Korada Family Heritage (original) (raw)

Korada Mahadeva Sastri - The first systematic study on the Development of the Telugu Language

The glory of a language is enhanced by those who strive all through their life for sustaining its greatness through systematic research into its intricate aspects like etymology, sound symbolism, early inscriptions, and every corner of grammar. It is a fact that those who are highly proficient in Sanskrit and their mother tongue produce excellent research work. Dr. Korada Mahadeva Sastri is such an eminent contributor to the glory of Telugu.

Born on 29th December 1921 at Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Sri Mahadeva Sastri chose to follow the footsteps of his illustrious father, Sri Korada Ramakrishnayya who was a Professor of Telugu. A triple Post Graduate, one in Economics and Indian History, the second in Comparative Philology and the third in Telugu, he obtained his D.Litt in 1961 for his thesis on 'Historical Grammar of Telugu' under the guidance of Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, a renowned professor of Linguistics, Calcutta University. The researcher in him came to the fore even during his post-graduation days. He was a research scholar, Department of Indian History, Madras University; a Research Assistant, Labor Investigation Committee, Department of Labor, Govt of India, Simla; a research Economist, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, New Delhi; and a Research Scholar in Primitive Linguistics, Department of Anthropology, Indian Museum, Calcutta.

His vast experience as a teacher earned him enviable respect. Beginning his career as a Lecturer in Linguistics at the Annamalai University, he served the Sri Venkateswara University at Tirupati as Lecturer and Reader in Telugu, and Professor, Special Officer at the S.K.University Post Graduate Center and retired as the Principal, S.K.University College, Anantapur. He was a Visiting Professor of Indology at the University of Cologne, Germany.

During his academic career spanning over 60 years, he wrote several books. The (1) 'Historical Grammar of Telugu,' a treatise on the progress of Telugu as a language over the centuries, (2) 'Descriptive Grammar and Handbook of Modern Telugu' published by Franz Steiner Verlag, Germany, (3) 'Bala Praudha Vyakarana Dipika,' a commentary on the traditional Telugu Grammar with a philological background, (4) 'Telugu Desya Vyutpatti Nighantuvu,' an etymological dictionary of native Telugu, (5) 'Andhra Vangmaya Parichayamu,' an introduction to Telugu Literature with the best specimens of Telugu Poetry, (6) 'Bhasha-Samskruti,' essays on Telugu language and culture are his important works that received wide acclaim in the Telugu literary world.

He edited the books 'Kumara Sambhavamu by Nannichodadeva' which was published by the A.P.Sahitya Academy and 'Korada Ramakrishnayya Centenary Festschrift' published by SITA foundation. His admiration for Gandhi took shape of the book he compiled 'Thus Spake Gandhi.'

His research publications, spanning over four decades, cover a variety of intricate topics such as 'Intensive and Inclusive Compounds in Telugu', 'Language of the Telugu Inscriptions of the 12th and 13th centuries', 'Development of Verbal Forms in Modern Telugu', 'Vedic and Classical Sanskrit', 'Spontaneous Aspirations in Telugu', 'Prakrit Inscriptions in Buddhist Andhra', and 'Sound Symbolism in Telugu'.

Sri Sastri distinguished himself as the Honorary Director, International School of Dravidian Linguistics, Trivandrum; Founder Secretary of the Dravidian Linguistics Association, Trivandrum and the President of the Dravidian Culture Section of the All India Oriental Conference, Santiniketan during the year 1980.

At FICCI, as an Economist, he was privileged to work closely with Singhanias, Tatas, and Birlas among others. M.K. Gandhi, with whom he moved closely at the Charkha camps and the evening prayers at the Birla House in Delhi, was his greatest inspiration in life. Though he adored and spent quite a lot of time with Gandhi, he never mentioned it in public. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was a family friend. Members of the Ramakrishna Matt, Madras were frequent visitors to their house in his younger days. He adored Ramana Maharshi and visited his ashram in Tiruvannamalai. He was secretary of the Anantapur chapter of 'Chinmaya Mission' and organized 'Geeta Gyana Yagnas' by Swami Dayananda Saraswati and others in Anantapur.

He was a fun-loving simple person at the core. He loved Tennis. He valued every minute and spent time reading or writing books. He was a spiritualist who lived a quiet, healthy, peaceful, and fruitful life with his books, students, family, and friends. He passed away in 2016 peacefully at the age of 96 surrounded by his family.

Compiled with excerpts from 'Gangadevi Eminent Citizen Award 2005' citation presented to Dr. Sastri, Newspaper articles, and his books.