MY
HUMBLE TRIBUTE
D. VENKATA RAMASWAMI
Formerly Principal.
Andhra Jateeya Kalasala, Machilipatnam
Among
the most scholarly of young men imbued with patriotic zeal who responded to the
invitation of Dr. Pattabhi, the famous chronicler of the Indian National
Congress, and the live wire of the historic national institution, viz., the
Andhra Jateeya Kalasala, founded by Andhra leaders of immortal fame, in the
wake of the agitation against the partition of Bengal which roused the entire
country to a wonderful consciousness of national unity and integration, the
late Ramakotiswara Rau shines as a luminous star on the Indian sky.
I
first knew him as a brilliant young man even in his twenties as he happened to
marry a cultured young bride from a respectable family of Berhampur, my own
native town. There were several occasions when we used to meet together in the
‘twenties’ and ‘thirties’ of this century. Desodharaka K. Nageswara
Rao’s hospitable mansion “Sri Bagh” or Andhrakesari T. Prakasam’s busy Swaraj
office used to provide our meeting ground. To meet him and to be with him,
even for a brief space, was to love Sri Ramakotiswara n Rau–he possessed the
rare qualities of a candid, open-hearted and cheerful gentleman. Even in the
early years of Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha movement, he made his choice, even
as a beaming journalist, to follow the guide lines of the leading Andhra
patriots. But his natural love being towards journalism, Sri Ramakotiswara Rau
attracted the goodwill and esteem of seniormost leaders and scholars like Desabhakta
Konda Venkatappaiah, Dr. Pattabhi, Dr. Radhakrishnan and Sri Ramananda
Chatterjee. Some of these scholars even showed their appreciation by
contributing their own articles for publication in the Triveni, which
made a great impact on the English educated youth of the country. Unlike a few
other journals, Triveni was remarkable and outstanding as its devoted
Editor saw to it that it was brought in a most artistic and high class fashion,
meant to glorify ancient and modern Indian architecture and other fine arts for
which our country can justly be proud of. Through his beautiful articles Sri
Ramakotiswara Rau used to illumine and encourage Aryan tradition, classical
styles in poetry and drama and the immortal Sanskrit love and trends in Aryan
tradition, customs and literature.
Believing
as he did in the need and superiority of intellectual approach in solving
national problems, he pursued the method of intellectual–and not merely
emotional–approach to all human crises that corrode life in
I humbly pray “May his soul rest in the
ineffable peace that is God!”
K. BALASUBRAHMANIA IYER,
M. L. C.
Triveni
is
really the devout offering of heroic self-sacrifice by Sri Ramakotiswara Rau at
the altar of the Muses...Ramakotiswara Rau is made of the stuff of heroes and
martyrs. With a determined courage and invincible spirit of self-sacrifice, he
tried to overcome all obstacles, and financial crises. With a single-minded
devotion to the ideal, he has managed to maintain the journal all these years.
In spite of the fact that it has had a chequered career, it has done splendid
service to the cause of Indian Culture.
–From his Presidential
Address at
the Silver Jubilee
Celebrations of Triveni in 1954