Cherabanda Raju (1944 - 2 July 1982) was a revolutionary poet, novelist, and songwriter, who wrote in the

Telugu language Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken by Telugu people predominantly living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. It is the most widely spoken member of the Dravidian language fami ...

. He was one of the six poets who were known for their Digambara (naked) Poetry that flourished during the mid-1960s in

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 ...

Early life

Raju, whose real name was Baddham Bhaskara Reddy, was born into a farming family in Ankusapuram village of

Nalgonda district Nalgonda district is a district in the Telangana state of India. Nalgonda district has the highest number of mandals in the state with 31 mandals. The district shares boundaries with Suryapet, Rangareddy, Yadadri and Nagarkurnool districts ...

in 1944. Chera, as he was endearingly called by his friends, was influenced by the literary works of

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, alternatively spelt as Sarat Chandra Chatterjee ( bn, শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়; 15 September 1876 or ৩১ শে ভাদ্র ১২৮৩ বঙ্গাব্দ � ...

and

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

during his formative years. Even the legendary poet Sri Sri derived a lot of inspiration from him and dedicated his most popular anthology of poems '' Maha Prasthanam'' to Chera.

Political life

Cherabanda Raju was a teacher by profession and held a degree in Oriental Literature. His literary works include Ganjineellu, Nippurallu, Gamyam, Kattipaata, Diksoochi, Muttadi and Kaanti Yuddham. He, through his poetry, advocated the betterment of the oppressed classes such as

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

s and peasants and fought for their rights. After the Digambara School of poetry had lost steam and became a spent force, he cofounded Virasam (Viplava Rachayitala Sangham) along with other revolutionary poets such as

Varavara Rao Pendyala Varavara Rao (born 3 November 1940) is an Indian activist, poet, teacher, and writer from Telangana, India. He is an accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence and has been arrested under the non-bailable Unlawful Activities (Prevent ...

, Sri Sri, Kutumba Rao and Ramana Reddy, and continued his poetic journey. During his lifetime he was harassed by law enforcement agencies, implicated in many cases and jailed. While serving prison sentence his health deteriorated and he died of

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

at the age of 38.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raju, Cherabanda Indian male poets 1944 births 1982 deaths Indian male novelists Indian male songwriters Indian songwriters 20th-century Indian male writers 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian novelists Telugu-language writers People from Nalgonda district 20th-century Indian educators Deaths from brain tumor 20th-century male musicians