sree Sree and several other major figures had almost idolized him. His works have retained their freshness even a century after they were originally written. His Kanyasulkam is billed as one of the greatest works in world literature. Many a literary critic said repeatedly that if one were to collect a list of one hundred indispensable books from all the languages of the world combined, Kanyasulkam would figure prominently in that list.

Gurajada was a scholar of classical works as well as European literature. He was one of the earliest to part ways with classical traditions in poetry, drama, and prose. His close associates such as Gidugu Rama Murty and his own initiatives were primarily responsible for what is now known as “Vyavaharika Bhasha Vadam” In more ways than one, his 1910 work Mutyala Saralu (along with Kattamanchi Ramalinga Reddi’s musalamma maraNam, 1898 ) form the earliest works heralding a break with traditional poetry. If one must anoint some one for the title of “father of modern Telugu poetry,” it would be Gurajada. He was the first to write modern short stories in Telugu. He was also the first to write a “fully modern” drama. His works are among the most exceptional examples of a masterly blend of literary brilliance and avowed social purpose.

Brief Life Sketch
Gurajada lived most of his life in and around Vizianagaram in what was then called as Kalinga Rajyam . He and his father before him were both employed by the princely state of Vizianagaram. Gurajada enjoyed a close relationship with the ruling family during his adult life. Two dates of birth (according to western calendar) have been calculated based on Gurajada’s horoscope, viz., Nov.30, 1861 and Sept. 21, 1862. Apparently, his descendants prefer the second date. Gurajada was born at his maternal uncle’s home in Rayavaram village near Yelamanchili (Visakhapatnam Dt.). His parents were Venkata Rama Dasu and Kausalyamma. He had a younger brother by name Syamala Rao. Gurajada’s ancestors seem to have moved to Kalinga region from Gurajala village in Krishna Dt. (hence the family name?) Venkata Rama Dasu worked as a Peshkar, Revenue Supervisor, and Khiledar in the Vizianagara Samsthanam. He was well educated and had a good command in Sanskrit. He died in an accident while crossing a small river Utagedda near Vizianagaram.

Gurajada had his initial schooling (till age 10) in Cheepurupalli while his father was working there. His remaining schooling was done at Vizianagaram after his father passed away. During that time, he lived in relative poverty and maintained himself as a varalabbayi. He was generously taken care of by the then M.R. College Principal, C. Chandrasekhara Sastri who provided him free lodging and boarding. He completed his metriculation in 1882 and obtained F.A. in 1884. Soon after, he was employed as a teacher in M.R. High School in 1884 with a salary of Rs.25. He was married to Appala Narasamma in 1885. In the mean time, he continued his studies and graduated with B.A. (Philosophy major and Sanskrit minor) in 1886. For some period during 1886, he worked as Head Clerk in the Deputy Collector’s office. On Vijayadasami day, 1887, he joined as a Lecturer (Level IV) in M.R. College with a salary of Rs.100. Around the same time, he was introduced to Maharaja Ananda Gajapati (1850-1897). This prince had a significant role in encouraging the arts and education in these parts of the country. Gurajada gradually developed a cordial relationship with the prince. This association led to his involvement with the princely family for a long time. In 1887, Gurajada spoke at a Congress Party meeting in Vizianagaram. His daughter Oleti Lakshmee narasamma was born in 1887. He was simultaneously involved in social work and became a member of the Voluntary Service Corps in Visakhapatnam in 1888. He was elected vice-president of the Ananda Gajapati Debating club in 1889. His son Venkata Ramadasu was born in 1890. In 1891 he was promoted to Lecturer (Level III) with a salary of Rs.125. He taught the F.A. and B.A. classes several subjects including English Grammar, Sanskrit Literature, Translation, Greek & Roman Histories. His younger brother Syamala Rao died in 1892 while studying at Madras Law College.

In the previous ten years, Gurajada Appa Rao (along with brother Syamala Rao) had been writing several English poems. His Sarangadhara, published in “Indian Leisure Hour” was well received. The editor of the Culcutta based “Rees and Riot” Sambhu Chandra Mukherji read it and re-published it in his magazine. He encouraged Gurajada in many ways. While praising Gurajada’s talent, he actually encouraged him to write in Telugu. He told Gurajada that however talented he might become in English, it is still a foreign tongue and that he would scale greater heights if he chose to compose in Telugu. Gurajada too was gradually coming to this conclusion. During this period, it is also said that Gurajada was also in correspondence with a British Journalist and author. Gundukurti Venkata Ramanayya, editor of the “Indian Leisure Hour” encouraged Gurajada greatly during the same period. In 1891, Gurajada was appointed to the post of Epigraphist (samsthana sasana parisodhaka) to the Maharaja of Vizianagaram.

In 1892, Gurajada’s celebrated drama “Kanyasulkam” was staged for the first time. It became an instant hit. It was the first Telugu drama expressly written in spoken dialect. Prior to that, there were dramas that employed spoken dialect in a few parts of the drama. Vedam Venkata Raya Sastry wrote a very popular drama “Prataparudreeyam,” where he followed the Sanskrit example in allowing the so-called “lower” characters to use spoken dialect while the so-called “upper” characters used chaste literary dialect. Veeresalingam Panthulu wrote some dramas, notably “Brahma Vivaham,” with some spoken dialect content. This drama was written more as an accessory to his crusade against social evils than for literary enjoyment. The Kanyasulkam was the first to achieve both the aims. And an unparalleled achievement it was! The success of kanyasulkam encouraged Gurajada to open up and seek out others with similar views. He came in contact with several contemporary luminaries. The rumbling sounds of movement to support spoken dialect as a platform for literary activity were gathering around that time. Gurajada’s childhood friend and classmate in Chipurupalli, Gidugu Rama Murti (1863-1940) was the leading light of this school of thought. The highly successful staging of Kanyasulkam gave this movement a big boost. It conclusively showed that works that have undisputed literary value and are very popular could be composed in spoken dialects. Even the opponents of the spoken dialect movement such as Kaseebhatla Brahmayya Sastri had to concede that the Kanyasulkam has a significant literary merit. The success made Gurajada a sort of celebrity. He was being sought after for literary events and for reviewing other literary works.

In 1896, Gurajada tried to establish a magazine by name “Prakasika.” It is not known whether this magazine was ever published. In 1897, Kanyasulkam was published (by Vavilla Ramasastrulu & Sons, Madras) and was dedicated to Maharaja Ananda Gajapati. In the same year, the prince died following a brief illness without leaving a successor. After this, Gurajada was appointed as personal secretary and advisor to the Maharani of Reeva (Appala kondamamba -sister of Anada Gajapati). Gurajada had his second daughter (third child) Puligedda Kondayyamma in 1902. In 1903, a court case was filed challenging the right of Ananda Gajapati’s mother (Alaka Rajeswari) to adopt an heir to the throne of the principality. Gurajada was put in charge of taking care of all the legal proceedings. The case dragged on for many years and ended in an out of court settlement in 1913.

In 1905, Gurajada’s mother passed away. In 1906, his close friend P.T. Srinivasa Iyyangar, principal of Mrs. A.V.N. College, Visakhapatnam started an association to promote curriculum reform in high schools. One of the chief aims was to introduce spoken dialects. Along with him, J.A. Yates (1874-1951) -a British civil servant, Gidugu and Gurajada were the principal members. Another friend S. Srinivasa Iyengar (1874-1941) also gave a lot of support and encouragement. Incidentally, this Srinivasa Iyengar was a well-known lawyer and was the President of AICC (All India Congress Committee) annual session at Guahati in 1926. Gurajada attended the 1908 Congress session at Madras. Gurajada developed some health problems and took some time off to convalesce at the Nilgiri hills. While taking rest, he got around to preparing the second edition of Kanyasulkam and published it in 1909. This edition was completely revised and greatly expanded compared to the original version. It is this edition that made the drama a truly outstanding work of art. Each character developed a life of its own and they all came together in an unforgettable comedy. The next year, he participated in a community meal at Berhampur where people of various classes and castes shared the same food and ate together. Around this time, Gurajada started writing very prolifically and composed several poems, songs and short stories. These works are among the most famous in Telugu literature.

