The story of Gurajada Venkata App
Rao(poet)
Gurajada
Venkata Appa Rao (1862-1915): Hailed as the father of
Modern Telugu literature, G.V.Appa Rao blazed a new ttail
in
play-writing as also in poetry and short story
Kanyasulkam (Bride-Price) is one of his outstanding plays.
It was the harbringer of modernism of Telugu literature.Sri
Gurajada Apparao was a social reformer, poet, writer,
philosopher, and a friend. He was born in 1863 in Rayavaram
of Visakhapatnam distt.. He graduated from the Maharaja's
College (MR COLLEGE) of Vizianagaram, the so called
VIDYANAGARAM of ANDHRA where he synthesized de novo the
greatest of his writings which are superb, unforgettable,
and immortal. "dESamanTE maTTika'dOy - dESamanTE
manushulOy" has had been shacking the hearts of every
Telugu soul, whether literate or illiterate. The style of
Gurajada's poetry, neither pedantic nor enigmatic, but was
the purest, crystal clear, lucid, and vivaceous. His poems
awaken the weeklings even and energize them. Gurajada's
intellectual creativity gave us a keepsake, historical
landmark, and a precious literary diamond -
"KANYASULKAM"
play. It is one and the only book in Telugu in which
dedication and preface were written in English (there
may
be others in existence, but they mushroomed
afterwards). On
the 13
Th of August, 1992, "Kanyasulkam" celebrated its
100th birthday, eversince it was staged for the first
time. "Kanyasulkam" centenary celebrations were held at
Gurajada's residence in Vizianagaram. Poets and writers
from various places in Andhra held literary discourses
on
Gurajada's works. On the 76th death anniversary of Sri
Gurajada, Sri Jonnalagadda Somayajulu and his party
performed the "Kanyasulkam" play. Sri Jonnalagadda
Ramanamurty, well known for his Girisam role in the
play,
was honored. Sri Gurajada wrote the "Kanyasulkam" in
1869
for an excellent cause - social reformism.
Girls at ten
years of age were married to men of 65 years of age or
older in return the girls' parents used to receive a
sum of
Rs 1000/- or more. This unfortunate act of selling
young
girls who did not either attain mental maturity or
puberty
to men (ready to be buried under 6 feet of mud)
performed
by their ignorant parents can be envisioned in this
play,
even now. No where in this entire world, a play like
this
or similar to this, was ever written. One will be
surprised
to know that the era of Modern Telugu Literature was
born
from Gurajada's pen and
his "Kanyasulkam". "Kanyasulkam"
was performed for the first time by the "Jagannadha
Vilasini Sabha" of Vizianagaram in 1892. (Contributed
by
Palana)
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