K. RAMAKOTISWARA RAU (1894–1970)

(an Idealist and his Brain-child)

 

Dr. D. ANJANEYULU

(Associate Editor, TRIVENI Quarterly)

 

            Among many of us lurks the sentimen­tal fear that those whom the Gods love die young. This is found to be more true of the world of periodicals. ‘Little Reviews’ and literary periodicals the world over are prone to infantile mortality. The Pall Mall Gazette and the Review of Reviews, Nation, Hori­zon, Adelphi and Athenaewn, Scrutiny and The Criterion, and more recently, The En­counter, which were once the pride of the English intelligentsia are now but a few of the names in the memory of students of lit­erary journalism. If journals like TLS and New Statesman, the London Magazine and a few such others in England and the New Yorker, the Partisan Review have survived, I ascribe it to their own good luck. One is not sure if the Saturday Review (of Norman Cousins) is still in existence. The game of survival may often be for the fittest and the luckiest, but necessarily for the best.

 

            As for the plight of the little review, in whatever language nearer home, the less said about it the better. If it is published in En­glish, a language under constant attack from various quarters, the position could be even worse. The Modem Review, Indian Re­view and The Hindustan Review have long been defunct. Against this background, it is a pleasant surprise that the Triveni Quarterly, now published from Hyderabad should be going strong, after completing its half-century and more. Many of its sis­ter journals had fallen on the wayside. Readers of the older generation need hardly be reminded that it was born in Madras and had been shuffling between Madras and Bangalore, before shifting to Machilipatnam and now Hyderabad and settling down there for good.

 

            ‘Triveni’ literally means the triple stream, referring to the cultural context and covering art, literature and history. In ge­ography it refers to the triple streams of Ganga, Yamun and Saraswati at Prayag. On the spiritual plane, it could signify the con­vergence of the spiritual energies running through the Ida, Pingala and Sushumna Nadis of the human system. The periodical has, all these years, been conducted in the spirit of a “votive offering to Hiin, who is the source of the Triple Stream of Love, Wis­dom and Power, towards whom converge the self-same streams of Bhakti, Jnana and Karma”. At the mundane level, it may be well-remembered that the journal has long had the triple home of Madras, Bangalore and Machilipatnam; and now Hyderabad, for the last few years.

 

            The first issue of Triveni came out from “Malabari House” in Vepery, Madras in January 1928, while its office was formally opened in December 1927. It is a sumptu­ous, well-got-up volume of 144 pages, printed on fine feather-weight paper, with a number of rare plates for reproduction of sculptures and paintings; Appropriately enough for a cultural periodical of this kind, the leading article was on “New Beginnings in Indian Culture” by C. Jinarajadasa, later to become president of the Theosophical Society. The poetry section comprised two renderings from Viswanatha Satyanarayana and Devulapalli Krishna Sastri, leading Telugu poets, and one from Tamil.

 

            The “Declaration of Rights” for incor­poration in the Swaraj Constitution is ably outlined by S. Srinivasa Iyengar, former Congress President, and one of the truly original minds that Madras could be proud of. The problem of Indian States in relation to Swaraj is discussed at length by Dewan Bahadur (late Sir) Mocherla Ramachandra Rao, one of the great liberals of the South. Discussion of painting and sculpture is ably represented by Dr. James H. Cousins and T. G. Aravamuthan. Homage to the Youth­ful patriot, Shrimati M. Annpuma Devi, con­taining the facsimile of a letter from Mahatma Gandhi, marks the highlight of this number. All this in a volume that is as solid and sub­stantial as a book, for a single rupee!

 

            The Journal was the brain-child of K. Ramakotiswara rao, (born on 22nd Oc­tober 1894) a lawyer of Narasaraopet (in Guntur District) who gave up his Profession in the Twenties, in response to the call of Gandhi and plunged himself in the freedom struggle, which he continued through national education and journalism. After a spell of subbing in Prakasam’s Swarajya and teach­ing at the National College (Andhra Jateeya Kalasala) at Machilipatnam, he decided in 1927 to launch a cultural periodical, on his own. He wrote in September 1928, a few months after the inauguration:

 

            “Triveni seeks to interpret the Re­naissance movement as reflected in the various linguistic units of India. The Edi­tor is an Andhra, and in close touch with the literary and art movements in Andhra Desa. But he is anxious to publish detailed accounts of similar movements in other parts of India. He makes an earnest appeal to scholars in other linguis­tic areas to write about the literary and art movements with which they are fa­miliar. Triveni will thus lay the founda­tions for that inter-provincial harmony and goodwill which is the prelude to a federation of Indian cultures”.