In 1911, he was appointed to the Board of Studies by Madras University. The same year, Gurajada and his friends started the Andhra Sahitya Parishat to promote the use of spoken dialects. The next year, he was invited to attend the meeting of the Bangeeya Sahitya Parishat (Bengal Literary Association) at Culcutta. The same year, his second patron, Maharani of Reeva died. Gurajada took retirement in 1913 with a pension of Rs.140. Madras University honored him by making him a “Fellow.” His health started deteriorating slowly. He constructed a new house and moved into it in 1915. After a few months of illness, Gurajada passed away in 1915.

A little steam engine had a long train of cars to pull.

She went along very well till she came to a steep hill. But then, no matter how hard she tried, she could not move the long train of cars.

She pulled and she pulled. She puffed and she puffed. She backed and started off again. Choo! Choo!

But no! the cars would not go up the hill.

At last she left the train and started up the track alone. Do you think she had stopped working? No, indeed! She was going for help.

“Surely I can find someone to help me,” she thought.

Over the hill and up the track went the little steam engine. Choo, choo! Choo, choo! Choo, choo! Choo!

Pretty soon she saw a big steam engine standing on a side track. He looked very big and strong. Running alongside, she looked up and said:

“Will you help me over the hill with my train of cars? It is so long and heavy I can’t get it over.”

The big steam engine looked down at the little steam engine. The he said:

“Don’t you see that I am through my day’s work? I have been rubbed and scoured ready for my next run. No, I cannot help you,”

The little steam engine was sorry, but she went on, Choo, choo! Choo, choo! Choo, choo! Choo, choo!

Soon she came to a second big steam engine standing on a side track. He was puffing and puffing, as if he were tired.

“That big steam engine may help me,” thought the little steam engine. She ran alongside and asked:

“Will you help me bring my train of cars over the hill? It is so long and so heavy that I can’t get it over.”

The second big steam engine answered:

“I have just come in from a long, long run. Don’t you see how tired I am? Can’t you get some other engine to help you this time?

“I’ll try,” said the little steam engine, and off she went. Choo, choo! Choo, choo! Choo, choo!

After a while she came to a little steam engine just like herself. She ran alongside and said:

“Will you help me over the hill with my train of cars? It is so long and so heavy that I can’t get it over.”

“Yes, indeed!” said this little steam engine. “I’ll be glad to help you, if I can.”

So the little steam engines started back to where the train of cars had been standing. Both little steam engines went to the head of the train, one behind the other.

Puff, puff! Chug, choo! Off they started!

Slowly the cars began to move. Slowly they climbed the steep hill. As they climbed, each little steam engine began to sing:

“I-think-I-can! I-think-I-can! I-think-I-can! I-think-I-can! I-think-I-can! I-think-I-can! I think I can – I think I can – I think I can I think I can–”

And they did! Very soon they were over the hill and going down the other side.

Now they were on the plain again; and the little steam engine could pull her train herself. So she thanked the little engine who had come to help her, and said good-by.

And she went merrily on her way, singing:

“I-thought-I-could! I-thought-I-could! I-thought-I-could! I-thought-I-could! I thought i could – I thought I could – I thought I could – I thought I could – I thought I could – I thought I could I thought I could –“

One day as the Little Red Hen was scratching in a field, she found a grain of wheat.
“This wheat should be planted,” she said. “Who will plant this grain of wheat?”
“Not I,” said the Duck.
“Not I,” said the Cat.
“Not I,” said the Dog.
“Then I will,” said the Little Red Hen. And she did.

Soon the wheat grew to be tall and yellow.
“The wheat is ripe,” said the Little Red Hen. “Who will cut the wheat?”
“Not I,” said the Duck.
“Not I,” said the Cat.
“Not I,” said the Dog.
“Then I will,” said the Little Red Hen. And she did.

When the wheat was cut, the Little Red Hen said, “Who will thresh the wheat?”
“Not I,” said the Duck.
“Not I,” said the Cat.
“Not I,” said the Dog.
“Then I will,” said the Little Red Hen. And she did.

When the wheat was threshed, the Little Red Hen said, “Who will take this wheat to the mill?”
“Not I,” said the Duck.
“Not I,” said the Cat.
“Not I,” said the Dog.
“Then I will,” said the Little Red Hen. And she did.

She took the wheat to the mill and had it ground into flour. Then she said, “Who will make this flour into bread?”
“Not I,” said the Duck.
“Not I,” said the Cat.
“Not I,” said the Dog.
“Then I will,” said the Little Red Hen. And she did.

She made and baked the bread. Then she said, “Who will eat this bread?”
“Oh! I will,” said the Duck.
“And I will,” said the Cat.
“And I will,” said the Dog.
“No, No!” said the Little Red Hen. “I will do that.” And she did.

Once upon a time three billy goats lived together in a field on a hillside. They were the three Billy Goats Gruff. There was a Big Billy Goat Gruff, a Middle Billy Goat Gruff and a Little Billy Goat Gruff.

Beside the billy goats’ field ran a river. One day they decided to cross it and eat the grass on the other side. But first they had to go over the bridge. Under the bridge lived a big ugly troll.

First Little Billy Goat Gruff stepped onto the bridge. TRIP TRAP went his hooves.

“Who’s that tripping over my bridge?” roared the Troll.

“It is only I, Little Billy Goat Gruff, going across the river to make myself fat,” said Little Billy Goat Gruff in such a small voice.

“Now I’m coming to gobble you up,” said the Troll.

“Oh, please don’t eat me, I’m so small,” said Little Billy Goat Gruff. “Wait for the next billy goat. He’s much bigger.”

“Well, be off with you,” said the Troll.

A little while later, Middle Billy Goat Gruff stepped on to the bridge. TRIP TRAP, TRIP TRAP went his hooves. “Who’s that tripping over my bridge?” roared the Troll.

“It is only I, Middle Billy Goat Gruff, going across the river to make myself fat,” said Middle Billy Goat Gruff, whose voice was not so small.

“Now I’m coming to gobble you up,” said the Troll.

“Oh, no, don’t eat me,” said Middle Billy Goat Gruff. “Wait for the next billy goat. He’s the biggest of all.”

“Very well, be off with you,” said the Troll.

It wasn’t long before Big Billy Goat Gruff stepped onto the bridge. TRIP TRAP, TRIP TRAP, TRIP TRAP went his hooves, and the bridge groaned under his weight.

“Who’s that tramping over my bridge?” roared the Troll.

“It is I, Big Billy Goat Gruff,” said Big Billy Goat Gruff, who had a rough, roaring voice of his own.

“Now I’m coming to gobble you up,” said the Troll, and at once he jumped onto the bridge, very mean and hungry.

But Big Billy Goat Gruff was very tough and strong. He put down his head and charged the Troll and butted him so hard he flew high into the air and then fell down and splashed into the middle of the river.

And the great ugly troll was never seen again.

Then Big Billy Goat Gruff joined Middle Billy Goat Gruff and Little Billy Goat Gruff in the field on the far side of the river. There they go so fat that they could hardly walk home again.

A WOLF who had a bone stuck in his throat hired a Crane, for a large sum, to put her head into his mouth and draw out the bone. When the Crane had extracted the bone and demanded the promised payment, the Wolf, grinning and grinding his teeth, exclaimed: “Why, you have surely already had a sufficient recompense, in having been permitted to draw out your head in safety from the mouth and jaws of a wolf.”

