Gurajada Apparao

Gurajada Venkata Apparao, was an Indian playwright, dramatist, poet and, the founder of colloquial Telugu literature. He was born on the 21st of September, 1862 in the Rayavaram village of Andhra Pradesh, India. After attending school in Cheepurupalli and later in Vizianagaram, he completed his matriculation from Maharaja’s College. After getting married to Appala Narasamma in 1885, he joined M.R. College as a lecturer where he wrote some of the most remarkable plays in Telugu history. Apart from being an eminent writer, he was a social reformer and was involved in social work and constantly spoke up against the evils of the then-Telugu society. His most notable work, the play Kanyasulkam, highlights the evil traditions that existed in child marriages during his time.

He even scripted the Telugu patriotic song Desamunu Preminchumanna. In 1911, he, along with his friends established the Andhra Sahitya Parishat to promote local dialects and the very next year, he joined the Bengal Literary Association in Calcutta. Being a gifted poet, he wrote several poems in English. His intellectual creativity is considered to have birthed historical landmarks and has been known to inspire various generations of poets. His epic poem Sarangadhara was published in various magazines.

He wrote a new poetic stanza, Mutyala Saramulu and it was a result of his talent at writing that he was later appointed Epigraphist to the Maharaja of Vizianagaram. On his retirement in 1913, Madras University honored him with the title Emeritus Fellow, adding to his list of titles of Kavisekhara and Abyudaya Kavitha Pithamahudu. He died on November 30, 1915, leaving behind a legacy of the earliest modernistic Telugu literary works. His residence, located adjacent to Vizianagaram Fort hardly 2 km from Vizianagaram Railway Station, is a government-protected tourist place.