 

            Those ideals of harmony and good­will and the concept of a federation of cul­tures, in a real sense, may still remain part of the poet’s dream and the philosopher’s vi­sion. But without such dreams, life would be hardly worth living, in what is called a civi­lized land. Ramakotiswara Rau was a poet by impulse and a dreamer on the grand scale, without the least touch of grand elo­quence. His was the role of a one-man academy of art and letters. In the event, he anticipated the work of the national Akademis of free India by a full quarter­century or more. He was able to do single­-handed what the Sahitya Akademi seeks to do with infinitely larger resources.

 

            The Editor’s ambition for the Triveni as an instrument for interpreting the Indian Renaissance found an effective endorsement in C. Jinarajadasa’s article on “New Begin­nings in Indian Culture”. In its summing-up, he laid the emphasis on Indian Culture, in the broadest sense of the term, ending on a note of restrained optimism:

 

            “The rebirth of Indian culture is won­derfully assisted by the fact that there is be­hind India a great storehouse of spiritual energy waiting to be released. When, with her patriots and her religious leaders, Indian artists come to do their part in the Great Plan for India, once again there will be such a flowering of Indian ideals and achieve­ments, as have been in the past. Wonder­fully great as Indian achievements have been in the long past, I believe that greater achievements still are in store for her in the future, not only in the domain of religion and international achievement, but also in the domain of art”.

 

            A mofussil lawyer, with considerable private means of his own, could easily have chosen the path of security and comfort. But the urge within to spread the light of culture and achieve harmony would not let Ramakotiswara Rau rest. He was ever in search of the true, the good and the beauti­ful, according to his own lights, and eager to share the thrill of enjoyment with all the others. Oscar Wilde described a cynic as one who knew the price of everything and the value of nothing. Ramakotiswara Rau knew the value of everything and did not count the cost, even when he knew it. He wanted the best for Triveni-good reading matter, good paper, good printing and pro­duction. And the cost was secondary. He was an optimist as well as aesthete. He hoped with confidence:

 

            “In his effort to make Triveni a wor­thy exponent, of the Indian Renaissance, he feels sure that all lovers of culture will ex­tend their co-operation in unstinted measure. It is the Editor’s firm conviction that like all earnest endeavours, Triveni is ultimately the Lord’s work, and he, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, will vouchsafe to the Editor, an humble and frail individual, the requisite strength, physical and moral, to carry on his self-imposed but inexpressibly joyous task.”

 

            Such co-operation as the Editor looked forward to was in fact forth coming in ample measure, in the early stages. Elder statesmen like Sir P .S. Sivaswami Aiyar and Rt. Hon’ble V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, national leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Judges like Sir Vepa Ramesam, P. V. R. Ajamannar and Nittoor Srinivasa Rau, Educationists like Dr. C. R. Reddy, Prof. M. Venkatarangaiya and poets like D. R. Bendre and V. K. Gokak were among its contributors. Its advisory Board included such giants as Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Dr. Pattabhi, Prof. K. T. Shah, C. Jinarajadasa, M. S. Chelapathi and Dr. Prabhakar Machwe Burra, V. Subrahmanyam, K. Sampathgiri Rao and Manjeri S. Isvaran were its associate editors at one time or another. M. Chalapathi Rau, a doyen of Indian editors later, cut his journalistic teeth on Triveni in the early and middle thir­ties. Prof. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar and the late K. S. Venkataramani breathed the old Triveni spirit. As for the late Justice V. Govinda Rajachari, he was active in re­cruiting life - subscribers for Triveni. An old timer, till recently with us was the late K. Chandrasekharan, he shared all the thrills and struggles with the founder-editor. In fact, his whole family, including his elder brother (K. Balasubrahmanya Aiyer) and two sisters (K. Savitri Ammal and Saraswati Ammal) took a lifelong interest in the peri­odical and its fortunes.

 

            Prof N. G. Ranga and Prof. Humayun Kabir, Prof. Hiren Mukerjee, Basudha Chakrabarthy and Dr. V. K. R. V. Rao had al­ways taken a lively interest in the fortunes of Triveni. There is hardly any intellectual or man of letters, now in his sixties and sev­enties who is not proud of having seen him­self in print first in Triveni. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru contributed a short travelogue in it and was happy to do so.

 

            It was in the middle ’Fifties that the present writer came to know Mr. Rama­kotiswara Rau somewhat closely, though he had met him much earlier, when his craze for journalism began to get the better of him. He was glad to publish two of his articles. One on “The Profile Art” and the other, a kind of sequel to Mr. M. Chalapathi Rau’s brilliant piece on “The Songs of Yenki”. He was kind enough to suggest that I translate a short story in Telugu by a well-known woman writer I. Saraswati Devi. Its title was: “Baleeyasee Kevalam Isvaraajna”. The main theme depicted in it was the change of heart in a Zamindarini towards her husband, when he was crippled in an accident. This was effected mainly as a result of her watching a loving couple of basket-makers (husband and wife) in front of her mansion then under construction.