In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you
escape injury for your pains.

ONCE upon a time a peacock and a tortoise became great friends. The peacock lived on a tree on the banks of the stream in which the tortoise had his home; and daily the peacock after he had a drink of water danced near the stream and displayed his gay plumage for the amusement of his friend.
One unfortunate day, a bird-catcher who was on the prowl caught the peacock and was about taking him away to the market. The unhappy bird begged of his captor to allow him to bid his friend the tortoise good-bye, as it would be the last time he would see him. The bird-catcher allowed him his prayer and took him to the tortoise, who was greatly moved to see his friend a captive.

The tortoise asked the bird-catcher to let the peacock go; but he laughed at the request, saying that was his means of livelihood. The tortoise then said, “If I make you a handsome present, will you let my friend go?” “Certainly,” answered the bird-catcher, that is all I want.” Whereupon the tortoise dived into the water and in a few seconds came up with a handsome pearl, which, to the great astonishment of the bird-catcher, he handed to him. This was beyond his expectabons, and he let the peacock go immediately.

A short time after, the avaricious man came back and told the tortoise that he thought he had not paid enough for the release of his friend, and threatened that, unless a match to that pearl was obtained for him, he would again catch the peacock.

The tortoise, who had already advised his friend to betake himself to a distant jungle on being set free, was greatly enraged at the greed of this man. “Well,” said the tortoise, “if you insist on having another pearl like it, give it to me and I will fish you out an exact match for it.” The cupidity of the bird-catcher prevented his reasoning that “one in the hand was equal to two in the bed of the stream,” and he speedily gave the pearl to the wily tortoise, who swam out with it saying, “I am no fool to take one and give two!” and forthwith disappeared, leaving the bird-catcher to be sorry ever after for his covetousness.

Once there was a terrible storm in the middle of the sea due to which a ship got smashed and sank into the sea.
However one sailor of the ship managed to hang on to a log of wood due to which he was carried off to a sea-shore by the waves.

When the sailor gained consciousness he looked at the sea in anger and said “O, great sea ! You look so clear and beautiful but your intention of showing off your strength is evil. ”

The sea heard this and he felt very sad. He transformed himself into a beautiful girl and went to the sailor and said, “Why do you abuse me?”

The sailor became surprised and he said to the girl, “Who are you?” The girl said, “I am the sea and let me inform you that it is not I who raises huge waves and creates a storm. It is the strong winds that create huge waves that strike against ships and destroy them.”

On hearing this the sailor realized his folly and apologized to the girl for abusing the sea.

MORAL : THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK.

Once a sparrow was searching food for her hungry children.
Her children had nothing to eat that day. After some time she felt tired and so she sat on a tree. There she saw a worm on a tree. She became very happy. She quickly caught the worm in her beack. She then thought that her children would not die of hunger.

As soon as she was ready to fly she saw another worm on another tree eating leaves. The sparrow thought that if she could take the another worm as well then she would not have to search for more food that day.

The sparrow did not think of how she would hold the two worms in her small beak. No sooner did she opened her beak to catch the second worm then her first worm fell down and it got lost in the bushes below. The sparrow could not get the other worm as well. She had no worm now.

She realized the importance of satisfaction.

MORAL : A BIRD IN THE HAND IS WORTH TWO IN THE BUSH.

Once a vixen was passing by a farm. There she saw a cock who was sitting on the fence of the farm and singing a song.
On seeing him the vixen’s mouth began to water and in her mind she made a plan. The vixen went to the cock and said, “Wow ! You sing very sweetly. God has given you a very sweet voice. Alas ! I cannot sing so sweetly.” The cock told her that if she wanted to sing then even she could sing.

The vixen who was seeing the cock as her dinner quickly said, “O, friend ! Can you come down here and teach me how to sing? If we spend some time with each other then we can become good friends.”

The cock realized that the vixen was trying to make him a fool and he said “Dear vixen, save your cunningness for someone else. I will not be fooled by your words. No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to catch me.”

If we are cautious in life we can face our biggest enemies.

MORAL : BEWARE OF FLATTERERS.

Once upon a time, the owl used to come out at day time. One day an owl and a seagull became friends and both of them decided to leave their island and start new business in the city.
The owl had no money and he borrowed some money from friends promising to return them their money when his business got started. The seagull had a precious diamond.

Both of them set out on a long journey in a ship. However on the way a fierce storm broke out and the ship sank.

Both of them lost the borrowed money and precious diamond which sank in the sea. The seagull and the owl returned back. Their lenders began to demand that their money be returned.

From then onwards, the owl stopped coming out during the daytime to save himself from all the money lenders and the seagull, till today, keeps on flying over the sea in search of his missing diamond.

MORAL : BORROWED MONEY NEVER LASTS LONG.

Many years ago there used to live a brahmin in a village who used to predict the future of people and perform marriage ceremonies. In return he would receive food from them.
One day he was called by a rich merchant to perform the marriage ceremony of his daughter. There he got many types of foods. He put all the dishes in a pot and hung the pot on a hook. He thought that after selling all the food he would buy a goat, by selling the goats milk he would earn money.

With that income he would buy a cow and an ox. He would get a lot of milk from the cow and he would then make ghee, butter and cheese from the milk which he would sell for a handsome profit.

In his dreams, he married the daughter of a rich merchant who gave birth to two sons. Both his sons were very naughty and the villagers brought complaints against them to him.

In his dreams the Brahmin picked up his stick to beat his sons but in reality he struck the stick at the pot. The pot broke and all the dishes fell down. All his dreams were ruined.

MORAL : IT IS NOT GOOD TO MAKE CASTLES IN AIR.

A fox one day fell into a deep well and could find no means of escape. A Goat, overcome with thirst, came to the same well, and seeing the Fox, inquired if the water was good. Concealing his sad plight under a merry guise, the Fox indulged in a lavish praise of the water, saying it was excellent beyond measure, and encouraging him to descend. The Goat, mindful only of his thirst, thoughtlessly jumped down, but just as he drank, the Fox informed him of the difficulty they were both in and suggested a scheme for their common escape. “If,” said he, “you will place your forefeet upon the wall and bend your head, I will run up your back and escape, and will help you out afterwards.” The Goat readily assented and the Fox leaped upon his back. Steadying himself with the Goat’s horns, he safely reached the mouth of the well and made off as fast as he could. When the Goat upbraided him for breaking his promise, he turned around and cried out, “You foolish old fellow! If you had as many brains in your head as you have hairs in your beard, you would never have gone down before you had inspected the way up, nor have exposed yourself to dangers from which you had no means of escape.”

Moral: Look before you leap.

A pigeon lived in a nest-basket which a rich man’s cook had hung up in the kitchen. A greedy crow, flying near, saw all sorts of delicate food lying about in the kitchen, and wanted it badly.

“How in the world can I get some?” thought he. At last he hit upon a plan. So when the pigeon went to search for food, the crow came to him.

“What do you want, crow? You and I don’t feed on the same things.”

“Ah, but I like you! Let me be your chum, and let us feed together.”

The pigeon agreed. The crow pretended to feed along with the pigeon, but ever so often be would turn back and eat a fat worm. When he had got a bellyful of them, he flied up and said:
“O, pigeon, how long your meal is! One ought to draw the line somewhere.” Then they flew home.

The cook saw that his pigeon had brought a friend, and hung up another basket for him. A few days later much fish came to the rich man’s kitchen. The crown wanted it so badly, groaning and making a great noise. Then said the pigeon to the crow:

“Come now, and get your breakfast!”
“I have indigestion!” said the crow.
“Nonsense. Crows never have indigestion,” said the pigeon. “Don’t behave in this way just for seeing some fish,” said the understanding pigeon, and flew away.

