Kaloji Narayana Rao (9 September 1914 – 13 November 2002) was an Indian poet, freedom fighter, anti-fascist and political activist of
Telangana
Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...
. He was awarded the
Padma Vibhushan
The Padma Vibhushan ("Lotus Decoration") is the second-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service" ...
in 1992. The
Telangana
Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...
government honored Kaloji's birthday as
Telangana Language Day
Telangana Language Day is celebrated on 9 September every year in Telangana, India. This date was chosen on the occasion of renowned writer, poet of the Telangana Kaloji Narayana Rao's 100th birth anniversary. The Government of Telangana prov ...
.
Education and activism
Kaloji was born on 9 September 1914 in Rattihalli village in Bijapur district, Karnataka. His mother Ramabayamma hailing from Karnataka. Father Kaloji Rangarao is from Maharashtra, his elder brother, Kaloji Rameshwar Rao, an Urdu poet, played a vital role in shaping his personality. Kaloji completed his primary education from
Madikonda
Madikonda is a neighbourhood of Warangal in Telangana, India. It is on the way from Hyderabad to Warangal on National Highway 163 (India). During 2011 Census, Madikonda which was earlier a partly rural village have been classified as fully outgr ...
and higher education in
Warangal
Warangal () is a city in the Indian state of Telangana and the district headquarters of Warangal district. It is the second largest city in Telangana with a population of 704,570 per 2011 Census of India, and spreading over an .
Warangal ser ...
and
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 (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
.Kaloji is a polyglot. Although he studied Telugu from an early age, he also wrote poetry in Marathi, Kannada, Hindi and Urdu.Kaloji married Rukmini Bai in 1940.
During his student days, he was deeply influenced by and participated in popular movements of the time. like the
Arya Samaj
Arya Samaj ( hi, आर्य समाज, lit=Noble Society, ) is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. The samaj was founded by the sanny ...
Movement, especially in the domain of civil rights. He has also involved in
Andhra Maha Sabha
Andhra Mahasabha (Telugu: ఆంధ్ర మహాసభ, IAST: ''Āndhra mahāsabha'') was a people's organisation in the erstwhile Hyderabad state of India. The organization spearheaded people's awareness and people's movements among the Telu ...
activities since its formation in 1934, and part of the
Satyagraha
Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...
,
Osmania University
Osmania University is a collegiate public state university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad in 1918 , He released a farman to establish OSMANIA UNIVERSITY on the day of 28 August 1918. It ...
Vandemataram, State Congress,
Andhra Mahasabha
Andhra Mahasabha (Telugu language, Telugu: ఆంధ్ర మహాసభ, IAST: ''Āndhra mahāsabha'') was a people's organisation in the erstwhile Hyderabad state of India. The organization spearheaded people's awareness and people's movemen ...
(Telangana) and Library movements. Considered by many to be a
freedom fighter
A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objectives ...
, he was part of the freedom movement of
Hyderabad State
Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and t ...
and underwent imprisonment under the
Nizam
The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...
.
His commitment to
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
made him an active member of the Tarkunde Committee. Although opposed to power and the trapping of office Kaloji looked upon elections as a democratic exercise. He contested thrice and got elected once as a member of the
Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council
The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council or Andhra Pradesh Śāsana Manḍali is the upper house of the legislature of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and the lower house being the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly It is situated in the st ...
. His most significant dispute was against
Jalagam Vengal Rao
Jalagam Vengal Rao or Jalagam Vengala Rao (May 1921 – 12 June 1999) was for much of his life a member of the Indian National Congress and was the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh which is now divided into two states, Telanga ...
, then
Chief Minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...
of
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
, in 1977.
Honour
In September 2014, the
Government of Telangana
The Government of Telangana also known as Telangana Government, is the governing authority of the state of Telangana in India. It consists of an executive, a judiciary and a legislative.
The state government is headed by the Governor of Telan ...
in his honour, named the Medical University,
Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences
Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) is a public university in the city of Warangal, Telangana, India. University is named after its poet, and political activist of Telangana – Kaloji Narayana Rao.
History
Before the sta ...
after him.
Literary works
Kaloji wrote poetry 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 ...
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
and
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
*
* ...
languages. In 1992, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by
Kakatiya University
Kakatiya University is a public university located in Hanmakonda, Warangal in the Indian state of Telangana. It was most recently accredited with an "A" Grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council of India on 12 September 2017. ...
.
Published writings
Death
Kaloji died on 13 November 2002. He donated his body for research to
Kakatiya Medical College
The Kakatiya Medical College (KMC) is one of the premier medical schools of Telangana, located in Warangal district under the gamut of Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences and the National Medical Commission (NMC).
History
Kak ...