Suravaram Pratap Reddy A Genius And A Cultural Crusader. — Dr. Raj Bahadur Gour
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Suravaram Pratap Reddy, a great writer and cultural crusader of Telangana, was born on May 28, 1896 and he breathed his last on August 25, 1953. His birth centenary year is being observed from May 28, 1995 to May 28, 1996. A celebration committee has been constituted headed by Justice (Retd.) Madhava Reddy and Sri C. Narayana Reddy.
A legendary figure in the socio-cultural awakening movement in Telangana, Suravaram Pratap Reddy saw that his brethren in Telangana were denied all the three “Primacies” — Primary Education in mother tongue, Primary needs as well as Primary rights.
The end of nineteenth century saw a consolidation of feudal system of Jagirdars, the Deshmukhs and the Samsthas. In 1898 these were 2 arts colleges, 15 High schools, 47 middle schools, 682 Primary schools, and 6 Urdu schools all over the Hyderabad State. Literacy was only 2%.
Suravaram Pratap Reddy suffered great agony at the way his sweet mother tongue Telugu languished. It was not the medium of education even at the primary stage. And Primary education itself was deteriorating, with the setting up of Osmania University. Funds earmarked for education were largely diverted to university and High school education and the condition of Primary education further deteriorated.
This, superimposed by an autocratic rule denying Primary rights to the people, created a situation when Suravaram Pratap Reddy and his ilk had only three aims — Preservation and promotion of mother tongue, securing democratic rights and liberties for the people and social reforms to rid the society of caste inequalities.
Suravaram Pratap Reddy belonged to Alampur in Mahaboob Nagar District and Alampur “Malgoba” Mango was famous for its sweetness. He said that Telugu language was as sweet as his favourite “Malgoba”. (This has a reference to the sweetness of Telugu emanating from every word of it ending in a vowel).
Suravaram was born in his mother’s village Boravelli in Gadwal Samsthan, Mahaboobnagar district, and his own village Itikalapadu, itself teetotal lack of drinking water district “Neelluleni lond”, near Alampur taluq of Mahaboobnagar district.
Suravaram did his Matric from Nizam’s college and his B.A., B.L. from Madras. After finishing his college and these courses because of his urge to take to cultivation on his lands, he refused to take up Government service with the help of Raja Bahadur Venkata Rama Reddy — the commissioner of police and a great man in the Nizam and service to the people by way of expanding education.
Suravaram refused to adopt any one of the above paths for earning his livelihood because he chose the path of fighting for Primary education in the mother tongue and for Primary rights for his people and social reforms.
He had the support of Raja Bahadur Venkata Rama Reddy in his socio-cultural activities and also that of Madapati Hanumantha Rao.
Suravaram Pratap Reddy drew inspiration from the work of Komarraju Lakshmana Rao in socio-cultural awakening of Krishna. He was a great friend of Gadicherla Harisarvothama Rao. Together they founded the “Vignana Chandrika” and tolerated no boundaries. Cultural field the Telugu territory.
Suravaram Pratap Reddy started his main weapon in the struggle — the Golconda Patrika, a weekly to begin with, on May 10, 1926. The inspiration for him to start this during war of Independence came from the Meerut uprising. Through his newspaper, he would be service of the Andhra Bhasha and all sided development of Andhra people and it is adherence to this twin objective that him enough difficulties that he valiantly faced.
Journalist and freedom fighter Janagama Pratap Reddy, one of the founders of Andhra Sabha that sealed the very fate of Nizam’s autocracy and saw it reduced to dust, said that “Suravaram is an institution by himself and the outburst”.
Suravaram Pratap Reddy is credited with the authorship of atleast 40 books, of which a couple of them remain unpublished and another two books are in complete. He has written valuable books, short stories, humour as well as poetry. He was fully abreast of literary trends of his days. He began with writing in “Grandhika Basha” an established trend of his times — a high flown and ornate style. But he knew of the Vyavaharika Bhasha trend of his days, prompted by Gidugu Rama Murthy Panthulu. And later he too adopted it in his writings. He also wrote short stories under the title “Pratapa Reddy Kathalu” depicting the rural scene and employing the language style of the country side.
He has written socially useful humour also. His articles “Is freedom necessary for women” “Are Hindus Vegetarian” and “Did Krishna have Mushtaches” belong to this category.
He has written Drama also. His drama “Bhakta Tukaram” was played in Madras, Vijayawada, Guntur and in Secunderabad (then British administered area). Another drama of his is “Ucchala Vishedham” that extols patriotism.
His book “Andhrula Sanghika Charitra” will remain his classic contribution to Telugu literature. Here he deals with 900 years of history of the way of life of Telugu people with their language, their dress, their food habits and all. His another book is “Hinduvula Pandugalu”, which deals about Hindu festivals.
Such was the versatile genius — Suravaram Pratap Reddy, a merited social reformer, a lover and promotor of Telugu language and a patriot.
In this birth centenary we would be reminding our selves of this rich and fighting heritage.
— Raj Bahadur Gour
Hyderabad,16.5.1995
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