Tummala Seetharama Murthy

Tummala Seetharama Murthy or Tummla Seetharama Murthy Choudary (1901–1990) was an Indian poet writing in Telugu.

Murthy was born in Kavuru village in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. Works such as "Rashtragaanamu" reflect patriotism and the Indian independence struggle. He was honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award^[1] in 1969 and with the title "Kalaaprapoorna" by Andhra University in 1969.^[2]

Introduction

Sri Tummala Sitaramamurthy was a great gift of the 20th century to the Telugu people and the Telugu literature. He was one of the most prominent poets in the history of the modern Telugu literature. Born in an age of national fight for freedom, he completely came under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi. The other personalities that inspired him were Acharya N.G. Ranga, the father of the world peasant movement, Kaviraju Sri Tripuraneni Ramaswamy Chowdhary who was the father of the revolutionary poetry in Telugu literature, and Mahakavi Sri Chellapilla Venkata Sastry who brought Telugu poem from Royal palaces to common people in the society. Also the philosophies of social reformers of Vemana, Potuluri Veerabhramam, Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Kabir, Nanak, Raja Ramamohana Roy, Dayananda Saraswathi and others had immense effect on the poet. Inspired by these personalities, he produced a noble literature to promote human values in the society. He wanted to make man cultured and the society progressive through his literature. He did not write his poetry, he spoke to the society with the voice of tomorrow. Telugu is the second-largest living language in India. He was the unacknowledged- laureate of the Andhras. The story of his life itself was a marvel of effort, achievement and purposefulness.

His Early Life

Like a lotus born in mud, Sitaramamurthy was born in a family of land cultivators. He was born on 25-Dec-1901, at Kavoor, a hamlet in Repalle Taluq of Krishna district (later divided into Guntur and Krishna), in the presidency of Madras (later divided into Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu). His parents Narayya and Chenchamma- were hard-working middle class agriculturists. His place of birth was a significant one, for it was visited by noble personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bave and Babu Rajendra Prasad. In his early life, the poet struggled for his education. During the daytime he assisted his father in agriculture and in the night he learned Telugu and Sanskrit with great curiosity under great teachers and eminent scholars living in the neighboring villages.

His Education

Later, he went to Chittigudur near Bandar (now Machilipatnam), which was a great center for learning in the district to study Ubhayabasha Praveena. Sri G Varadacharyulu was the founder and also the principal of this institution. He was not only an ideal teacher but also a great patriot. Here he learned Telugu grammar perfectly Sri Duvvuri Venkata Ramana Sastry who was a profound scholar. Finally, he passed the public examinations in first division and then secured a job as a Telugu pandit in 1930. He worked in the schools of Duggirala, Bapatla, Nidubrolu and Appikatla. He retired from the service in 1957 at Appikatla. Thus his early life was one of the deep study, stupendous learning and a great preparation for his future literacy career. His early literacy works brought him name and fame and he was at once recognized as a promising poet.

His Literary Ideals

The modern age has brought a remarkable change in the outlook, philosophy and ideals of literature. Literature has come nearer to human life, its problems and its solutions. This has brought a breakthrough in the literary thinking of the present age. The puranic (mythological) themes have given way to human life in literature. True of the spirit of the age, Sitaramamurthy was a revolutionary poet. For him revolution does not need bloodshed; it only means 'change'. He opined that the change in the society should come through the Gandhian way or the Sarvodaya Path. The change that comes through the revolution will be temporary and the change that comes through the Sarvodaya Path will remain permanent. He had a message and philosophy to the society.

Love of the nation, Love of the state, Love of mankind have constituted his poetic philosophy. The scope of his poetry was noble, broad and universal. He made the goal of his poetry as a great inspiring force for the political, social, religious, economic and moral movements of his age. For him literature was a means to serve humanity and inspire people to live in a noble path. The achievement of independence to the country, individual freedom, social equality, religious harmony, economic progress, moral and cultural advancement in the society were his noble literary ideals. "The grief of the people is the anguish of Sitaramamurthy", so the themes of his works were problems faced by people time to time and their solutions. Thus his literature truly reflected all classes of people.

Early life and education

Sri Tummala Seetharama Murthy garu was born in Kavuru village in Cherukupalli Mandal of Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh. He was born on 1 December 1901 to Tummala Narayya and Chenchamamba.^[3] He completed his Ubhya Bhasha Praveena From Andhra University.^[3] He spent most of his career working as teacher. He taught Sanskrit for some time in Sanskrit School, Amrutaluru.^[4] He died on 21 March 1990 in Appikatla village of Guntur District.

Poetic style and works

He was initially into Bhava Kavitha Udyayam (Romanti Poetry), later he got inspired in to Humanism, finally into nationalism and struggle for Indian independence.^[5] Later he worked towards special Andhra state and Sarvodaya Movement as well. All these phases gets reflected in works.^[6] Tummala SitaRama Murthy advocated Gandhian philosophy.^[7] He strived to write poetry in simple language free from complex Sanskrit. His literary works include

• "Rastra Ganamu" - Praising the history and glory of Rayalaseema
• "Mahatma Katha" - The independence movement and nationalism were popularised with Mahatma Gandhi as protagonist in his novel.^[8]
• "Sarvodaya Ganamau" - About Sarvodaya movement
• "Pariga Panta"
• "Paira Panta"
• "Atmarpanamu"^[9]

He has 30 works to his credit

Accolades and recognition

• Sahitya Akademi Award in Telugu, in 1969 for his Poetry - Mahatma Katha
• Kalaprapoorna (Sahitya) title by Andhra University
• Abhinava Tikkana, Telugu lenka titles conferred by other organizations

References