Puttaparthi Narayanacharyulu


Puttaparthi Narayanacharyulu was a classical poet, literary critic, composer, musicologist, translator and polyglot.

Life sketch

Puttaparthi's father Sriman Puttaparthi Thirumala Sreenivasacharya was a Pandit and commentator of his times and the child Puttaparthi used to accompany him during his Purana Pravachanams. Puttaparthi's mother Kondamma also was a poet and scholar in music and both the parents influenced Puttaparthi in his childhood.
He studied Sanskrit literature up to Siromani at Tirupati Sanskrit College. He learned grammar, meter, figures of speech from the likes of Kapilasthalam Krishnamacharyulu and D.T. Tatacharyulu. He learned Bharatanatyam under the guidance of dancer Ranjakam Mahalakshmamma. He learned classical carnatic music from Pakka Hanumanthacharyulu. He learned English literature from Mrs. Pitt, wife of a deceased Sub collector of Penugonda at the age of 14. He practised Prakrutha languages from his paternal uncle Sriman Rallapalli Anantha krishna Sarma. After that Puttaparthi studied many more languages like Braj, Avadhi,Malayalam,Kannada,Tamil,French,Latin Persian and prakrith variations like Ardha magadhi, Magadhi,Souraseni, Paisachi and Pali too.
His wife Smt Kanakamma was also a poet of her own calibre who penned "Gandhiji Mahaprasthanam' 'Agniveena' and many more devotional lyrics.She also was honoured as a 'Best woman writer' in 1975 by A.P.Sahitya academy.
Puttaparthi has about 50 works of poetry and about 7,000 musical compositions to his credit. His Janapriya Ramayanam won Central sahitya Akademi literary award in the year 1979. He got the award of Bharateeya Bhasha Parshath, Kolkatta for his epic 'Sreenivasa Prabandham'in 1988. His English work "Leaves in the Wind" written at the age of 20 was appreciated by well-known Indo-Anglican poet Sri Harindranath Chattopadyaya. Further, he wrote a playlet named 'The Hero', Duryodhana as the hero and this work was also critically acclaimed.
He was a polyglot and pundit in many languages. He was fluent in 14 languages, including French language|French and Persian language|Persian. His life size bronze statue was installed in Proddatur town by Puttaparthi Narayanacharyulu Sahithi Peetham in 2007.

Literary works

;Posthumous publications