Veturi Prabhakara Sastri (7 February 1888 – 29 August 1950) was a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

and

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 ...

scholar, editor, translator and historian. He was born in the town of

Pedakallepalli Pedakallēpalli is a village in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in Mopidevi mandal of Machilipatnam revenue division. It is one of the villages in the mandal to be a part of Andhra Pradesh Capital Region. Su ...

in the

Krishna District Krishna district is district in the coastal Andhra Region in Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, with Machilipatnam as its administrative headquarters. It is the coastal district of Andhra Pradesh. Machilipatnam is the most populated city in the di ...

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 ...

. He was known for deciphering a few thousand of Annamayya's composition during his tenure at the Devasthanam Oriental Institute. He is also recognized for his scholarship on Telugu poet Srinatha's work. Veturi was involved in researching lost texts and forgotten literature, and he is regarded for his enlightened and liberal scholarship that was free of literary or religious prejudices.

Work

As a publisher and writer, he introduced to the

people several antiquated texts, in association with Manavalli Ramakrishna Kavi from prachya likhita pustaka bhandagaram (library of ancient scripts). He discovered the copper scripts of

Annamayya Tallapaka Annamacharya (Telugu : తాళ్ళపాక అన్నమాచార్య) (IAST: taḷḷapāka annamācārya; 22 May 1408 – 4 April 1503), also popularly known as Annamayya, was a 15th-century Hindu saint and the ear ...

's poetry and introduced them to Telugu people. Similarly, he unearthed palm scripts of Ranganatha's Ragadalu. He published Tanjavuri Andhra Rajula Charitra, Srinatha Vaibhavamu, Sringara Srinatham, Manu Charitra, Basava Puranam etc. with elaborate introductions. He translated Bhasa's Pratima Natakam, Karnaabharam and Madhyama Vyayogam. Veturi Prabhakara Sastry was also an editor of Ayurvedic texts. He edited and wrote an introduction for an Ayurvedic text called the Carucarya for a patron, the then-

Raja of Muktyala Raja Vasireddy Ramagopala Krishna Maheswara Prasad, popularly known as Muktyala Raja (4 October 1917 – 28 August 1972) was the King of Muktyala samasthanam, politician, and patron of Ayurveda. He was instrumental in the construction of the Na ...

. He also edited the 'Ballad of the Battle of Yerragaddapadu' written by Gangula Pinayellaya. Veturi also edited many

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

religious

satakam Sathakam is a Telugu literary piece of art. The name derives from ''Sata'', which means a ''hundred'' in Sanskrit. Sathakam usually comprises a hundred poems (give or take). Hence, a Sathakam is a volume (book) of hundred poems.It is one of the mo ...

s and stavams in praise of

Venkateshwara Venkateswara, also known by various other names, is a form of the Hindu god Vishnu. Venkateswara is the presiding deity of the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, located in Tirupati, Sri Balaji District, Andhra Pradesh, India. Etymology Venkatesw ...

, such as Venkatachala Vihara Satakam. Veturi Prabhakara Sastry was also a translator. He rendered the classical Sanskrit farcical play 'Bhagavadajjukam' of Bodhyanakavi into Telugu, and he translated a Sanskrit farcical play 'Mattavilasaprahasanam' into a Telugu work entitled 'Mattavilasamu.'

Vangmaya Peetham

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is an independent trust which manages the temples including the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple in Andhra Pradesh. The trust oversees the operations and finances of the richest and the most visited religious cent ...

(TTD) established "Sriman Veturi Prabhakara Sastri Vangmaya Peetham" in 2007 to publish his books and research works. A life-size bronze statue of Sri Veturi was installed before the SVETA Complex in

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 refe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sastri, Veturi Prabhakara Writers from Andhra Pradesh Telugu writers Indian Sanskrit scholars 1888 births 1950 deaths People from Krishna district 20th-century Indian translators 20th-century Indian historians