Ramachandra Sastri

Korada Ramachandra Sastri    -  First Original Telugu Playwright     

Korada Ramachandra Sastri, a Sanskrit and Telugu poet, was born on 12th October 1815 to the illustrious Korada family. He had a natural inclination toward scriptural study and literature. He worked as a pundit in the Nobel College in Machilipatnam for over forty years, devoting his time to teaching, writing books, and doing penance.

He was born to Lakshmana Sastri and Subbamba in Kesanakurru village in East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. His family was well-known over the generations for its saints and scholars. Ramachandra Sastri was initiated early in life and studied under the guidance of his father and maternal grandfather. He later went on to study with Sistu Krishna Murty and Hingu Ramaswami. Observing his exceptional poetic skills in both Sanskrit and Telugu, his friends encouraged him to go to Madras where he would have the opportunity to shine as a writer while also being able to earn a living. On his way to the city, he made a stop in Machilipatnam. During his stay there he was requested to serve as pundit in Noble College. And thus, in journeying toward Madras, Ramachandra Sastri decided instead to settle in Machilipatnam.

From childhood Ramachandra Sastri exhibited a unique and exceptional intellectual ability and flair for poetry. The fluidity and beauty of his language were unmatched in his time. He excelled with both metaphor and meter. Viewed today, his works bear testimony to a tremendous depth of scholarship and knowledge. His writing encompassed an array of genres: Padya kavyas, Gadya kavyas, Campu, Bhana, Nataka, Vyakhya, including Sviyacarita (auto-biography) and Anuvada (translation). The breadth of his work was such that it ranged from the highly complex and subtle to the ordinary and everyday – appealing to the sensibilities of both scholar and layman.

Ramachandra Sastri authored numerous books in Sanskrit and was a pioneer of Telugu prose. His most famous works are: ‘Manjarimadhukariyam,’ written around the year1860 is the first original drama in Telugu, and ‘Ghanavrttam,’ a sequel to Kalidasa’s Meghadutam in Sanskrit. Among his works, only a few were published, and even those in Telugu script. Most of the writings remained in manuscript form, unpublished, and have been lost over the course of time. As none of the works were printed in Devnagari script, there was limited scope for the poet to be known outside the Telugu-speaking region.

Ramachandra Sastri had three sons and two daughters. Following a path similar to his own, the poet’s youngest son Durga Nageswara Sastri, well known for his extraordinary abilities in yoga sastra, also became a pundit in Nobel College. Father and son taught there together for seventy-five years. Ramachandra Sastri passed away on 11 August 1900 at his home in Machilipatnam. Notable among his descendants are his grandson Korada Ramakrishnaiya (1891-1962) and his great grandson Korada Mahadeva Sastri (1921-2016) who continued the family tradition of scholarly contribution to language and literature.

Manjarimadhukariamu

Manjarimadhukariamu is the first Telugu drama with an original concept. The plot is romantic; the characters are unique and extraordinary. It tells the story of King Madhukara’s marriage to the princess Manjari. Madhukara encounters the princess in a dream and resolves to find and marry her. He becomes forlorn and despondent after a futile search, and his queen does not know why. Manjari suffers Chandayogini’s witchcraft and lands in the queen’s palace. Queen hides away the beautiful princess Manjari from the king. She soon realizes the reason for the King’s despondency and comes to know that Manjari is her own cousin. The queen arranges for the marriage uniting Manjari and Madhukara.

Ghanavrttam

Ghanavrttam is a sequel to Kalidasa’s Meghadutam - a poem of longing and separation enriched through a glowing description of nature. Meghadutam stops with Yaksha’s message to the cloud. Ghanavrttam completes the story – the cloud messenger goes to Alaka where he delivers the message and returns back to Yaksha with the beloved’s message. The story ends with the reunion of the couple after the completion of one year. This kavya consists of 175 verses in two sargas. While Kalidasa’s Meghaduta artfully sketches the scenery of mountains, rivers and forests into the lover’s message to his beloved, the lyric poem Ghanavrttam carries the undertones of a message for personal evolution through ever-deepening self-knowledge.

Upamavali
Upamavali was written around 1850. It is a kavya on alankara-sastra, the science of aesthetics, embellishments, and beauty. In two chapters, it has 358 slokas.

Kumarodaya Champu
Kumarodayah is a maha kavya, resembling Kalidasa's Kumarasambhavam but in Champu style. The work is divided into 27 ullasas with terse verses interspersed among prose sections.

Devivijaya Champu
Devivijayah is a Champu kavya describing different exploits of Adisakti. In the introduction, the author offers homage to his teachers and expresses his obedience in taking up such a lofty subject as Devi Vijayam for his work.

Srungarasudharnava Bhana
Srungarasudharnavam is written in Bhana style, a one-act Sanskrit play, created to be enacted during the festival season. It describes the love story of Bhujangasekhara and Kadambamanjari.

Balachandrodayah
Balachandrodayah is a prose work of the author, written for beginners of the Sanskrit language, employing a simple conversational style with ordinary words taken from common parlance.

Parasurama Vijayamu
It is an original prose work of the author describing the victory of Parasurama.

Nayapradipamu
It is a Telugu translation to Vishnu Sharma's 'Vigrahamu' book in 'Panchatrantra' in Sanskrit.

Rathangadutamu
It is a Sanskrit to Telugu translation of the sandesa kavya of the same name.

Unmattaraghavamu
Unmattaraghavamu is Ramachandra Sastri's Telugu translation to Bhaskara Kavi Samkruta moolam.

Satika Andhra Samasa Nalacharitramu
Telugu translation of the Sanskrit work Nalacharitramu with word to word meaning and translation.

We thank Ameya Krishnan for her assistance with this document.