The Andhra Mahasabha was created in 1930, the Nizam Rashtra Andhra Saraswath Parishath was born in 1943, but before these grand institutions came up, there was the Sri Krishna Devaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam. Ironically, it was the British civil servant Robert Sewell who lit the spark that led to the creation of Sri Krishna Devaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam (SDABN).
The name is innocuous enough, but has subversion written all over it. “Four friends Ravichettu Ranga Rao, Venkata Ranga Rao, Venkata Laxmana Rao, A. Somnatha Rao had read Robert Sewell’s A Forgotten Empire. They were electrified by the reading and wanted to do something about it and propagate the glory of Telugu language,” says T. Udaywarlu, secretary of the Sri Krishna Devaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam. But they could do nothing about the glory of the language or the reign of Sri Krishnadevaraya as Urdu held primacy in the Nizam’s province and Telugu was seen as a threat.
Defiant friends
The four friends could not set up a school for teaching Telugu, they could not set up a library as it would be seen as a source of enlightenment, they could not have regular gatherings. “The friends defied the Nizam’s regime and gathered at the residence of Ravichettu Ranga Rao on September 1, 1901. They called the institution to be set up as Sri Krishna Devaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam. It was shifted to a rented premises in the Residency Bazar area as the Nizam’s writ didn’t run there,” informs Mr. Udaywarlu.
Though it was named as an institution to commemorate the memory of the great ruler of Vijayanagara Empire, Ranga Rao began publishing small Telugu booklets under Vignana Chandrika Grandham. These cheap books revolutionised the Telugu speakers in the region. Gasti Nishan Tirpan (Act 53), an Act the prohibited meetings or gathering without permission, was brought into effect during Nizam Osman Ali Khan’s time but even during Mir Mahabub Ali’s time meetings and gatherings were prohibited. But inside the SDABN, literary gatherings went on and the richness and versatility of the language as well as the cultural history was shared.
Own premises
From a hired premises where the rent was ₹ 4.50, to an institution with its own building became reality when Lakshmi Narsamma, wife of Ravichettu Ranga Rao, donated the princely sum of ₹ 3000 in 1906 and the SDABN was set on the path of glory.
At the height of unrest in Nizam’s province during India’s Freedom Struggle, the SDABN had Kotwal Venkata Rama Reddy as the president of the association between 1940 and 1950. This saved the institution from brush with the law. After Independence, the SDABN became a cultural magnet becoming venue for music concerts, exhibitions, seminars, Burra Kathas and Hari Kathas and countless literary events.
Today, the building has made way for a new one built at a cost of ₹ 1 crore and has 50,000 books. “We have set in motion the digitisation process. Currently, research scholars and literary persons use our library,” says Mr. Udaywarlu.