Ayyadevara Kaleswara Rao (22 January 1882 - 23 February 1962) was an Indian freedom fighter and the first Speaker of the

Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly or Andhra Pradesh Śāsana Sabha is the lower house of the Andhra Pradesh Legislature. The Legislative Assembly consists of 175 members which are elected by adult universal suffrage under the first-pa ...

. He was born in

Nandigama Nandigama is a town in NTR district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a Municipality and also the headquarters of Nandigama mandal in Nandigama revenue division. Geography Nandigama is located 50 km West of Vijayawada and 46&nb ...

village,

Krishna district Krishna district is district in the coastal Andhra Region in Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, with Machilipatnam as its administrative headquarters. It is the coastal district of Andhra Pradesh. Machilipatnam is the most populated city in the ...

, then in

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and now a part of the state of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. The Kaleswara Rao market in Vijayawada was named in his honour.

Early life

Rao was born into a family of revenue collectors. He moved with his mother and wife to

Machilipatnam Machilipatnam (), also known as Masulipatnam and Bandar, is a city in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipal corporation and the administrative headquarters of Krishna district. It is also the mandal headquarte ...

where he studied F.A. at Noble College, Machilipatnam. He was taught there by

Raghupathi Venkataratnam Naidu Dewan Bahadur Sir Raghupathi Venkataratnam Naidu (1 October 1862 – 26 May 1939) was an Indian social reformer who hailed from Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh in India. His father Appayya Nayadu worked as a subedar in Madras Army. Their forefathe ...

. Rao and his friends laid the foundation for Andhra Granthalayodyamam (Library movement) by starting Ram Mohana Granthalayam at

Mahatma Gandhi Road, Vijayawada Mahatma Gandhi Road (MG Road), popularly known as Bandar Road, ( te, బందర్ రోడ్) is a boulevard and major road in the Indian city of Vijayawada.The road starts at Benz Circle, busiest traffic circle in the city and continues to ...

in 1911. He was also the founding member of Vignyana Chandrika, a literary society to fund and encourage original literary works in Telugu and also translations from European and other Indian languages in to Telugu.

Career as a lawyer

Kaleswara Rao moved to

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

along with his mother and wife to join the

Law College Legal education is the education of individuals in the principles, practices, and theory of law. It may be undertaken for several reasons, including to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for admission to legal practice in a particular ...

in early 1904 and studied B.L. until the following year. Thereafter, he rejected opportunities to become Revenue Inspector and District Munsif because he did not want to work for the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

. In June 1906, he started his career as a lawyer in Vijayawada. On 21 March 1921, on the instructions on

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

, he left the legal profession in order to take part in the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal ...

and never took it up again.

Political career

Rao was the speaker of

Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly or Andhra Pradesh Śāsana Sabha is the lower house of the Andhra Pradesh Legislature. The Legislative Assembly consists of 175 members which are elected by adult universal suffrage under the first-p ...

from 1956 to 1962.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Ayyadevara Kaleswara Indian National Congress politicians from Andhra Pradesh People from Krishna district Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in public affairs 1882 births 1962 deaths People from Machilipatnam