The cook prepared all the dishes, and then stood at the kitchen door for a while.

“Now is my time!” thought the crow, and landed on a dish with some dainty food with a click. But the cook heard it and looked round. He caught the crow and plucked all the feathers out of his head and rubbed some hot spices all over the bird’s body.

“That’s for spoiling my master’s dinner!” said he, and threw him into his basket. It hurt!
In time the pigeon came in and composed a verse,
“Who is this bird I see,
Lying where he has no right to be?
To this the crow answered:
I am nothing but a harried crow.
I could only go for food with glee,
For that I’m plucked, as you can see.
And the pigeon said: “Well, you’ll come to grief another time too, because of something in your nature. But
If people make a dish of meat,
It’s not for little birds to eat.”

Then the pigeon flew away, thinking, “I can’t live with this creature any longer.” And the crow lay groaning till he died.

Once there lived a farmer and his wife in a village.
Both of them were happy and they had a six months old child. They had a pet-mongoose who dearly loved their child.

One day the farmer’s wife left her child in the care of the farmer and went to the market. After some time the farmer was summoned to the king’s palace and farmer left the child under the watchful eyes of the mongoose.

The mongoose began guarding the child. Suddenly it saw that a big snake was entering the house from an open window and was heading straight towards the child. The mongoose fiercely fought against the snake and killed it. With a blood stained face, he then went to the door and began waiting for his master.

When the farmer came back, he saw the mongoose and thought that the mongoose had killed his son and he mercilessly beat the mongoose. But when he went inside his house he realized his mistake because the child was sleeping soundly in his cradle and a snake was lying dead on the floor.

The farmer then said sorry to the mongoose and began to caress it lovingly.

MORAL : HASTE MAKES WASTE.

Once there was a potter (Potters made clay pots). He had a daughter who was very intelligent and wise. People tried to make fun of her by calling her ‘Ati Chatur” (Over Wise). The potter’s daughter was not unduly concerned by the behavior of these persons. She never lost her temper or complained and always had a smile on her face.
The king of the region held court every day where his subjects were allowed to come subject to availability of space. They could put up their grievance if they had any or listen and see how the King ruled his kingdom.

One day a debate started in the king’s court about, ” Who is superior? A wealthy man or a learned man?” Some believed that a learned man was superior whilst others believed that a wealthy man was superior. The question could not be resolved even after a long debate.

The potter and her daughter were present in court that day, and after hearing all that was being said in the debate, the potter’s daughter got up and requested the king to allow her to give her opinion. On receiving the king’s nod of agreement, she said, ” Your Highness, neither is superior. In fact both are equal. Both a wealthy man and a learned man can contribute equally to the welfare of the people.”

The king highly satisfied and impressed with this answer called her near him, ” My dear little girl, I will be happy to see you in my court every day. I invite you to join my courtiers every day.”

The chief minister smelling a shift of favorites did not like this. Jealousy prompted him to instigate the king against her, ” Your Highness,” he said, “The potter’s daughter seems to be clever and wise. It is however possible that she is repeating what has been taught to her by someone else, as she seems too young to have formed opinions of her own. And don’t you think that this could be a plan to degrade the court?”

The king used to hearing advice from his chief minister was puzzled. He thought for some time and said, ” Can you tell me how to solve this problem and find out her actual merits?”

The Chief Minister said, “Of course, Your Highness. I have an idea. Let us ask her a very difficult question, which she will not be able to answer. This will be humiliating for her and she will not come to this court any more.”

The king liked the idea and it was decided that the next day the King would put up a specific question to the potter’s daughter.
The next day when the court assembled the potter’s daughter came in with her father and took her seat.

The King after arriving in court looked at the potter’s daughter and said,
” My girl, may I ask you a question? There are diamonds, pearls, rubies and many other precious stones in my treasury. Can you tell me the value of all these treasures?”

The potter’s daughter could sense that the King was testing her intelligence and wisdom. She also knew that she would have to be very cautious about the answer she gave.

She looked at her father sitting beside her and leaning towards her whispered some thing in his ear. The potter got up and left the court. The little girl requested the King to wait for her fathers return.

The chief minister was happy as he thought that her father and not she would be answering the question.

After some time the potter returned with a covered plate in his hands. The plate was covered with a piece of cloth, which the potter placed before the king.

The little girl looked at the King and said, “Your Highness, please take off the cloth covering the plate. Your answer lies in the plate.”

When the King took off the cloth covering the plate, all that he could see was a grain of wheat, a small lump of clay, a small cotton ball and a bowl filled with water. This annoyed the King, as he was not able to understand the little girl’s answer. Raising his eyebrows he asked the girl, ” What is all this?”

The girl answered, “Your Highness, the value of all you precious stones is not even as much as the grain of wheat. Only useful things have value. A grain of wheat means food grains. We cannot live without food; therefore food grains have immense value.

The lump of clay represents soil on this earth without which we would all perish. The water in the bowl represents water that we use for cultivation and many other things, without this also life cannot exist on earth. We grow cotton to make clothes, which protect us from the weather. Also the air that we have around us and the Sun’s rays are equally important to sustain life on Earth. Any one of these are far more valuable than all the treasure in your treasury.”

” Your royal treasury may be full of diamonds, pearls, rubies and many other precious stones. We can however, easily live without them. Therefore they are not at all useful to us. They may be useful as ornaments, but are not necessary for living. So the treasures mentioned by you have no value at all.

The whole court was stunned into silence after hearing her reply.
The praise for her intelligence made the Chief Minister’s face go red.
The king smilingly rose from his throne and blessed the child with all his heart.

The cheerful little girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five.Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand. she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in pink foil box.”Oh Mommy please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy,please? Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl upturned face.”A dollar ninety-five. That’s almost $2.00. If you really want them,I’ll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself.
“Your birthday’s only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma.” the mother said.As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs.McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.
Jenny loved her pearls.They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The onlytime she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath, because Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving; daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her story.
One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny,”Do you love me?” “Oh yes, daddy You know that I love you.” “Then give me your pearls.””Oh, daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess, the white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail. Remember, daddy? The one you gave me. She’s my very favorite.” “That’s okay, Honey, daddy loves you. Good night.” And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny’s daddy asked again, “Do you love me?” “Daddy, you know I love you.” “Then give me your pearls.” “Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand one I got for my birthday. She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper.” “That’s okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you.” And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed her legs crossed As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek. “What is it, Jenny? What’s the matter?” Jenny didn’t say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace.With a Little quiver, she finally said “Here, daddy, this is For you.” With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny’s daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny. He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure.

So it is, with our CREATOR!. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures.
Isn’t God good? Are you holding onto things that God wants you to let go of? Are you holding on to harmful or unnecessary habits and activities that you have come so attached to that it seems impossible to let go?

Sometimes it is so hard to see what is in the other hand but do believe this one thing ,
“God will never take away something without giving you something better in its place”.

The greatest gifts happen when you share love and touch others

Long long ago, a lake was inhabited by a crocodile and a crab. The other inhabitants being mostly fish, plenty of them. The crocodile and the crab were very close friends. The lake was in the middle of a forest and both the friends to feast on fish daily.
The two friend’s staple diet being fish and fish only resulted in the number of fish in the lake. This led to the crocodile thinking that it would catch the animals that came to the lake for watering. Catching a prey every day was improbable, as the animals of the jungle knew about the crocodile living in it and was always careful.

The crab and the crocodile were really worried when the crocodile had an idea. He said to the crab, ‘I will pretend to be dead. You can go and spread this news in the forest. Once the animals come to know that I am no more, they will come here to drink water but will be less careful about avoiding me. It will thus be easy to catch them.

The crab at once set off to spread the news of the crocodile’s death to all the animals living in the Forest.

