Garimella Satyanarayana - Poet & Freedom Fighter -------------------------------------------------- There died a famous man "unhonored, unsung, and unwept" in a helpless state on the 18th December of 1952, just a couple of days after the death of Father of Andhra Pradesh, Sri Potti Sreeramulu. Sri Sreeramulu's death brought a complete halt of all the activities and transportation throughout the state of Andhra pradesh and the result was the absolute lack of a functioning news media. The AIR might have probably ignored Garimella's death and it would be surprising to see if his death was covered in any local news papers of Madras. Garimella Satyanarayana is identified as a "Tiger Poet" by his famous (popular) song - "mAkoddI tella doratanamu" (We don't need this white rule). Garimella himself used to sing this song and the British were scared right from their roots. This particular song was a house-hold freedom rhyme in all four corners of Andhra those days. Garimella Satyanarayana was born in Gonepadu village (Sivaru priyagraharam) of Narasannapeta Taluk (Srikakulam district) in 1892. In 1992, his birth centenary was celebrated in Andhra Pradesh and on this occassion the collection of his songs as "garimeLLa gEyAlu" was published by the Visalandhra Publishers. Parakala Pattabhiramarau, another famous freedom fighter of Andhra, edited this valuable collection of Garimella's songs. Prof. Madduri Subbareddi of the Telugu Department, SV University, Tirupati published a research paper entitled "telugu jAtIyOdyama kavitvam" (telugu freedom struggle poetry) and described Garimella's poetry with due respect. This was published in 1982. The Akhilandhra Virasamsmarana Mandali of Kovvur also published a biographical sketch of Garimella. Garimella Satyanarayana was at the zenith of Telugu poetry and enjoyed the loudest cheers of the crowds and the greatest warmth of the literary lovers but he lived a tragic life as stricken by worst poverty and died unknown in a place that is not his (Madras). His poverty did not stop with him but became an inheritance for his children and as a result his daughter and grandchildren live in filthy conditions in Vijayanagaram. It is a fact that Garimella was hungry in his last days and the Government of India did not even bother to feed this Freedom Fighter. Was the Mother India poor to feed a tiny little son of hers who tried to free her from the strong chains of the British? It is right time for the Government of Andhra Pradesh to commemorate this freedom fighter and his unparallel services to Mother India and Andhra. Prof. Challa Radhakrishnamurthy of the Madurai Kamaraj University Telugu Department did an outstanding research on Garimella's literary works and ultimately published a book called "garimeLLa sAhityam" (garimeLLa's literary works). During his endeavor, Sri Radhakrishnamurthy, tirelessly contacted several relatives and friends of Garimella, obtained information about Garimella's life history, collected several of his unpublished materials, and finally published his book. That was a real accomplishment of Prof. Radhakrishnamurthy and he will be remembered as long as Garimella is remembered. In fact, this book on Garimella's literary works by Sri Radhakrishnamurthy, reopened the the doors of the old memory boxes about Garimella and his writings. Madala Virabhadrarao and Mahidhara Ramamohanarao subsequently reviewed Radhakrishnamurthy's book on Garimella's literary works in major News Papers of Andhra Pradesh (Udayam and Visalandhra). Smt. B. Krushnakumari did an MPhil research with an emphasis on the crtical analysis of Garimella's literary works. She obtained her degree in 1990. During the course of her research, Smt. Krushnakumari collected various works of Garimella after visiting several libraries. That was a major effort by Krushnakumari which the literary lovers now enjoy. Upon submission of a memorandum (by Vavilala Gopalakrushnayya, Mahidhara Ramamohana Rao, and Parkala), Prof. C. Narayanareddi, the then VC of Telugu University was instrumental in celebrating Garimella's 98th birthday on the 15th July of 1990 at Hyderabad. Famous writers and freedom fighters were invited to attend this function. Mallik and others sang the most famous song of Garimella, "mAkoddI tella doratanamu" and other songs in this function. On the 8th of February, 1922, Garimella joined the Freedom Struggle at Rajahmundry while he was a student of BALT at the Training College. The students and the faculty recently wanted to rename the college as Garimella Government Training College and submitted a memorandum to the Government as a follow up. Again on the 15th of July, 1992, The Telugu University celebrated the 100th birthday of Sri Garimella Satyanarayana. The then chief minister Mr. Janardhana Reddy declared that (1) he would take a lead role in getting a postage stamp released commemorating Garimella and (2) would see that his family would receive sufficient pension or financial help from the Government. The same day, the book written by Smt. B. Krushnakumari (garimeLLa vyAsAvaLi) was released by the Telugu University with in a very short time. Parakala Pattabhiramarao felt bitter about the way the freedom fighters of Andhra like Garimella are treated. Parakala says that with in 45 years after the freedom struggle and attaining independence, the entire history of the freedom fighters disappeared and became unrecognized. Unfortunately, the present generation may even not know about these freedom fighters. Parakala says "Tamilians at least recognized Subrahmanyabharati as their poet. We totally forgot who Garimella is. In order to remind everyone about Garimella, we had to struggle this much." After all this, I am reminded of a famous Telugu proverb - caccinavADi kaLLu cAreDEsi. It is unfortunate to know that Garimella suffered hell while he was alive, went unrecognized during his last days, and totally forgotten now by the present generation. At least those who recognized like Parakala, Vavilala, and Mahidhara say that he was an elephant while alive and he is an elephant now but how can they convince the present generation and present rulers who never saw how an elephant looks like - because elephants are endangered and struggling the oncoming forces of extinction! -----pAlana --------------------------------------------------------------------------- References: 1) garimeLLa gEyAlu : Editor - parakAla paTTABirAmArAu 1992, Visalandhra Book House 2) telugu sAhitya samIksha - Dr. G. Nagayya, Navya Parisodhana Pracurana, Tirupati, 1985. 3) AdhunikAndhra kavitvamu - Dr. C. Narayanareddi, Visalandhra. 1993. 4) Freedom Struggle in Andhra Pradesh (Andhra) - Prof. Mamidipudi Venkatarangayya, Vols I-IV, 1965. 5) Andhrula Sankshipta Charitra - Etukuri Balaramamurthy, Visalandhra. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Opinions are mine only. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ._~Y~_; FIFTY Years of India's Independence ' (* *) ^--\-/--^ @`_/ /\ ^ /\ \_'@=+---------Celebrate 100 Years of AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY `__' {===} `__' Columbus Section /_____\ Paranandi (PALANA) || || Chemical Abstracts Service _________N_|_|_P_______________________________________________________________ | ON CYBER SPACE | | ACS COLUMBUS HOME PAGE = http://www.cas.org/local/acscol.html | | ACS HOME PAGE = http://www.acs.org/ | | CAS HOME PAGE = http://www.cas.org | | CAS CHEM INFO SEARCH = http://stneasy.cas.org/ | |============================================================================|