There was an all round progress in different branches of T literature during this period. In particular two decades 1915 to 1935 have been regarded by some as the most brilliant period in Andhra literary history. An important reason was the almost revolutionary change brought about G.V.Ramamurti Pantulu died 1940 who emancipated it from archaic grammar and introduced the spoken language as the vehicle of literature. He was the pioneer in the field of journalism in T and through his journal Viveka-vardhini 1874 he propagated modern ideas, fostered fresh creative art in literature and launched attacks against social evils and superstition. His translation of Kalidasa's Abhijnana-Sakuntala 1883 is still the best.

Lyrical poetry reached a high degree of excellence, its main theme being love in its various forms and appreciation of the beauties of nature. Nanduri Venkata Subbarao wrote exquisite love lyrics in the series Yenki-Patalu or the songs of Yenki regarded by some as the most beautiful love poems in modern Indian literature. Two other great poets were Visvanatha Satyanarayana who was also called kavi-samrat and Devulapalli Krishnasastri who came to be known as the 'Shelley of Andhra'. The latter like many others belonged to the old school. Srirangam Srinivasa Rao belonged to the progressive school while Neo Classicism is represented by poets such as G Joshuan.

The poet Visvanatha Satyanarayana also wrote novels. His best-known work is Veyipadagalu (thousand snake hoods), which gives a comprehensive picture of the present Andhra society. T seems to be richer in short stories than long novels.

Fiction in T had its origin in the 17^th century, but it was then in the form of a narration of a Puranic story or a fairly tale with little artistic merit. It was not until the 1870's that novels in the modern sense came to be written in T. Early T novels were translations of English or Bengali ones.

Dramatic literature also made good progress. Gurujada Apparava is the author of the first noteworthy social drama, Kanya-sulkamu (bride price). There were other authors of social plays and historical plays like K S Rao who wrote on the fall of Vijayanagara.

The period showed remarkable progress in essays, particularly in works of literary criticism. Although the honor of being the first essayist in T goes to SN N Naidu for his Hitasuci 1862, a collection of eight essays, the essay in the modern sense started with Viresalingam.

A very important role was played in the development of T literature by the Sahiti Samiti - a sort of literary fellowship - founded by Sivashankara Sastri, the Anna Guru who attracted around him a number of brillant writers, poets, short story writers and essayists. The movement in favor of adopting the spoken language as a literary medium was inaugurated by G V R Pantulu, but its success was assured by the practical adoption of this medium by this group of writers. It is not unlikely that they were inspired by the Sabuj Patra movement in Bengali literature.

The autobiography of T Prakasam is an outstanding work in T literature. The Swadeshi movement in Bengal in 1905 had also a great repercussion on T literature. Several novels written in Hindi and European languages were also translated in Telegu.

Marxist ideas also had their impact on modern T poetry. However, they could make an impact only post-Independence. These writers have a new attitude to poetry, which is noticeable both in the form and content of their works. S S Rao ranks high among these poets.

Friends as a North Indian I am truly impressed with the language and literary developments of Telegu. Am sure that as I read about more Indian languages there would be similar developments there too. Thanks to convent education that stresses the importance of knowing English language and literature and not knowing Indian writings a number of us including myself have stopped reading Indian languages. I am convinced that all of us who do so are missing out on reading some great literary works.

By compiling this article I have found an answer to my question - the commonality and relationship between Telegu and Sanskrit.

Long Live Kshatriya Dharam

March 2002