Friday, March 11, 2011

"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

.

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.

38 comments:

Sangeetha Kodithala said...

I can only shed some tears quietly. No words to express the shock and sadness I felt when I saw this in news yesterday. A part of Hyderabad is lost :-(

Santhosh Rao said...

very sad...

Unknown said...

I always saw these statues at Tankbund Road but never cared to stop and look. Now, I regret :(

jashua said...

Round up the criminals who have no respect for our history, legacy and put a bullet in their head before they become taliban like terrorist pestilence. This is same as destruction of Bamiyan Buddhas

Anonymous said...

మౌనంగా రోదించటం తప్పితే ఏమి చెయ్యలేని దుస్థితి .....
"మనది ఒక బతుకేనా కుక్కలా వలె నక్కల వలె ,
సందులలో పందులు వలె "....
--మహాప్రస్థానం శ్రీశ్రీ

Anonymous said...

this the great deed............. of so called idotic TELUGU People towards their culture and existense of TELUGU. no respect to culture which is a part of their existance.

CodeNameV said...

Daarunam! Ati Darunam! Maatalu levu.

RealityCheck said...

Brilliant work Sudhir, keep it up.

Heart wrenching to see the vandals have had their way with such a rich heritage site. This had to be pre-planned.

A TRS spokesperson was arrogantly justifying this indirectly on Times Now yesterday. He and his leaders must be hauled up and made to pay for re commissioning of all status + fine for causing public menace. No Telengana talks until that happens.

Gowtham said...

is it sad to see idotic TELUGU People statues were spolied.............
nothing to see in Tankbund Road..............

prashhanthkpp said...

If this is the fundamental theme and objective intended to be adopted for a Telangana State, Screw them! Such brutal destruction - ridiculous! They have lost, and don't deserve, whatever sympathy they have garnered till date with this brutal act.

Shamly said...

Awesome work Sudhir!

Anonymous said...

very Pathetic. No words.

Pradyut said...

To be honest, I am not shocked. These hooligans did what was expected of them. What surprises me is, the inaction of the government even now, after what is clearly an assault on our culture.

Anonymous said...

I am shedding tears as i write this, shame on the people who did this

Unknown said...

I just don't have enough words to describe this atrocity. Right questions asked Sudhir. I agree with Jashua...just shoot or throw them into lake as well. What boggles me is that, who in the right mind would justify this stupid act? I believe the "movement" started by politicians for their selfish deeds has created a monster that even they can not handle.

Anonymous said...

Enough of these atrocities. Culture less people can do what ever they want with their state. We need our own Andhra State for worshipping our great Andhra people.

Anonymous said...

Its heartening to see the human beings becoming the wild animals. If Telangana is needed kill the current political leaders and not the culture. Most importantly dont understand why students(the so called future of our generation) becoming part of this. A very sad day in deed. Even the nature could not digest this and Tsunami in Japan.....

Anonymous said...

Very sad on this act of destruction. Shouldn't have shown the anger(due to govt, police) on these statues.
But why didn't these guys have an article when people died in police firing and why didn't anyone (commented above) say a word on that. Does these statues cost more than a life. There is a possibility to rebuilt these any time as they are not antiques, but can anyone get a single life back?????

Anonymous said...

I wish we had similar rule as middle east...chop off their hands

Anonymous said...

55

Aravind said...

I think taking too much of freedom and doing everything as granded. It is a big shame to see the ancient king, poets statues were distroyed.

Preitie said...

The statues be it the history leaders and Telugu Thalli are a representation of the Telugu language and the Telugu people...is Telangana a different language? If not who gives them the authority to vandalize property (private - cars or public - architecture)? It's sad that in the name of humanity the cops are having their hands tied where as in the same frame for the sake of humanity people are not seeing the damage that they are doing!

Anonymous said...

Hi, remember me? This is Kedar from Hyderabad. Or I should say, a Hindu from Telangana.

Such sadness! Such tragedy! Such inhumanity! Irrecoverable loss! One commenter even wants the hands of these people to be chopped off!

But dude, this is open war. In war, you win some battles, you lose some battles. We won this time. Rather spectacularly as well!

But its not like you didnt try to win, and it isnt a complete defeat for you.

