Regards,
Madan Mohan Parigi <parigim@STATE.MI.US>
Sreenivas Paruchuri <sreeni@ktp.uni-paderborn.de>
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QUIZ - 5
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on Scientific Books, Lexicons and Encyclopaedias in Telugu
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Q 1. The earliest Telugu books on scientific subjects were (as usual) in
verse and mostly related to medicine. It is interesting to note that as
early as 1836 there was a book in Prose (!) on "Cooking" by a woman;
Saraswati Bai.
It is again a very famous personality, already with many "first" credits,
that began the publication of scientific works in prose. Who was it and
what was the subject?
Q 2. In the early decades of this century (to be precise in late 20s, early
30s) two scholars wrote separately Theory of evolution (_pariNaama vaadamu_)
and both received the Madras university prize. Who were they ?
(Clue: We, the SCITizens, are fortunate to have the grandson of one of the
authors here among us, who has been enlightning us with highly informative/
educative articles on many (a.o evolution/nature related) subjects.)
Q 3. Lexicons in Telugu as in Sanskrit, were in verse until around 1818,
when the idea of arranging words in the alphabetical order dawned on the
Telugu lexicographers. However it were Caldwell and Brown who did the
pioneering work in this field in early stages. But, what is the earliest
known Lexicon in Telugu at all?
(Clue: The author is well known for his (in)famous colourful language.)
Q 4. Encyclopaedia Britanica and other similar works in English were
certainly the inspiration to produce similar works in Telugu. Who was
the first to undertake such project?
(Clue: Author's last name (inTi pEru) and that of an illustrious
person, who was 'controversially' :-) discussed here a while ago,
are the same.)
Q 5. The afore mentioned author worked alone for almost four decades and
could finish topics with "a" and "aa" only. The 2nd effort was by
Komarraju Venkata Lakshmana Rao, with the help of mallampalli and
raayaprOlu. He recognized the importance of an encyclopaedia in Telugu.
His two ideals were: history research and scientific encyclopaedia
creation. This work also had to be aborted due to his death. The first
detailed work, however limited to Andhra/Telugu and dealt ONLY with socio,
religious, economic and cultural activities of Telugu-s. Contarry to
standard encyclo-s the alphabetical order was not followed, but subject
wise. Can you name the series and list all the Volumes?
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