Mahadeva Sastri
Korada Mahadeva Sastri, M.A., D.Litt. (1921-2016) was a scholar of Dravidian linguistics and Indo-Aryan. The first systematic study on the development of Telugu Language is recorded in his 'Historical Grammar of Telugu'. His work helped decipher the ‘Arrow’ sign, a frequently occurring sign in Indus Valley seals.
Books
Historical Grammar of Telugu
Historical Grammar of Telugu: Dr. Korada Mahadeva Sastri (1969)
The literary history of the Telugu Language begins in the eleventh century A.D. with the work of Nannaya. It cannot be known for certain whether before this period Telugu was used for literary purposes, but if it was, all trace of such productions has disappeared. On the other hand, written Telugu had been used for some four centuries before Nannaya for engraving inscriptions and during the course of the present century, an increasing number of these have come to be known, as a result of which a new chapter in the history of Telugu language has come to be written. This forms the main theme of Dr. Mahadeva Sastri’s work.
About one hundred inscriptions, from as early as the 6th century A.D. are presented in this work. Inscriptions are valuable as they give a better picture of linguistic development than literary texts which follow a strict norm. As a result of this, the main lines of development of the Telugu language between 600 and 1000 A.D. has been adequately followed despite the paucity of the material.
All this material is examined, evaluated, and well-documented by the author, and he has shown how an essentially modern form of Telugu had evolved as the spoken language by the beginning of the 7th century, even though it had to wait till modern times before being gradually adopted for literary purposes.
The author, who was equally at home in the two main branches of linguistic study in India - Dravidian and the Indo-Aryan, carried out this research work as part of his D.Litt. degree thesis (1961) under the guidance of Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji at Calcutta University.
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Andhra Vangmaya Parichayamu
Andhra Vangmaya Parichayamu: Dr. Korada Mahadeva Sastri (1985)
Andhra Vangmaya Parichayamu provides an introduction to Telugu literature, aimed at beginners, students, and others interested to acquaint themselves with the vast Telugu literature. The book provides a bird’s eye view of the entire literature, starting with Nannaya (11th century A.D.), up to the period of Sri Sri in the 20th century.
The work is divided into three parts: The first, ‘Yuga Lakshanamulu’ deals with the different phases of the development of Telugu literature. The second, ‘Prasiddha Padyalu’ is a collection of some of the famous Telugu verses collected from various Telugu kavyas and other texts. The third, ‘Charitraka Samanvayamu’ deals with the ruling dynasties and their patronage to literature. In all, the book provides in a simple language an introduction to Telugu literary field.
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Vyakarana Dipika
Vyakarana Deepika: Dr. Korada Mahadeva Sastri (1985)
(Bala Prauda Vyakarana Deepika)
This work is a commentary on the famous and popular Telugu Grammatical treatises 'Bala Vyakaranamu' and 'Prauda Vyakaranamu'. These books describe the literary language. 'Vyakarana Deepika' is an analytical study with a philological background giving a summary of the parichheda (chapter) at the end of each one - a new approach in commentarial works.
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Telugu Desya Vyutpatti Nighantuvu
Telugu Desya Vyutpatti Nighantuvu: Dr. Korada Mahadeva Sastri (2003)
(An Etymological Dictionary of Native Telugu)
Etymology, dealing with the way words are formed from basic stems and suffixes, forms an important aspect of language study. The present work, inspired by the ‘Dravidian Etymological Dictionary of Burrow and Emeneau, discusses the words that are formed from a single verbal root, as one unit. It provides cognate forms from other Dravidian languages and gives the reconstructed forms of these words where possible. The specialty of this work lies in giving many other words connected with the root with usages in classical as well as modern works., an aspect not covered in other etymological dictionaries of Telugu.
