A tribute to  Praja Kavi  Addepalli Ramamohana Rao 

Dr Addepalli Ramamohana Rao is a force to reckon with in the history of modern Telugu literature. A Marxist in perception and practice, he called for a redefinition of the role of literature in the making of a just society and appealed to the poets of his day to produce such literature as should help evolve a new philosophy of social justice and economic order .

He always held the view ‘’When the common man is nefariously deprived of his due rights and the poor man, be it a farmer or a laborer, is pulverized under the wheels of exploitation, It is sheer unjust of the poets of the day to lull themselves in the ivory towers of romanticism.

The dire need of the day is the poets should rise equal to the occasion and speak for the voiceless millions who are deprived of their legitimate growth and dignity. A modern poet should don the robes of a revolutionary heralding the advent of a new future for ‘’Man rising like a red sun on the ruins of a past befouled with ‘’ exploitation and tyranny of all hues.’ ’He deprecated the romanticists for relegating the theme of a suffering humanity to the backyard of literature and treating the common man who is caught up in the coils of exploitation as an outcast from society. He always opined that the common man who is a victim of neo-feudalism, political fascism ,economic exploitation and social injustice should be made the protagonist in today’s literature and at the same cautioned the budding poets to guard themselves against slogan-ridden doctrine-drugged compositions.

Addepalli was a poet of profound scholarship in the classics of yore and assimilated their stylistic grandeur and splendor of expression. In the early stages of his career ,he showed a penchant for romantic poetry and translated FitzGerald’s version of Rubaiyt of Omarkhayyam. He titled it ‘Madhu Jwala.’ The underlying philosophical concern of the classic such as the fragile existence of fugitive mortals in quest of fleeting joys and pleasures was admiringly brought out by Addepalli. But destiny willed him otherwise. His fascination for romanticism was only short-lived. The predicament of the toiling masses in an unjust society of sheer betrayal and exploitation and their unending misery haunted him and he decided to commit himself to echo the agony and angst of a bleeding humanity in poem after poem. Despite his profound respect for the vast scholarship of Kavi Saamrat Viswanatha Satyanarayana,he considered him’’ as one belonging to the isolationist school ,praised Maha Kavi SRI Sri more for his trailblazing technique in writing modern poems and called Tilak a poet purely experiential with a striking touch of progressive ideology.’’ He hailed Kundurti as the prophet of a new social philosophy deeply committed to the cause of suffering masses.

Effecting a marvelous blend of speech-rhythm and poetic language,he blazed a trail for the budding poets of the day .He portrayed in his memorably appealing poems the emergence of a new brave world out of the anguish of a struggling humanity. The fiendish forces of exploitation are always bent on destroying revolutionary leaders. But history is a witness to the fact that man may be destroyed but his cause cannot be defeated. In his Raktasandhya, he proclaims
‘’ When they moved back
The flower they burnt to ashes
Bloomed into blood-red flowers
By leaps and bounds
Burst into bristling laugh………..
Since
‘’ No change
However great
Is wrought without suffering
Betwixt the turns of
Night into day
And of day into night
Behold! How the sky
Sheds its tears of blood.’’
An ardent admirer of mini poems and haiku, Addepalli opined ‘’ Literature is never static. In its onward flow, it asserts and assumes its youthful resurgence in myriads of forms and techniques .The breath of a min poem is its brevity of expression while its soul is suggestivity.’’

Dr Addepalli’s poem ‘’ The Voice out of the Tomb’’ is a testament to his indefatigable convictions as a poet. The theme of the poem centre on a poet’s search for his missing pen . After a futile enquiry with all the elements of nature, he hears a voice out of a tomb which says
Oh,Poet!
Here am I SOAKED IN FULL
In your sea of tears
Stirred up every inch
In your dark sighs
And feeling all along your body
The agony of your mute blood
‘’ I shall be born
In a form fresh and new
In your hands.’’

To Addepalli , commitment is not just a literary shibboleth or an academic exercise in armchair philosophy but a dedication heart and soul to the cause of an exploited humanity and an unwavering involvement in their life and struggle.

An engaging speaker, erudite reviewer, recipient of umpteen awards ,renowned critic with such critical treatises as Sri Sri Kavithaprastanam (1968),MiniKavitha(1980) Kundurti Vachana kavitha Vaibhavam(1980) Sree vada kavitvam –oka Pariseelana (1992) Godavari Naa Pratibimbam (1992) etc to his credit,Dr Addepalli has carved out a niche for himself in the temple of Telugu literature. His sudden death on 13,January leaves behind a huge void in the literary circles here and elsewhere.

By:SM Kompella