 

            I gave the story, in its English transla­tion, the title “transformation”. Mr Ramakotiswara Rao, who read it through was quite satisfied with the translation of the story, but not with the title. He advised me to change it to “The Basket-Makers”. And for good reason too. He explained to me that my title, which faithfully described the theme, would give the whole point away. The story would then lose all surprise and suspense. I saw his point and followed his advice. This was enough for me to realise the shrewdness and subtlety of his editorial instinct, which were somewhere unex­pected.

 

            Whenever Mr. Raniakotiswara Rau allowed himself to take up a pot-boiling assignment, at the instance of well-meaning friends, to lighten the financial burden of his journal, he lost no time in giving it up. He felt he was doing Triveni a grave injustice. He spent less than a year on one such job in 1957-58 in Madras, where he had some of his best personal mends. But it was always on his conscience, though the job was an innocuous one. And he was a free man again, to devote himself entirely to Triveni before the world outside had time to know that he had ever lost his freedom! (That job was the Editorship in the Southern Languages Book Trust, under the Chairmanship of his one-time colleague, G. V. Krupanidhi).

 

            Like most products of high idealism, Triveni had to see many ups and downs. The editor never compromised with his first prin­ciples, come what may. He mused once:

 

            “If in December 1927, I had foreseen even a fraction of the suffering the Triveni was destined to cause its editor, this frail bark would never have been launched. But hav­ing launched it, I am bound to keep it afloat”

 

            And he did keep it afloat, against all odds, even at the risk of getting himself drowned, in a manner of speaking. No fa­ther of an only daughter could have loved it more. In fact, it is learnt that he had an only daughter, who did not live long enough to make the parents happy.

 

            Oftentimes, the Editor had occasion to feel that the task he had taken upon him­self was too much for him. The spectre of failure might sometimes dog his foot steps and make him nervous. But he never gave up his mission. He was, in his own way, a God intoxicated man, for whom a job well done was its own reward. He had fully im­bibed the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita, as could be seen from the lines he quoted at the mast-head of “The Triple Stream”

 

            “.....he that laboureth right for love of me shall,

            finally attain! But, if in this

            Thy faint heart fails, bring Me thy failure”!

                                                                        The Song Celestial

 

            When Triveni entered on its sixth year (in July-August 1933), the Editor had rea­son to feel encouraged by the growing re­sponse from subscribers, donors and liter­ary contributors. He Wrote: “The thorns in his path have thus been transmuted into roses, fragrant and bright. The period of perpetual struggle to keep the journal alive is definitely over. It is now possible to devote time and attention to the task of making Triveni, in a greater measure than at present a messen­ger of the Indian Resaissance”.

 

            The struggle was really never over for him. Only he learnt to adopt the never-say-­die attitude to it. He was elected to the Madras Assembly in 1937 but the term lasted till 1939-40 only. He was impris­oned in 1942, when friends in Bangalore rook care of the periodical.

 

            Luckily for Ramakotiswara Rau, when he began to get on in years, he re­ceived help from unexpected quarters. When it shifted its home to Machilipatnam in 1950, the main burden of its printing and publishing was taken over by the Late Mr. Bhavaraju Narisimha Rao (of Triveni Pub­lishers) as a labour of love. What is more, he bore it as a sacred trust. If the burden was too heavy, he took care to let no one know about it. He was verily the Bharata, whose Rama would never come back. He was its devoted Editor, and the periodical was printed in Hyderabad since 1992. Men like Him Me the salt of the earth.

 

            The least that could now be done is to preserve the wealth of reading material lying hidden in the yellowing pages of its back numbers in a more permanent form. Selections from it over the last 60 years could be brought out atleast five or six handy volumes. The best of Triveni could be culled out on the lines of the best of Scrutiny and the best of the Criterion. Meanwhile, the whole material could be microfilmed for the benefit of interested readers at home and abroad.

 

            But, the job of keeping the periodical going without a break was hard enough. But, it was done by the late Dr. Narasimha Rao, with the collaboration of Prof. I. V .Chalapati Rao, and now by the latter alone. With the unstinted help of Mr. B. N. Murthy, of course. Nothing less would have gladdened the heart and soothened the soul of Ramakotiswara Rau, who passed away on 19 May 1970, at his residence in his home town, Narasarao pet, in Guntur District in A.P., which incidentally happens to be the native district of the present writer.

 

 

           

            Languages are realous of each other. They cannot be transferred like gold from one bag to another.

 

- OTTO JESPERSON

 

 

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