His first meeting turned out to be the sly fox. The crab told the fox about the crocodile’s death. “Isn’t this excellent news? The animals now will not have to worry about endangering their lives when they go to the lake to drink water. You may tell whomsoever you meet about this so that all of them can come for a safe drink from the lakes sweet water.

The wily fox, used to living in the forest by his wits, smelled something amiss, he remarked, ” Poor crocodile, let me come and see for myself his dead body.”

The crab took the fox to the crocodile, lying motionless close to the bank of the lake. “Friend Crab, he asked, ” when did the crocodile die?’

‘A little while ago,” replied the crab, ” I ran to the forest to spread the good news even as he was on the verge of death.”

“Funny,” said the fox, ” since he died only a few minutes ago his tail should still be twitching.” On hearing this the foolish crocodile moved his tail.

The wily fox then asked the crab”; can any dead animal move its tail? A dead animal can neither move nor hear. The crocodile is alive and he also heard me and that is why he moved his tail. Well Mr. Crocodile your trick did not work did it? Ha! Ha!”

Saying this the fox moved away to the forest and told all the animals in it about the tick the two friends wanted to play upon all the animals.

The two friends thus had to keep on eating fish till they were exhausted and then…………

There was a beautiful lake. On the banks of the lake there stood a buniyan tree. A pigeon had built his nest in the branches of that tree. An ant lived in a hole in the trunk of the tree near the ground.
The monsoon rains had set in. One rainy day, the rains were heavier than usual. The water in the lake rose and it overflowed its banks. The hole where the ant lived was flooded.

The pigeon sitting high and comfortably in its nest, high up, saw the flooding of the hole where the ant lived. The ant was being carried away and was about to be drowned. The pigeon, wanting to save the ant,
plucked a leaf from the tree branch close to its nest and threw it down in the water below. The wind blew the leaf away and it landed far away from where the ant was. The leaf floated gently on the water.

The pigeon then plucked many leaves and one by one he threw them towards the ant, who was struggling to save her life. At long last one leaf fell close to the ant. The ant quickly climbed up on the leaf The leaf became a boat for the ant! Sitting in the leaf-boat, the ant soon reached the bank of the lake.

The rainy season ended without causing any more problems for the ant.
One fine morning the ant came out of her hole. Her sharp eyes fell on a hunter standing far away from the tree. The arrow in his bow was aimed at the pigeon, sitting on the branch of the tree. The pigeon was unaware of the fate awaiting him. The ant ran faster than he had ever run before
and reached right at the place where the hunter stood. The hunter had his total attention turned to taking aim so as to hit the pigeon with his arrow. The ant quickly crept up on the hunter’s leg, and using all her strength stung the hunter on the leg.

It was just when the hunter was about to shoot his arrow. Because of the ants sting his hand wavered and the arrow missed its mark. Whoosh. The arrow passed by the pigeon’s ear. The pigeon flew away. The ant heaved a sigh of relief.

MORAL : APPEARANCES MAY BE DECEPTIVE

An inexperienced little mouse set off o a journey. He saw a rooster by the side of the oath crowing loudly. The mouse had not seen a Rooster before and so was afraid of its sharp beak, big nails and red crest. He ran away from the rooster as fast as he could.
Further on the mouse saw a cat. “What a handsome animal,” the mouse thought. Soft fur striking eyes and a soft meow. As the cat’s belly was full it did not chase the mouse.

When the little mouse got back home, he told his mother about what all he had seen and his views.

” You silly mouse,” said his mother. “Never go by appearances. The terrible animal you saw was a harmless rooster, whilst the fine looking cat is our enemy and eats us at the slightest opportunity!”

MORAL : FALSE FEAR IS A STATE OF ONE’S MIND!

A thief had once stolen a golden bell from a temple. Whilst running away with it a tiger killed him and ate him up when he was crossing a forest. The bell being inedible was left. Some monkeys found the bell and took it and rang it often. The villagers believed that it was the sound was being made by the devil that had stolen the bell from the temple. They stopped venturing out of their village.

One woman was not afraid and went out with a basket of fruit that she intended to sell. When she heard the bell, she left her basket on the road and hid in the bushes. The monkeys threw the bell down and crowded round the basket and began eating the fruits in it. The woman picked up the bell, returned to her village and returned the bell to the temple. The villagers lived without fear once again.

MORAL : THOUGHTLESS ACTION LEADS TO TROUBLE

A mouse and a frog became very good friends. Their friendship bloomed and they wanted to stay with each other all the time. They were dissimilar beings as the mouse was an animal that lived entirely on land while the frog was at home in land and water. The frog suggested to the mouse, ” Let us tie ourselves to each other with a string so that we will always be together,”

“A splendid idea,” replied the mouse.

The frog took a piece of string and tied the tail of the mouse to one of its forelegs. Everything worked well on dry land but one day the frog jumped into a pond, as frogs are prone to do.
The mouse was also dragged into the water as they were tied together bay the string. The mouse was drowned and died and it floated to the surface while the frog swam around.

An eagle spotted the dead mouse and swooped down; caught the dead mouse in its claw and flew away. The frog was carried away also as it cold not free itself from the string.

The eagle had a hearty frog-mouse meal that day

MORAL : MONEY IS TO BE USED FOR SOCIAL GOOD AND NOT WORSHIPPED LIKE GOD!

Misers are happy with the knowledge that they posses wealth and do not like to spend any of it.
A miser bought gold with all the wealth he had. He then melted down all the gild into one single lump and buried it in a field behind his house. Everyday he would long hours removing the earth from over the lump of gold and gloating over his treasure.

One man of his village noticed the frequent visit of the miser and found out his secret. He then dug up the lump of gold and placing a stone in its place made away with it.

The next day the miser finding his treasure gone, fell to groaning and crying over his loss. A neighbor saw him distress and wanted to know what had happened. Upon hearing the whole story he said to the miser, ” Well, you are not any worse off than before. You would never have spent that gold for anything but was only happy to see it. The stone can serve the same purpose and you can keep on gloating over it as it reminds you of the gold you had lost.

MORAL : LOYLTY IS A VIRTUE

Once upon a time the birds were at war with the beasts. Many battles were fought. Sometime the beasts won whilst sometime the birds.
The bats remained neutral and did not side along with either the birds or the beasts. When things went well for the birds the bats were found in their ranks; when, on the other hand, the beasts got the upper hand, they were found amongst them.

As they were opportunists neither the beasts nor the birds paid any attention to them.

After a long drawn out war the birds and the beasts made peace with one another.

Now neither the birds nor the beasts decided not to have anything to do with the bats. Bats, as double faced traitors, remain a solitary out cast from both the birds and the beasts to this day.

MORAL : JEALOUSY LEADS TO SUFFERING

Once upon a time a loud argument started about which fish was the fastest swimmer. The bad will arising out of this escalated to such heights that some of the senior fish demanded that a race be held to resolve once and for all.
Amongst the competitors was a Sol fish who was known for his arrogance, and always sneered at others.

After the race was over it was seen that the winner and the fastest swimmer was the herring.

The Sol, as was his nature, said with his mouth twisted in jealousy, ” The herring, that common little fish is the fastest, well something must have gone wrong during the race.”

Ever since then the Sol fish’s mouth has remained twisted!

MORAL : THERE ARE NO DEARTH OF EXCUSES FOR A TYRANT

A waterfall cascading over a rocky hillock turned itself into a stream below. A wolf standing on the rocks above saw a lamb drinking water downstream.
The wolf decided to eat her. He had to, however, pick up a quarrel with her before he could kill her. ” How dare you dirty the water I am about to drink by wading into it?” he demanded. ” How can I dirty the water up there? It flows from there to here and not from here to the top!” asked the lamb. “Well never mind that,” said the wolf, ” I heard that a year ago you told everybody that I was a rogue.”

