"Cultural Tragedy"

That was a brilliant headline by telugu newspaper Eenadu, today. Aptly captured the mindless violence that happened in what was termed as "Million March". After taking an oath that they will resort to only peaceful measures in their quest to achieve a separate state of Telangana, goons present on the Tank Bund road in Hyderabad went berserk and destroyed/damaged 17 statues on that road.

Late Chief Minister N.T.Rama Rao had these statues built. 33 over all. These statues were of various famous personalites who contributed to art, literature, freedom movement, infrastructure, politics etc. In an era where we get to see statues of only the Gandhi family (and of late, YSR), these statues really offer a glimpse of our history.

17 of them destroyed/damaged yesterday. How exactly this serves the Telangana movement? How exactly are these great people responsible for "injustice" to Telangana? Pasted below are pictures taken by Eenadu of the statues that were damaged. Before and After. (Special thanks to Indumouly for the pictures).

1. Sir. C.R.Reddy. "Sir C.R. Reddy was an educationist and political thinker, essayist and economist, and poet and literary critic. He wrote his works in Telugu and English, which reveal his deep love and learning of classics as well as modernity of his outlook.

Reddy was the foremost educationalist who played a major role in shaping the educational policy in India. He was also the recipient of Knighthood by the British crown in honour of his service to the country." From - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattamanchi_Ramalinga_Reddy

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2. Gurajada Apparao. He wrote the first Telugu play, Kanyasulkam, which is often considered the greatest play in the Telugu language. Gurazada Apparao was an influential social reformer of his age and was lauded as Mahakavi, meaning "the great poet".

He frequently dabbled in poetry, and is credited with creating a new style of poetry in the Telugu Language. He also holds the titles Kavishekara and Abyudaya kavitha pithamahudu.

From - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurajada_Apparao

3. Bellary Ragahava. An accomplished actor of extraordinary calibre he is known for supreme mastery of expression.He was equally at home in plays in English, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi.

From - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellary_Raghava

4. Sir Arthur Cotton. Cotton devoted his life to the construction of irrigation and navigation canals throughout the British Empire in India, however, his dream was only partially realized, but he is still honored in parts of rural Andhra Pradesh for his efforts.

From - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Cotton

5. Tripurareni Ramaswamy Chowdary. a lawyer, playwright and reformer active among the Telugu-speaking people. He was part of a growing movement in India to reassess the culture of India.

From - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripuraneni_Ramaswamy

6. Kandukuri Veeresalingam Panthulu.

He is widely considered as the man who first brought about a renaissance in Telugu people and Telugu literature. e got involved in the cause of social reforms. In 1876 he started a Telugu journal and wrote the first prose for women. He encouraged education for women, and started a school inDowlaiswaram in 1874.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandukuri_Veeresalingam

7. Gurram Joshua. Very popular telugu poet. Reformist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurram_Joshua

8. Mutnuri Krishna Rao. Mutnuri Krishna Rao and Kasinadhuni Nageswararao were the successful pioneers in Telugu journalism, when they founded Krishna patrika (1902) & Andhra Patrika in (1912).

http://www.portal.ap.gov.in/Pages/TeluguLiterature.aspx

9. Sri Sri.

Sri Sri was the first true modern Telugu poet to write about contemporary issues that affected day-to-day life of a common man in a style and metre which were not used in classical Telugu poetry.

From - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srirangam_Srinivasarao

10. Raghupati Venkatratnam Naidu. an Indian social reformer who hailed from aTelaga Naidu family from Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh in India.^[1] He was a disciple of Veeresalingam,^[2] and has been described as "the most powerful orator of his day"

From - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raghupathi_Venkataratnam_Naidu

11. Srikrishna Devarayulu. he famed Emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire who reigned from 1509 - 1529 CE.Krishna Deva Raya was one of the greatest statesmen which medieval South India had produced.

From - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srikrishnadevaraya

12. Kshetrayya. a prolific Telugu poet and composer of Carnatic music.

From - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kshetrayya

13. Brahmanaidu. he tried to usher in a new era in which caste distinctions would be abolished.

From - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palanati_Brahmanaidu

14. Siddhendra Yogi.

Siddhendra Yogi was an exceptional scholar and artist of the 14th century AD. During the Bhakti Movement between 11th and the 13th century, the dance form of Kuchipudi saw a revolution.

From - http://www.mapsofindia.com/who-is-who/art-culture/siddhendra-yogi.html

15. Annamayya. the official songmaster of the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple,^[1] and a Telugu composer who composed thousands of keertana songs,^[2] many of which were in praise of Lord Sri Venkateswara Swami. Themusical form of the keertana songs that he composed have strongly influenced the structure of Carnatic music compositions.

From - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annamacharya

16. Yerrapragada. The Sanskrit Mahabharatamu was translated into Telugu over a period of several centuries (11th to 14th centuries AD). Errana was one of the kavitrayam (the trinity of poets) who translated Mahabharatamu .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerrapragada

17. Nanaayya. Nannaya Bhattaraka (Telugu: నన్నయ, sometimes spelled Nannayya) (ca. 11th century AD) is the earliest known Telugu author, and the author of the first third of theAndhra Mahabharatamu, a Telugu retelling of the Mahabharata. Nannaya is held in high regard as the person who revived the Telugu language.

From - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nannayya

The history 17 icons was vandalised yesterday. And we were all just mute spectators.