Bhargavi Prabhanjan Rao (14 August 1944 – 23 May 2008), a

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

awardee, was an eminent translator in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

Literature. She was actively involved in translating various works of author and playwright

Girish Karnad Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian actor, film director, Kannada writer, playwright and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in South Indian cinema and Bollywood. His rise as a playwright in the 1960s marked the ...

. Her most famous works include ''Noorella Panta'', a compilation of one hundred short stories by women writers of the twentieth century. She died due to a heart attack on 23 May 2008 in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

Early life

Bhargavi Rao was born to Santhy and Narahari Rao Tagat in

Bellary Bellary, officially Ballari, in the eponymous Bellary district, is a city in the state of Karnataka, India. History Bellary was a part of Rayalaseema (Ceded Districts) which was part of Madras Presidency till 1 November 1956. The Ballari ...

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 ...

into a

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family. She was the eldest of 5 siblings, two brothers and two sisters - Venkatesh and Prasad, Gayathri and Padmaja. She also appeared as a child actress in two regional films, and lent her voice to radio as well. She then married Prabhanjan Rao, and continued with her studies in the field of English Literature, before achieving a master's degree from

Osmania University Osmania University is a collegiate university, collegiate Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad in 1918 , He released a farma ...

. She went on to do her PhD in

, thus earning the title of Dr. Bhargavi P. Rao. She then taught English at

(first at Women's College, Koti and then at Nizam College), till her retirement in 2004. After retiring, she was appointed Honorary Professor in the Potti Sriramulu Telugu University in Hyderabad.

Personal life

She married Prabhanjan Rao in June, 1960 at

Tirupati Tirupati () is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirupati district. The city is home to the important Hindu shrine of Tirumala Venkateswara Temple and other historic temples and is re ...

. She has 3 daughters: Mithravinda, Sharvani, and Sushmitha. She has 6 grandchildren: Vaishnavi, Pradyumna, Maya, Mukund, Vaikunt and Saaketh. She has been living at Santoshnagar,

since 1977.

Literary works

Her publications in Telugu include Album and Needala Godalu (Poems), Gundelo thadi, Chukka Navvindi and NaaPeru (short stories), Abhisarika, Thoorpu Gaali (novels), Pranava Ganga (dance ballet), and Saugandhika (monologue);she also co-authored Urvasi, a Kuchipudi dance ballet, with Varanasi Nagalakshmi. Her translations of Girish Karnad's

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 ...

plays are: Naagamandala, Hayavadana, Taladandam, Tughluq and Agni Varsham. Her other translations are Siri Sampenga and Kathaga Maarina Ammayi. Among her anthologies, other than Noorella Panta, are Mudra (women poets), Nooru Varahalu (short stories), Inkaanaa! Ikapai Saagadu (Dalit stories), Aaha!Oho! (humorous stories). Various of her translated plays, have gone on to become famous within the State of Andhra Pradesh. Collaborating with Dr. Bhargavi Rao was P Jayalakshmi, they translated and published Seela Subhadra Devi's full-length poem Yudham Oka Gunde Kotha into English as War a Heart's Ravage in March 2003 Her publications in English include Pebbles on the Sea Shore (short stories), Hiccups (poems), and Meru Kanchana (novel), Colours and Cadences: Poems from the Romantic Age (co-edited with T. Vijay Kumar). She has translated several works into English and also has academic works to her credit. She was also actively involved in contributing to a Literary e-journal, Muse India. Her last piece of work was "Putra Kameshti" which won the runner-up prize in a contest conducted by Swathi Magazine.

Awards and recognition

Her translation of Girish Karnad's play, Taledanda, won her the

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

in 1995. She is also recipient of PS Telugu University Award (1999), Sakhya Sahiti Award (2000) and Grihalakshmi Award (2001). Bhargavi Rao was a member of the

Telugu Association of North America Telugu Association of North America (also referred to as TANA) is a non-profit organization and is one of oldest Indo-American national level organisation primarily for networking of Telugu people Telugu people ( te, తెలుగువా ...

(

TANA Tana may refer to: Places Africa * Lake Tana, a lake in Ethiopia (and a source of the Nile River) * Tana Qirqos, an island in the eastern part of Lake Tana in Ethiopia, near the mouth of the Gumara River * Tana River County, a county of Coast P ...

) and

Telugu Literary and Cultural Association Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

Footnotes

External links