Pingali Lakshmikantam (10 January 1894 in

Arthamuru Arthamuru is a village in Mandapeta mandal, located in East Godavari district of the Indian 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 ...

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...

district,

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 ...

– 1972) was an Indian poet and writer.

Early life

Lakshmikantam was born in

district,

. His father was Venkataratnamu, his mother was Kutumbamma. Ancestors of Pingali family were

Tikkana Tikkana (or Tikkana Somayaji) (1205–1288) was a 13th century Telugu poet. Born into a Telugu-speaking Niyogi Brahmin family during the golden age of the Kakatiya dynasty, he was the second poet of the "Trinity of Poets ( Kavi Trayam)" that t ...

and

Pingali Suranna Pingali Suranna (16th century CE) was a Telugu poet and was one of the ''Astadiggajas''. Early life Suranna's exact birthplace is uncertain. He lived in Kanala village near Nandyala. Suranna's parents were Abbamamba (mother) and Amarana (fathe ...

. He studied up to fifth grade in Guduru, 6th and 7th grades in

Repalle Repalle is a town in Bapatla district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The town is one of the 12 municipalities in Bapatla district and the headquarters of Repalle mandal under the administration of Bapatla revenue division. It is sit ...

, and from 8th grade through his BA in Bandar. After finishing the

Secondary School Leaving Certificate The Secondary School Leaving Certificate (commonly referred to as SSLC) is a certification obtained by a student on successful completion of an examination at the end of study at the secondary schooling level in India. The SSLC is obtained o ...

Career

Lakshmikantam worked as a copyist for 2.5 years in the sub-court of

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises N ...

. After finishing his BA, he taught at Bandaru Noble School and later at Bandaru Noble College until 1926. After a brief stint at

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...

Oriental Manuscript Library as a researcher in 1927. Laksmikantam served as the Head of Telugu department, a division of Andhra University College of Arts and Commerce from 1931 through 1949. He began this new career by preparing syllabus for Telugu and Sanskrit literature courses. He taught history and criticism of Telugu literature to BA (honors) and MA students. Later, he served as a Literary Adviser to

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

and directed several

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

rupakas (dramas). He was appointed in 1954 as a member of working committee of Central Academy of Literature. In 1961, he was appointed as a professor at

Sri Venkateswara University Sri Venkateswara University (commonly referred as S. V. University or SVU) is a public state university located in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. The university is named after Lord Venkateswara, whose shrine is located in the city. The ...

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. From 1968 till his death, he served as a member of Board of Governors of

Telugu Academy Telugu Academy, known as Telugu Akademi in official materials and some sources (from te, script=latn, Telugu Akāḍemī), can refer to two institutes set up to promote the use of Telugu and develop, preserve and modernize the language. The origi ...

and Chairman of Academic Council. He was the Head of the Department of Telugu at Madras Christian College. In the beginning of the 20th century, drama was very popular in Andhra. Lakshmikantam proficiently played several roles with his brother Narsayya. His roles included

Arjuna Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Pand ...

in "Gayopakhayanam,"

in "Narakasuravadha," Rakshasa in "Mudrarakshasam", and Dharmaraju in "Pandavodyogavijayalu." He also participated in another popular literary tradition called

Avadhanam Avadhānaṃ is a literary performance popular from the very ancient days in India. Avadhānaṃ originated as a Sanskrit literary process and is revived in modern times by poets in Telugu primarily. It involves the partial improvisation of poems us ...

. It was a fashion to write poetry as a pair. Pingali Lakshmikantam paired up with Katuri Venkateswarrao and became known as Pingali- Katuri Poets. Their joint ventures were tolakari and soundaranandnam.

Bibliography

#''Andhra Sahitya Charitra''Online copy of ''Andhra Sahitya Charitra'', The Internet Archive
/ref> #''Saahitya Silpa Sameeksha'' #''Madhurapanditarajamu'' #''Gangalahari'' #''Tejolahari'' #''Atmalahari'' #''Andhravajnmaya charitra'' #''Goutama Vyasalu'' #''Na Radio Prasangalu'' (compilation of his

speeches) #''All Men are Brothers'' #''Tolakari'' #''Soundaranandam''

References

External links

Biography of Lakshmikantamu Pingali (1894-1972), Vepachedu Educational Foundation

Record of ''Andhra Sahitya Charitra'', Digital Library of India

Online copy of ''Andhra Sahitya Charitra'', The Internet Archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lakshmikantam, Pingali 1894 births 1972 deaths Telugu poets People from West Godavari district Poets from Andhra Pradesh Academic staff of Andhra University 20th-century Indian poets Indian male poets 20th-century Indian male writers