A MARTYR

DR. B. GOPALA REDDI

Governor, Uttar Pradesh

Sri Kolavennu Ramakotiswara Rau is no more. After being confined to bed for long months, he passed away. In his death, a great journalist, an eminent lover of art, a kind-hearted and a pure soul is removed from our midst. He was a great gentleman and he became a martyr in the cause of his own Triveni, of which he was the founder, editor-in-chief all these years, since its inception in 1927. He became known to many lovers of literature in all parts of India by his editorship of Triveni and he staked his all–his property, his health, his time–to keep Triveni running. Therefore, I called him a martyr.

I was privileged to be his student in the Andhra Jateeya Kalasala, Machilipatnam, in 1923-24. He was teaching Indian History. He was a very good teacher of History and made the classes very interesting. Since then I had been devoted to him through all his trials and triumphs. He was fond of me right through and he paid me high compliments in the columns of Triveni when I became a Minister in Madras in July, 1937.

Right from the beginning of Non-Cooperation, he became a member of the Congress and till he died, he remained so. He used to put on very fine Khadi in those days and being of an artistic temperament, he always used to don the Chicacole Khadi. I felt it my duty to tour in his constituency when he was fighting a bye-election in 1939 to the Madras Legislative Assembly. I took the permission of the Chief Minister, Sri Rajagopalachari, and went into his Narasaraopet constituency. I addressed quite a large number of meetings and he won the election by a comfortable majority. He suffered imprisonment too in the cause of independence of the country.

In recognition of his services to literature and journalism, the Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy honoured him by making him a fellow of the Academy. Due to his illness, he could not be present at the function and all the citations, the Shawl and the Souvenir were duly sent to him. He continued as a Fellow of the Academy till last December.

He gave up his legal practice in response to Gandhiji’s call and joined Sri Prakasam’s Swarajya under the leadership of Sardar K. M. Panikkar. He joined the Andhra Jateeya Kalasala in 1923 and, later, became its Principal, but his magnum opus was his Triveni. He lived for it and I can say, he died for it. I was present at the inaugural function during the Congress Session at Madras in December 1927. He came in contact with a large number of writers and invited them to write for the Triveni or to translate some poems or short stories from various Indian languages.

Nowadays we are talking very much about emotional integration. I can safely say that Sri Ramakotiswara Rau was a pioneer in this movement and great many pages of Triveni were devoted for articles on Indian languages and translations from them.

It was because of Triveni that many literary people came to know more about Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, etc. Translations and articles on other Indian languages became a special feature of Triveni. It created a better understanding among the writers and formed a fraternity of Indian writers. He fully represented in his outlook and in his temperament the entire renaissance movement in Indian languages. He came in personal contact with all the writers in Telugu country, Tamilnadu, Mysore and had regular correspondence with writers from other Indian languages.

He did not suffer from any of the linguistic complexes. He was in very good company amidst Tamil and Kannada writers as well as with Telugu writers.

Though he wanted Andhra State, he could never have said or done anything to spoil the good relations between the Telugus and the Tamilians. In those days we did not know our linguistic neighbours, their background, their folklore, their poetry, their literary trends, fiction, etc. All these were unknown to the average student of literature and he broke through these narrow barriers and opened up windows where free exchange of thought could take place. He gave encouragement to young writers and I never heard him saying anything bad about any other person, even if he entertained a poor opinion about him. He showered real affection all around him. He went through great many financial difficulties but with great determination, he faced them and continued his work. He was a devoted soul and dedicated himself to Triveni, the journal of Indian Renaissance. He could not suffer uncouthness or ugliness and he always kept his surroundings in simple but elegant manner. He was endowed with a sense of beauty. I saw him last in his sick bed when I went on an election tour in Sri Brahmananda Reddy’s constituency in Narasaraopet in January, 1967. He was greatly happy to receive me and he was as affectionate as ever. Though I was his student for a year–and then I left for Santiniketan–I always kept up my loyalty to him as a student. Whether as a State Minister, or Chief Minister or a Central Minister, I maintained the same relations with him, for there were some sterling qualities in him to which I was drawn. He had his own principles and convictions, but he never made them a conflict with anybody. He was never dogmatic, nor self-assertive.

Though he was in jail and also in the Assembly for a short while, he could not continue with his active party politics, and he always remained an understanding sympathizer of all the popular movements–whether in the field of literature or in the field of social reforms.

Having enjoyed his love and affection and his esteem for nearly 47 years, it is difficult for me to express my real feelings of regard for him and my gratitude. I pay my humble tribute to his memory through the columns of Triveni which is coming out on the sad occasion with a Special Number. May his services ever inspire us on the path of our duty with humility and rectitude. We lost a great gentleman in his death.

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