The lamb now afraid and trembling, replied, ” Sir, I was not born a year ago!” “Well!” the wolf shot back, ” If it was not you then it was your father. It is no use trying to talk me out of my lunch. I do not care about the law and rules of the land, which does not permit slaughter of the innocent.” The wolf then pounded on the helpless lamb and ate her up.

MORAL : EVERYONE CARES FOR HIS OWN ENDS

A donkey and a dog were very good friends.
One day they were out for an evening walk and found a school bag full of books lying on the road. The donkey opened the bag and pulled out a long sheet of paper, which was lying over the books, from it. It was a loose piece of paper used by the schoolboy for his days class work.

The donkey started reading it and it turned out that it contained writings on all about grass, barley and hay: the kind of fodder that donkey’s are fond of.

The dog listened to his friends’ readings and was bored by it. Soon his impatience got the better of him and he cried, ” Just skip a few paragraphs, friend, and see if there is anything about meat and bones!”

The donkey glanced through the page and found nothing of the sort. On being told, the dog said in disgust, ” Oh! Throw that paper away, what good will it do to know about things like grass and all!”

That was the end of the donkeys’ reading, as he had no one who will listen!

MORAL : GREED LEADS ONE TO A PROBLEM IN MOST CASES

A hungry wolf was roaming about. His keen sense of smell led him to the hollow of a tree.
There he found cooked food in packets which some shepherds had kept there. Delighted with his find, he slipped in through the narrow opening. He greedily devoured all the food that was there. His belly swelled up unnaturally, as the fox had stuffed far more than what it could hold.

Now, he tried to get out of the hollow, he could not squeeze out through it’s narrow opening. He started howling and groaning in discomfort.

Another wolf came by hearing his groans, and asked him what the matter was! On coming to know what had really happened he said, ” Well my friend! I see no remedy for it. You stay where you are, till the food is digested and you shrink to your former size; you will get out then easily enough. But beware of the sheepherders who may come back for their lunch and beat you black and blue.”

MORAL : AVOID THE COMPANY OF MISCHIVEOUS PERSONS!

There stood a big banyan tree in a small village. The travelers passing by sat in the cool shade of the big tree. A kind-hearted person had kept a large pot of water for the thirsty travelers. The travelers would drink the cool water and then proceed on their journey.
In the thick branches of the tree, lived many animals and birds. In the hot sun of the afternoon the animals rested under the tree.

In this tree there also lived a crow that was mischievous and rude by nature. He wold sit on the branch of the tree and play pranks with the travelers resting below. Some time he would sit on the top of a branch and caw for a long time. Its loud and harsh cawing would disturb the peaceful neighborhood.

One afternoon a lock of swans came and perched on the branches of the tree to rest. A traveler was fast asleep under the banyan tree but the rays of the sun, filtering through the leaves was falling on his face. One of the swans saw this and spread its wings in such a way that the traveler’s face was in its shadow so as to protect him from the furious heat of the tropical sun.

The rude, crude and jealous Crow could not bear to see this sight. He immediately decied to break up this cozy arrangement. The crow was playing with a piece of brick in its beak. It lined up itself on the branch and let go of the brick piece so that it landed on the traveler’s head. The traveler woke up wiped his face and saw the swan with its wings spread over him. The crow had flown away and was circling the tree.

The traveler thought that the swan was the guilty party. He picked up a big stone and threw it at the swan in anger. It hit the swan on the chest, wounding it considerably.

The Crow’s prank led to the near death of a swan.

Three holy men decided to practice meditation together. They sat by the side of a lake and closed their eyes in concentration.
Then suddenly, one of them stood up and said, ‘I forgot my mat’. He stepped miraculously onto the water in front of him and walked across the lake to their hut on the other side.

When he returned, the second holy man stood up and said, ‘Oh! I forgot to put my clothes to dry’. He too walked calmly across the water and returned the same way.

The third holy man watched the first two carefully and decided to test his own abilities.
‘Is your learning superior to mine?’ I too can match any feat both of you can perform!’ he declared loudly and rushed to the water’s edge to walk across it.

He promptly fell into the deep water. Undeterred, he climbed out of the water and tried again, only to sink into the water. Yet again he climbed out and yet again he tried, each time sinking into the water.

This went for sometime as the other two are watching.

After a while, the second holy man turned to the first holy man and said, ‘Do you think we should tell him where the stones are?’

So,don’t be afraid to admit when you know you are wrong. Be humble and always ask for help when in doubt. Or get really wet!
Which is better???

MORAL : BE GREEDY FOR MORE AND YOU MAY LOSE ALL

A plump and at hen with red feathers was nick named Red by her friends. One day Red was out collecting firewood when Foxy the fox saw her from behind a tree. His mouth began to water at the thought of having the hen for lunch.
He rushed home, told his wife to put a large can of water on the fire for boiling, grabbed a sack and ran out in an awful hurry.
Before Red knew what was happening she was caught and found herself inside a sack with no way to call for help also.

Red’s friend, the Dove, saw all that had happened. She fluttered on to the path of the fox carrying Red in the sack slung over his shoulder. She fell down pretending to have a broken wing.

Foxy was delighted; he now had the chance to eat a main course with a side dish of stewed Dove. He dropped the sack on the ground ad ran to grab the Dove. The Dove kept hopping away, just out of reach of the Foxy. Foxy followed.
Red came out of the bag by cutting a hole at the top with the knife she had brought with her to cut firewood. She then put large stones inside the bag and tied it once again so the hole she had made was not visible and ran off.

A tired Foxy came back after the dove flew away, picked up the sack and trotted home. The water in the pot was boiling. Foxy opened the sack, and tipped the sack so as to drop Red into it for cooking.
Instead of Red a steady stream of stones fell into the pan splashing boiling water all over the fox. The badly scalded fox had a burnt face instead of hen-lunch. He kept howling and howling in pain.

Once upon a time there lived a farmer. He reared hens and chickens in a small coop in his field.
Foxes like to eat hens and chickens. So every night a sly fox stealthily entered the coop and ate a hen or two. He was always tempted to eat more! But he thought that the more he eats the sooner the farmer will come to know about the depletion of his hens and chickens.

He will then try and trap the fox. But how long could this free feast go on?

One day early morning the farmer noticed the fox’s footprints near the crop! He realized what had been happening that every night a fox came to his coop, on the sly, and ate his hens and chickens. Well I have been fooled so far but will now teach the fox a lesson.

The farmer spread a net to trap the fox. It was a moonless night, the fox could not see the net and he got caught in it.

The farmer was watching things from behind a tree. As soon as he saw the fox was trapped he decided to set the fox’s tail on fire

The farmer wrapped the fox’s tail with oil soaked rags, and set fire to the rags. The flames grew, and soon the fox’s tail began to burn. Drops of burning oil fell on the net and the net caught fire! The fox was soon free from the net. Confused and not understanding what was happening, the fox began to run for his life. He rushed into the field, full of ripe wheat,
thinking that this would put off the fire.

The rich dry crop gently swaying in the breeze and ready for harvesting caught fire as soon as the fox entered the field. Crackle….. Crackle….. Crackle…. In a few minutes the fire spread to the whole field

The fox now ran out of the field and began to roll on the ground in pain.
This caused the fire in his tail to be extinguished. The fox now got up and looked back at the field. Crackle…. Crackle….. Crackle….. The dry crop was burning furiously!

The helpless farmer stood there and watched his crop being reduced to ashes.

The farmer sat down in despair thinking to himself, “Instead of the fox I have been severely punished. I think that the punishment I meted out to
the fox was too severe. Now I know that I should have thrashed the fox so as to give up his habit of entering my crop and eating my hens and chicken. He deserved a milder punishment for whatever he had done.”

