Devarakonda Balagangadhara Tilak (1 August 1921 – 1 July 1966) was an Indian poet, novelist and short story writer.
Early life
Tilak was born on 1 August 1921 in the village of
Mandapaka in the
Tanuku Taluk district.
He completed his Intermediate at AVN College
Visakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...
and joined
Loyola College, Chennai
Loyola College is a government aided private Catholic higher education institution run by the Society of Jesus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1925 by the France, French Jesuits, Jesuit priest, Francis Bertram, along with other ...
(then Madras), but had to cease his studies due to health issues. He established the Vigjnana Parishad in Tanuku (later renamed Sahiti Sarovaram) and pursued literary activities.
Tilak wrote his first story at the age of 11, which is said to have been published in the Madhuri Magazine. At the age of 16, he started writing poetry and developed his unique writing style.
His most famous work, ''Amrutham Kurisina Ratri'', was translated into English as ''The Night the Nectar Rained'' by Velchala Kondal Rao. ''The Night of Nectar'' was translated by B Indira.
He died on 1 July 1966 at the age of 44 years.
Career
His first anthology, ''Prabhatamu-Sandhya'' (1945), was written in the romantic style popular in
Indian poetry
Indian poetry and Indian literature in general, has a long history dating back to Vedic times. They were written in various Indian languages such as Vedic Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit, Ancient Meitei, Modern Meitei, Telugu, Tamil, Odia ...
of the early and mid-20th century. He changed his style after attending the 'All India Progressive Writers' Conference in Bombay.
His anthology of Poems ( Padya kavitalu) "Goruvankalu" was published by Visalandhra Publishing house.
Literary contributions and recognition
He was awarded the "Sahitya Academy award" in 1970
for his posthumously published collection of poems ''Amrutham Kurisina Ratri''.
[ published in 1969Microsoft Word - feb_2008_anaganagaOmanchikatha.doc]
/ref> The volume was called a "milestone in modern Telugu" by Sisir Kumar Das, who added, "But for him, 'verse libre' or 'prose poetry' could not have gained so much of popularity."[
His short stories include "Sundari-SubbaRavu", "Vuri Chivara Illu" and "Tilak Kadhalu". His stories were influenced by ]Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...
and Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...
.[
]
References
Sources
*
External links
Tilak books on Kinige
Wahed
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilak, Devarakonda Balagangadhara
Indian male poets
Indian lyricists
Telugu poets
Telugu-language lyricists
1966 deaths
1921 births
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Telugu
20th-century Indian poets
People from Visakhapatnam district
Poets from Andhra Pradesh
20th-century Indian male writers