Aluru Venkata Rao

Aluru Venkata Rao (also sometimes referred as Aluru Venkata Raya) (12 July 1880 – 25 February 1964) was an Indian revolutionary, historian, writer and journalist. Venkata Rao is revered as Karnataka Kulapurohita (High priest of the Kannada family) in the Karnataka region for his contribution towards the cause of a separate Karnataka state. He became famous for undertaking a Karnataka Ekikarana movement in support of the formation of a state for the Kannada-speaking population of Mysore, Bombay Presidency and the Nizam's Hyderabad.

Aluru Venkata Rao
Born(1880-07-12)12 July 1880
Bijapur, Karnataka
Died25 February 1964(1964-02-25) (aged 83)
NationalityIndian
Other namesKarnataka Kulapurohita
EducationB.A L.L.B
Alma materFergusson College
OccupationWriter, scholar, translator, publisher, reformer, and leader
Known forKarnataka Ekikarana

He started his own newspaper Jaya Karnataka and stated that the sole aim of the newspaper was to strive for Karnataka’s statehood.[1]

Early life

Venkata Rao was born on July 12, 1880 to Bhima Rao, a shirastedar in revenue department . They were of orthodox Madhwa Brahmin family in Bijapur, Karnataka. He studied for a B.A and L.L.B at Fergusson College, where he came in contact with Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Senapati Bapat and Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Rao was a close friend of Tilak and translated his Gita Rahasya into Kannada.[2][3][4][5]

Works

Rao began by contributing articles to newspapers such as Chandrodhaya, Karnataka Patra, and Rajahamsa, Karnataka Vritta In 1906 he began to work as an editor for a monthly magazine, Vagbhushana.[6] In November 1922, he started Jaya Karnataka, a monthly magazine that published articles on a variety of topics.[7] About 27 books written by Rao have been published, the first of which was Vidyaranya Charitre in 1907. His other works include Karnataka Gatha Vaibhava, Karnataka Veeraratnagalu, Karnatakathva Sutragalu and Karnatakathva Vikasa.[3] In 1907 he organised a conference of Kannada writers and the next year started the Karnataka Grantha Prasarada Mandali. In 1930 he presided over the Kannada Sahitya Sammelana held at Mysore. In accordance with the wishes of Tilak, he translated the former's work Gita Rahasya from Marathi to Kannada.[8][9] He independently interpreted Bhagavad Gita and authored the books Gita Prakasha, Gita Parimala, Gita Sandesha, Gita Kusuma Manjari in Kannada.

Karnatakada Kulapurohita

Rao was overjoyed when Karnataka was unified on 1 November 1956. He went to Hampi and performed pooja to the goddess Bhuvaneshwari in the Virupaksha temple and gained the name Karnatakada Kulapurohita. He was sad that the name of Karnataka did not find a place in the list of states mentioned in the national anthem and wrote about its inclusion to the Prime Minister and President of India. He was honoured in the capital of Bangalore on the eighth anniversary of the state's formation in 1963.[2]

Rao died on 24 February 1964.[10]

Bibliography

Rao wrote books many books, including:

  • Vidyaranya Charitre (1907)
  • Kannadigara Bhramanirasana (1915)
  • Karnataka Gatha Vaibhava (1917)
  • Karnatakatwada Sutragulu (Aphorisms of Karnatakawada )(1950)
  • Karnatakatwada Vikasa (Evolution of Karnatakatwa) (1957)
  • Gita Rahasya, a translation of Tilak's Marathi work into Kannada (1918)
  • Nanna Jeevana Smritigalu, his autobiography (1941)
  • He wrote six books on Madhwa philosophy[2]

Legacy

References
  1. "Who is Alur Venkat Rao?". The Hindu. 2 June 2015.
  2. Datta, Amaresh (1987). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: A-Devo. Sahithya Akademi. p. 145.
  3. Ganga Ram Garg (1992). Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World. Concept Publishing Company. p. 351.
  4. Anjali Gera Roy, Chua Beng Huat (2014). Travels of Bollywood Cinema: From Bombay to LA. Oxford University Press.
  5. Harish Ramaswamy (2007). Karnataka Government and Politics. Concept Publishing Company. p. 39.
  6. Grover, Verinder; Arora, Ranjana (1996). Encyclopaedia of India and her states: Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Volume 8. p. 40.
  7. Alexander, Paul; Parthasarathy, Rangaswami. Sri Lankan Fishermen: Rural Capitalism and Peasant Society. Sterling Publishers. p. 207.
  8. Khajane, Muralidhara (1 November 2015). "Karnataka: State of diverse cultures, but language is the binding factor". The Hindu. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  9. Suryanath U. Kamath (1996). A Handbook of Karnataka. Government of Karnataka, Karnataka Gazetteer Department. p. 46.
  10. "The Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society (Bangalore, India)". 80. The Society. 1989: 193–195. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. "The mystery behind naming Bengaluru's AV Road revealed". The Economic Times. 2015.
  12. "Death anniversary of Alur Venkata Rao". The Hindu. 2013.
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