MORAL : MORE TREASURE THAN GOLD CAN BE FOUND BENEATH THE SUN

A farmer was at the death’s door. He wanted to impart gainful knowledge to his lazy sons before his death. He called them and as they stood around his bed said, ” My son’s, before I die I want to tell you that I have buried all my life’s savings in my vineyard, dig and you will find it.”
As soon as their father passed away, the sons took up spades and dug and turned up the soil of the vine yard over and over again, in search of the treasure that was supposed to be lying under the soil. They found none.

However the vines, due to so much of digging produced an enormous quantity of excellent grapes, such as had never been seen before. They sold the grapes and got a lot of money from its sale. They learnt that hard work is the key to becoming wealthy.

MORAL : TRUTH IS BORN OUT OF LOGIC

It was market day in the city and carts filled with goods and drawn by animals had arrived from all over the countryside to sell their animals or their ware. There was a lot activity and loud noise all over. There were peddlers, merchants, farmers and noblemen, clowns and showmen present. The King was also expected to come there.
In a stable close by a foal was born. But as soon as it was able to stand it fled from all the noise and excitement and hid between two oxen, that has brought a plough to be put up for sale.
The owner or the mare wanted the foal but the owner of the oxen said: ” The foal is mine, because it has chosen for itself where it wants to stay.”

They took their dispute to the King, who who decided that the foal should stay where it was, as it has chosen the two oxen as its parents.
The next evening when the King was out in his carriage, he came across the owner of the mare standing in the middle of the road with a fishing-net. He was casting the net as if to catch fish.

“What are you doing?” asked the King.

” Fishing, your Majesty.” replied the man. ” If oxen can be the natural parents of a foal, why shouldn’t I be able to catch some fish in the middle of a street and not a river.”

The King ordered that the foal be restored to the owner of the mare, the foal’s natural mother.

MORAL : LOOKS ALONE IS NOT EVERYTHING

A peacock was joyously dancing in the forest one day. His multicolor plumes spread wide and dazzling in the sun. He looked very beautiful and was indeed a sight to behold. He was very proud of his looks.
A crane alighted near the peacock, and wished him well. They then started talking to each other. The crane kept looking at the feathers of the crane in disgust.

” Why are you looking at me like that?” asked the crane.
” I am disgusted at the look of your dull feathers. They have no luster or beauty. Just see mine: they are brilliant and attractive. Nature has been unjust to such a strong bird as you!”

” Do not blame nature Mr. Peacock! Nature is very just and gives every creature what it needs. Oh yes! Your plumage is lovely and mine is dull. But when it comes to using them, I can soar away into
the clouds, whereas you are confined to the ground like any plain chicken.”

It is better to illustrious in plain clothes, rather than live without glory by a show of wealth.

<strong>Morale of the Story:</strong> “<u>A man is known by the company he keeps</u>”

A man named murthi who wanted to buy an donkey went to the market, and, came across a good -looking donkey, Murthi arranged with the owner that he should be allowed to take the donkey home on trial to see what he ( the donkey) was like.
When Murthi reached home, he put the donkey into his stable along with the other donkey’s.The new donkey took a look round, and immediately went and chose a place next to the laziest and greediest beast in the stable.

When Murthi saw this he put a halter on the donkey at once, and led him off and handed the donkey over to his owner again. The owner was surprised to see Murthi back so soon, and asked him, “Have you tested him ?” “I don’t want to put this donkey through any more tests,” replied Murthi. “I could see what sort of beast he( the donkey) is from the companion he chose for himself.”

<strong>Morale of the Story</strong>: “<u>Misfortune tests the sincerity of friends.</u>”

TWO friends named Gopi & Kishan were traveling together, when a Bear suddenly met them on their path. Gopi climbed up quickly onto a tree and concealed himself in the branches.
Kishan, seeing that he must be attacked, fell flat on the ground, and when the Bear came up and felt him with his snout, and smelt him all over, he held his breath, and feigned* the appearance of death as much as he could.

The Bear soon left him, for it is said that the bear’s don’t touch a dead body. When he was quite gone, Gopi descended from the tree, and jocularly* inquired from Kishan about what it was the Bear had whispered in his ear.

“He gave me this advice,” Kishan replied. “Never travel with a friend who deserts you at the approach of danger.”

* Feigned :- to give a false appearance of
* <strong>Jocularly :- habitually jolly</strong>

<strong>Morale of the Story</strong>: “<u>One man’s pleasure may be another’s pain.</u>”

SOME BOYS, playing near a pond, saw a number of Frogs in the water and began to pelt them with stones. They killed several of them, when one of the Frogs, lifting his head out of the water,cried out: “Pray stop, my boys: what is sport to you, is death to us.” NEVER TEASE ANYBODY KIDS……..

Morale of the Story: “Necessity is the mother of invention”

A CROW perishing with thirst saw a pitcher, and hoping to find water, flew to it with delight. When he reached it, he discovered to his grief that it contained so little water that he could not possibly get at it.

He tried everything he could think of to reach the water, but all his efforts were in vain. At last he collected as many stones as he could carry and dropped them one by one with his beak into the pitcher, until he brought the water within his reach.

With his effort & patience the water level came to the neck of the pitcher and thus he drank the water and saved his life.

Morale of the Story: “Not everything you see is what it appears to be.”

A PRINCE had some Monkeys which he trained how to dance. Being naturally great mimics of men’s actions, they showed themselves most apt pupils, and when arrayed in their rich clothes and masks, they danced as well as any of the courtiers.
The spectacle was often repeated with great applause, till on one occasion a courtier,bent on mischief, took from his pocket a handful of nuts and threw them upon the stage. The Monkeys at the sight of the nuts forgot their dancing and became (as indeed they were) Monkeys instead of actors.

Pulling off their masks and tearing their robes, they fought with one another for the nuts. The dancing spectacle thus came to an end with the laughter and ridicules of the audience.

Morale of the Story: “People often grudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves.”

A Dog looking out for its afternoon nap jumped into the an Ox and lay there cozily upon the straw.
But soon the Ox,returning from its afternoon work, came up to the Manger and wanted to eat some of the straw. The Dog in a rage, being awakened from its slumber, stood up and barked at the Ox, and whenever it came near the dog attempted to bite it.

At last the Ox had to give up the hope of getting at the straw, and went away muttering: “Ah, people often grudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves.”

Morale of the Story: “Better starve free than be a fat slave.”

A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger once went to a city and there he happened to meet a House-dog who was passing by.
Seeing the wolf the dog said,”Ah, Cousin,How are you . You look quite week and pale.Why don’t you work steadily as I do, and get your food regularly ?”

“I would have no objection,” said the Wolf, “if I could only get a place.” The dog said that I will arrange for you, “Come with me to my master and you shall share my work.”

So the Wolf and the Dog went towards the town together. On the way there the Wolf noticed that the hair on a certain part of the Dog’s neck was very much worn away, so he asked him how that had come about. “Oh, it is nothing,” said the Dog. “That is only the place where the collar is put on at night to keep me chained up; it chafes* a bit, but one soon gets used to it.”

“Is that all?” said the Wolf. “Then good-bye to you, Master Dog.”

* Chafes:- to rub so as to wear away

Morale of the Story: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”

AN EAGLE and a Fox formed an intimate friendship and decided to live near each other. The Eagle built her nest in the branches of a tall tree, while the Fox crept into the Underwood and there she reproduced her young.
Not long after they had agreed upon this plan, the Eagle, being in want of provision for her young ones, swooped down while the Fox was out, seized upon one of the little cubs, and feasted herself and her brood.

