Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu

Born: 16 April 1848

Died: 27 May 1919

• He was a social reformer and writer of Andhra Pradesh, India.
• He is considered as the Father of renaissance movement in Telugu.
• He was one of the early social reformers who encouraged women education, remarriage of widows which was not supported by the society during his time and fought against dowry system.
• He also started a school in Dowlaiswaram in 1874.
• He constructed a temple as ‘Brahmo Mandir’ in 1887 and the ‘Hithakarini School’ in 1908 in Andhra Pradesh. His novel Rajasekhara Charitramu is considered to be the first novel in Telugu literature.
• He often considered as Raja Rammohan Roy of Andhra.
• He was also known by the title Gadya Tikkana, meaning ‘Tikkana of Prose.
• He was a scholar in Sanskrit, Hindi & Telugu. Considering literature as a weapon to fight against social evils, his writings also reflected the same.
• He wrote plays criticizing the attitude of Brahmin priests such as Prahlada (1885), Satya Harischandra (1886).

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