Mahidhara Rammohana Rao was an Indian writer from Andhra Pradesh. His Telugu book ''Kollayi Gattitenemi?''(What if he wears loin cloth only?) written in early 1960s won Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy award in 1969. The story of the book revolves around Congress lead Indian Independence movement. This book is translated into English with the title ''Swarajyam'' by Vegunta Mohan Prasad. He worked as a Sub-editor for the Andhra Communist Party mouthpiece Visalandhra in 1960s. His son Mahidhara Nalini Mohan is also a writer.

Personal life

Rammohan Rao was born on 1 November 1909 in

Munganda Munganda is a village in East Godavari district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in the P.Gannavaram mandal of Amalapuram revenue division and is part of Konaseema district, Konaseema. History The village dates back to ...

East Godavari district East Godavari is a district in the Coastal Andhra region of Andhra Pradesh, India. Its district headquarters is at Rajamahendravaram. Geography This district is surrounded by: * North East: Alluri Sitharama Raju district * North West: Eluru ...

of Madra Presidency. He was born in a highly orthodox brahmin family though this father Mahidhara Surya Narayana was a follower of

Brahmo Samaj Brahmo Samaj ( ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement during the Bengal Renaissance. It was one of the most influential religious movements in India and made a significant contribution to ...

. Surya Narayana named his eldest son after a famous social reformer Raja

Ram Mohan Roy Raja Ram Mohan Roy (22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833) was an Indian reformer and writer who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a socio-religious reform movement in the Indian subcontinen ...

. He started going to school from the age of 5 years. Inspired by revolutionary spirit of his family, at the age of 10 Mahidhara abandoned his studies in 1919 and joined

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

. Though he quit his formal education, he acquired scholarship of multiple languages including Telugu, Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, English, Russian mostly through self study using dictionaries.

Career

In 1925 he joined Congress party. In 1932 he joined Congress Social Party established by Jayaprakash Narayan. After two years, he became a strong advocate of communism. He teamed up with his brothers and started a publishing house called ''Viswa Sahitya Mala'' (Garland of world literature). From 1936 to 1984, this house published a series of books to educate people in the philosophy of communism and socialism. These works include 50 translations from English to Telugu in addition to some original works. Between 1940 and 1944 he was jailed for participating in independence struggle along with leaders like Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy and Alluri Sathyam. Jail life provided more time for him to read. In 1946, he started working as a sub-editor of Prajasakti daily. Later he joined Vishalandhra, where he worked till 1967.

Novels

* Agnigundam * Kollayi Gattitenemi? (What if he wears loin cloth?) * Kattula Vantena (The bridge of knives) * Evari Kosam (For whom?) * Eedari Ekkadiki? * Onamalu * Subhalekha

References

External links

Rammohana Rao books on Project Gutenberg
{{Authority control Novelists from Andhra Pradesh Telugu-language writers 1909 births Year of death missing Writers from East Godavari district 20th-century Indian novelists