The Fox on her return,discovered what had happened, but was less grieved for the death of her young than for her inability to avenge them. A just retribution*, however, quickly fell upon the Eagle. While hovering near an altar, on which some villagers were sacrificing a goat, the eagle suddenly seized a piece of the flesh, and carried it,along with a burning cinder, to her nest.

A strong breeze soon fanned the spark into a flame, and the eaglets, as yet unfledged and helpless, were roasted in their nest and dropped down dead at the bottom of the tree. There, in the sight of the Eagle, the Fox gobbled them up.

* Retribution:- receiving of reward or punishment
* Unfledged:- not feathered : not ready for flight

Morale of the Story: “Birds of a feather flock together”

A FARMER placed nets on his newly-sown plowlands and caught a number of Cranes, which came to pick up his seed.

With them he trapped a Stork that had fractured his leg in the net. The farmer took all of them to his house. The Stork then earnestly beseeched* the Farmer to spare his life. “Pray save me, Master,” he said, “and let me go free this once. My broken limb should excite your pity. Besides, I am no Crane, I am a Stork, a bird of excellent character; and look at my feathers–they are not the least like those of a Crane.”

The Farmer laughed aloud and said, “It may be all as you say, I only know this: I have taken you with these robbers, the Cranes, and you must die in their company.”

* Beseeched:- to beg for urgently or anxiously

Morale of the Story: “Little friends may prove great friends.”

Once when a Lion was asleep a little Mouse began running up and down upon him; this soon wakened the Lion, who placed his huge paw upon him, and opened his big jaws to swallow him. “Pardon, O King,” cried the little Mouse: “forgive me this time, I shall never forget it: who knows but what I may be able to do you a turn some of these days?”
The Lion was so tickled at the idea of the Mouse being able to help him, that he lifted up his paw and let him go.

The time went by and one day the Lion was caught in a trap, and the hunters who desired to carry him alive to the King, tied him to a tree while they went in search of a waggon to carry him on.

The Lion started to roar and the Mouse, recognizing his roar, came by, and seeing the sad plight in which the Lion was, went up to him and soon gnawed away the ropes that bound the King of the Beasts, and set him free. “Was I not right?”said the little Mouse.

Morale of the Story: “Appearances are deceptive.”

A Wolf found great difficulty in getting at the sheep owing to the vigilance of the shepherd and his dogs. But one day it found the skin of a sheep that had been flayed and thrown aside, so he put it on over its own pelt and strolled down among the sheep.
Encased in the skin of a sheep, he pastured with the flock deceiving the shepherd by his costume.

In the evening he was shut up by the shepherd in the fold; the gate was closed, and the entrance made thoroughly secure.He soon found a healthy sheep and made a meal off her, and for some time he succeeded in deceiving the sheep, and enjoyed hearty meals.

But one day the shepherd, returned to the fold during the night to obtain meat for the next day, mistakenly caught up the Wolf instead of a sheep, and killed him instantly.

Morale of the Story: “Look before you leap”

A Fox one day fell into a deep well and could find no means of escape. A Goat, overcome with thirst, came to the same well, and seeing the Fox, inquired if the water was good. Concealing his sad plight under a merry guise, the Fox indulged in a lavish praise of the water, saying it was excellent beyond measure, and encouraging him to descend.

The Goat, mindful only of his thirst, thoughtlessly jumped down, but just as he drank, the Fox informed him of the difficulty they were both in and suggested a scheme for their common escape. “If,” said he, “you will place your forefeet upon the wall and bend your head, I will run up your back and escape, and will help you out afterwards.”

The Goat readily assented and the Fox leaped upon his back. Steadying himself with the Goat’s horns, he safely reached the mouth of the well and made off as fast as he could.

When the Goat up braided him for breaking his promise, he turned around and cried out,”You foolish old fellow! If you had as many brains in your head as you have hairs in your beard, you would never have gone down before you had inspected the way up, nor have exposed yourself to dangers from which you had no means of escape.”

Morale of the Story: “Greed often over reaches itself.”

In a small village lived a countrymen who had a goose. One day while going to the nest of his Goose he found an egg all yellow and glittering.
When he took it up it was as heavy as lead and as he was going to throw it away, he gave a second thought and took it home .

Soon he found out to his delight that it was an egg of pure gold. He became very happy & every morning the same thing occurred.

He became rich by selling those golden eggs. As he grew rich he grew greedy. He thought to himself, ” Why not to get all the golden eggs at once which the Goose gives to me daily?’

And thinking to get all the eggs, he killed his goose but when he opened it he found nothing.

Morale of the Story: “It is easy to despise what you cannot get.”

One hot summer’s day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine over a lofty branch.
He was very thirsty & thought to himself,”Just the thing to quench my thirst”.

Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success.

Again and again he tried but did not succeed, so at last he had to give it up. He just walked away with his nose in the air, saying: “I am sure they are sour.”

Morale of the Story: “It is easy to propose impossible remedies.”

Long ago, a mice community lived happily in a big house & enjoyed all the feast. On day to get rid of the mouse’s the family members brought a big cat. She use to eat 3-4 mouse daily.
The mouse got worried and had a general council to consider what measures they could take to outwit their common enemy, the Cat. Some said this, and some said that; but at last a young mouse got up and said he had a proposal to make, which he thought would meet the problem.

“You will all agree,” said he, “that our chief danger consists in the sly and treacherous manner in which the enemy approaches us. Now, if we could receive some signal of her approach, we could easily escape from her. I therefore propose that a small bell attached by a ribbon should be tied round the neck of the Cat. By this means we should always know when she was about, and could easily retire while she was around us.”

This proposal met with general applause, until an old mouse got up and said: “That is all very well, but who is to bell the Cat?” The mice looked at one another and nobody spoke. When nobody came forward then all the mice decided to leave the house & go somewhere else.

At last the old mouse said: “It is easy to propose impossible remedies.”

Morale of the Story: “A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth.”

There was once a young Shepherd Boy who tended his sheep at the foot of a mountain near a dark forest. It was rather lonely for him all day, so he thought upon a plan by which he could get a little company and some excitement.
He rushed down towards the village calling out “Wolf, Wolf,” hearing his voice the villagers came out with their sticks & axes to kill the wolf but found nothing, and some of them stopped with him for a considerable time.

This pleased the boy so much that a few days afterwards he tried the same trick, and again the villagers came to his help. But found nothing so they understood that the boy was playing mischievous.

Shortly after this incident one day a Wolf actually did come out from the forest, and began to worry the sheep, and the boy of course cried out “Wolf, Wolf,” still louder than before. But this time the villagers, who had been fooled twice before, thought the boy was again deceiving them, and nobody stirred to come to his help.

So the Wolf made a good meal off the boy’s flock, and when the boy complained, the wise man of the village said: “A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth.”

Morale of the Story: “He that has many friends, has no friends.”

Once upon a time in a deep jungle their lived a hare who had many friends and was very popular with the other beasts who all claimed to be his friends.
But one day she heard the hounds approaching and hoped to escape them by the aid of her many Friends. So, she went to the horse, and asked him to carry her away from the hounds on his back. But he declined, stating that he had important work to do for his master. “He felt sure,” he said, “that all her other friends would come to her assistance.”

She then applied to the bull, and hoped that he would repel the hounds with his horns. The bull replied: “I am very sorry, but I have an appointment; but I feel sure that our friend the goat will do what you want.”

The goat, however, feared that his back might do her some harm if he took her upon it. So he said the ram, was the proper friend to apply to.

So she went to the ram and told him the case. The ram replied: “Another time, my dear friend. I do not like to interfere on the present occasion, as hounds have been known to eat sheep as well as hares.”

The Hare then applied, as a last hope, to the calf, who regretted that he was unable to help her, as he did not like to take the responsibility upon himself, as so many older persons than himself had declined the task.

By this time the hounds were quite near, and the Hare took to her heels and luckily escaped.