Aluru Venkata Rao (also sometimes referred as Aluru Venkata Raya) (12 July 1880 – 25 February 1964) was an Indian historian, writer and journalist. He is revered as Karnataka Kulapurohita (''High priest of the Kannada family'') in the

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

region for his contribution towards the cause of a separate Karnataka state. He became famous for undertaking a Karnataka Ekikarana movement in support of the formation of a state for the

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

-speaking population of

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

, Bombay Presidency and the Nizam's Hyderabad. Rao started a newspaper, ''Jaya Karnataka'', and stated that the sole aim of the newspaper was to strive for Karnataka’s statehood.

Early life

Venkata Rao was born on 12 July 1880 to Bhima Rao, a

sheristadar A ''sheristadar'' was once the chief administrative officer in Indian courts entrusted with the tasking of receiving and checking court pleas. The word is derived from the Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historicall ...

in revenue department. They were of orthodox

Deshastha Madhva Brahmin Deshastha Brahmin is a Hindu Brahmin subcaste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra and northern area of the state of Karnataka. Other than these states, according to authors K. S. Singh, Gregory Naik and Pran Nath Chopra, Deshastha B ...

family in Bijapur,

. He studied for a B.A and L.L.B at

Fergusson College Fergusson College is an autonomous public-private college offering various courses in the streams of arts and science in the city of Pune, India. It was founded in 1885 by the Deccan Education Society. Professor Vaman Shivram Apte was its fir ...

, where he came in contact with

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (), Marathi pronunciation: �inaːjək saːʋəɾkəɾ also commonly known as Veer Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966), was an Indian politician, activist, and writer. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationali ...

Senapati Bapat Pandurang Mahadev Bapat (12 November 1880 – 28 November 1967), popularly known as Senapati Bapat, was a figure in the Indian independence movement. He acquired the title of ''Senapati'', meaning ''commander'', as a consequence of his lea ...

and Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Rao was a close friend of Tilak and translated his ''

Gita Rahasya ''Shrimad Bhagvad Gita Rahasya'', popularly also known as ''Gita Rahasya'' or ''Karmayog Shastra'', is a 1915 Marathi language book authored by Indian social reformer and independence activist Bal Gangadhar Tilak while he was in prison at Manda ...

'' into Kannada.

Works

Rao began by contributing articles to newspapers such as ''Chandrodhaya'', ''Karnataka Patra'', and ''Rajahamsa, Karnataka Vritta'' In 1906 he began to work as an editor for a monthly magazine, ''Vagbhushana''. In November 1922, he started ''Jaya Karnataka'', a monthly magazine that published articles on a variety of topics. About 27 books written by Rao have been published, the first of which was ''Vidyaranya Charitre'' in 1907. His other works include ''Karnataka Gatha Vaibhava'', ''Karnataka Veeraratnagalu'', ''Karnatakathva Sutragalu'' and ''Karnatakathva Vikasa''. In 1907 he organised a conference of Kannada writers and the next year started the Karnataka Grantha Prasarada Mandali. In 1930 he presided over the Kannada Sahitya Sammelana held at

. In accordance with the wishes of Tilak, he translated the former's work ''Gita Rahasya'' from

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

. He independently interpreted Bhagavad Gita and authored the books ''Gita Prakasha'', ''Gita Parimala'', ''Gita Sandesha'', ''Gita Kusuma Manjari'' in

Karnatakada Kulapurohita

Rao was overjoyed when Karnataka was unified on 1 November 1956. He went to

Hampi Hampi or Hampe, also referred to as the Group of Monuments at Hampi, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Hampi town, Vijayanagara district, east-central Karnataka, India. Hampi was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th&n ...

and performed pooja to the goddess

Bhuvaneshwari Bhuvaneshvari (Sanskrit: भुवनेश्वरी, IAST: ''Bhuvaneśvarī'') is a Hindu goddess. She is the fourth amongst the ten Mahavidya goddesses in Shaktism, and one of the highest aspects of '' Mahadevi''. She is identified as Adi ...

in the Virupaksha temple and gained the name Karnatakada Kulapurohita. He was sad that the name of Karnataka did not find a place in the list of states mentioned in the national anthem and wrote about its inclusion to the Prime Minister and

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

. He was honoured in the capital of

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

on the eighth anniversary of the state's formation in 1963. Rao died on 25 February 1964 at his residence in Dharwad, and was survived by four sons and a daughter.

Bibliography

Rao wrote books many books, including: * ''Vidyaranya Charitre'' (1907) * ''Kannadigara Bhramanirasana'' (1915) * ''Karnataka Gatha Vaibhava'' (1917) * ''Karnatakatwada Sutragulu'' (''Aphorisms of Karnatakawada'' )(1950) * ''Karnatakatwada Vikasa'' (''Evolution of Karnatakatwa'') (1957) * ''Gita Rahasya'', a translation of Tilak's Marathi work into Kannada (1918) * ''Nanna Jeevana Smritigalu'', his autobiography (1941) * He wrote six books on Madhwa philosophy

Death

Aluru Venkata Rao died on 25 February 1964 at the age of 83 at his residence in

Dharwad Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the north western part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merge ...

Legacy

* As a tribute to Rao, the

Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as, GoK, or simply Karnataka Government, is a democratically-elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. The governor who is appointed ...

changed the name of Albert Victor Road to Alur Venkata Rao Road (A V Road) in Bangalore. * A CD on his life and works, produced in Kannada and English, was released on his 49th death anniversary by

Central Institute of Indian Languages The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) is an Indian research and teaching institute based in Mysuru, part of the Language Bureau of the Ministry of Education. It was founded on 17 July 1969. Centres The Central Institute of Indian Lan ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Aluru Venkata History of Karnataka Kannada-language writers 1880 births 1964 deaths People from Bijapur, Karnataka Madhva Brahmins