Konda Venkatappayya or Konda Venkatappaiah B.L. (1866–1948) was a noted Indian lawyer,

freedom fighter A freedom fighter is a person engaged in a struggle to achieve political freedom, particularly against an established government. The term is typically reserved for those who are actively involved in armed or otherwise violent rebellion. Termi ...

, and politician from what is now

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. He was one of the founders and the first editor of '' Krishna Patrika'', a leading weekly

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

magazine during the early 20th century.

Early life

He was born in a

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

family in old Guntur to Kotayya and Butchamma in 1866. He studied at the Mission high school, Guntur, and

Madras Christian College Madras Christian College (MCC) is a liberal arts and sciences college in Chennai, India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous institut ...

. He graduated B.L.

Career

Venkatappayya started practising law in

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 Tehsil, mandal ...

. After the division of the

Krishna district Krishna district is a district in the Coastal Andhra region in Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, with Machilipatnam as its administrative headquarters. It is surrounded on the East by Bay of Bengal, West by Guntur district, Guntur, Bapatla distric ...

and formation of the

Guntur district Guntur district is one of the twenty six districts in the Coastal Andhra region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The administrative seat of the district is located at Guntur, the List of urban agglom ...

, he moved to Guntur. He was allied with the

Mylapore clique The Mylapore Clique (also termed an oligarchy, faction, group, set, and cabal), was a small group of politically moderate and elite Brahmin, Brahmins (primarily Tamil Brahmins), — many of whom were noted lawyers, administrators, academics or ...

Krisna Patrika

He founded the ''Krishna Patrika'' in 1902 along with Dasu Narayana Rao and edited the weekly magazine till 1905. He had given the editorial responsibilities to Mutnuri Krishna Rao when he moved to Guntur.

Indian Freedom Movement

He left the practice and joined the Congress party. He was secretary of the first

Andhra Mahasabha Andhra Mahasabha ( Telugu: ఆంధ్ర మహాసభ, IAST: ''Āndhra mahāsabha'') was a people's organisation in the erstwhile Hyderabad state of India. It was an association started by Telugu people of Telangana region against Nizam r ...

conference held at Bapatla in 1913 and president of the Nellore conference in 1917. He was president of Guntur district congress committee and rose to the position of secretary of All India Congress Committee in 1923. He was president of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee between 1918 and 1923. He actively participated in various activities of the Indian freedom movement and was jailed in 1930, 1932 and 1942. He translated "The Rise of the Dutch Republic" (1856) by

John Lothrop Motley John Lothrop Motley (April 15, 1814 – May 29, 1877) was an American author and diplomat. As a popular historian, he is best known for his works on the Netherlands, the three volume work ''The Rise of the Dutch Republic'' and four volume ''His ...

, into the Telugu language in 1922, while a prisoner in Cuddalore jail. He was drawn to the heroic saga of the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

led by

William the Silent William the Silent or William the Taciturn (; 24 April 153310 July 1584), more commonly known in the Netherlands as William of Orange (), was the leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburg Netherlands, Habsburgs that set off the ...

in 16th century against the Spanish. He also wrote his autobiography in two volumes. He wrote ''Adhunika Rajyanga Samsthalu'', which was published in 1932. When

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

launched the

Civil disobedience movement Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". ...

in 1930–31, he was president of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee and in charge of the movement in the State. He was elected to the

Madras Legislative Council Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was initia ...

from Guntur-Tenali constituency in 1937 and worked as Secretary of the Congress party.

Family

Venkatappayya married Venkata Subbamma. They had 6 children, four girls and two boys. Two boys and two girls died in their early life. His two daughters are Konda Buchi Laxmamma and Konda Parvathi Devi. His daughter Konda Parvathi Devi has graduated from

Benares Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU), formerly Benares Hindu University, is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and fou ...

. She was elected at Member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council. She has donated the "Desa Bhakta Bhawan" to Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti in the year 1987.Navodaya Leadership Institute, Guntur
/ref> It has a historical monument and leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Annie Besant, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Patel and others stayed in this building during

Indian freedom movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic movement to ...

References

External links

Full Text of Adhunika Rajyanga Samsthalu (1932) in Telugu by Konda Venkatappayya
at

Internet Archives The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Venkatappaiah, Konda Telugu politicians 19th-century Indian lawyers 1866 births 1948 deaths Indian independence activists from Andhra Pradesh Indian National Congress politicians from Andhra Pradesh People from Guntur 20th-century Indian lawyers Andhra movement Lawyers from British India