1) You used all the resources you had at your hand-- the entire congress leadership in Delhi, the CRPF, the governor, the CM, the DGP, the police commissioner, and finally the kamma media of TV9 and NTV.

2) You arrested more than a lakh supposed T-supporters beforehand, you barricaded the whole city, resorted to lathi charge and you fired teargas shells on marchers.

3) You arrested almost the entire top T-leadership thereby bereaving the march of any sense of control and direction, and that was the only smart thing you did. In the heat of the moment, without any leadership, some unwanted things happened that did NOT happen during rail-roko, or 48-hour bandh.

So, because of this vandalism, you now have atleast a talking point about the million march which is actually a mighty victory for Telangana. I commend you for that tactic of yours sir! Take a bow!

But I must say that I am surprised--

1) All estimates put the gathering on tank bund at atleast 50,000. Thats not a small number of people! And all they could do was vandalise statues representing something fictitious called "Telugu pride"? Amazing control or what??

2) Also, where did they get the pick-axes and other implements needed to uproot the statues from? From the footage I saw, I just saw flying chappals, plastic bottles and a few stones.

3) Finally I ask, so what if those statues are destroyed? Just like you drool over your chiru regardless of what a lowlife he is, your prev. generation used to drool over another megalomaniac called NTR. One fine day, he installed these statues on tank bund without asking us. Not a single statue belongs to any of our people. Also, Srikrishnadeva Raya was made to look just like your beloved NTR incidentally. What the marchers destroyed were symbols of Andhra hegemony, oppression, and ego.

flawsophy said...

ayyo paapam ... good, that everyone has forgotten telugu ... and we also have destroyed the symbols and iconic writers that represent excellence and glory in our sacred language ...

Anonymous said...

@kedar:

Anonymous said...

It was clear intention of seema , andhra rowdies to divert the issue from million march... Its SA goons who should be held responsible for these ass hole cheap tricks... how the bloody hell u can blame it on ppl of telangana.. its shows ur ***** ****........... Jai Telangana...

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous

So what if there were minor incidents of vandalism? These are collateral damage. The fact remains that "we came, we saw and we conquered". And we need to move on now. There are other even more difficult battles ahead in this war.

But there is clarity among people now. Its either Andhra-adhipatyam (which was initially cleverly masqueraded as "samaikyandhra") or Separate Andhra and Telangana. We are breaking the back of Kamma media-corporate-poltician axis.

We are slowly but surely inching closer to victory.

We were not afraid of even Jihadi Razakars (my grandfather had a proud bullet wound from Razakars). How can these psychological descendants of the british scare us? The most they can do is file a "paruvunashtam dava" in some civil court.

Kedar.

M. Patil said...

Frankly the T-Vadis bared their fangs and showed what they really stand for, T stands for Taliban. The rest of Telenganites should have no illusions about them. Perhaps there should be district wise referendum regarding Telangana. I am sure Medak, RR and HYd will not opt for T-Regime. Whose knows rest of the telangana folks might wise up.

g2 said...

I am very shocked about the lack of respect we have to our heroes and history. What else do we expect from a ruling class that is obsessed with land and gold? Looks like Telangana people want reservation on the Tank Bund as well!

Anonymous said...

@M.Patil: Absolutely! Those who claim Hyd to be theirs haven't done Monkey balls for it! Now it is just a Goose that lays golden eggs and everyone wants a part! Am sure 90 percent of the T agitators in Hyd would be jobless people who have been brought in to make case for the Politicians. The kind who would do anything for a couple of hundred and some alcohol! Disgusting really!

madhu allam said...

vuluku, paluku, leni,.,.,
maatlaadaleni,.,.
niluvethu andhamaina,.,.,.
,.,.andra raastra prathibhanu prapanchaniki chati cheppina.,.,.pramukula vigrahalanu koolisthe "TELANGAA NAA" vasthundaa,.,.,,..,.,
.,.,
.,.,
.,.,

Dinipc said...

I am not from Andhra and I really do not, personally, care about Telangana or the TRS. However, as an observer from outside, I see that Congress has totally screwed up Andhra/Telangana. After announcing in Dec 2009 that Telangana would be formed, backtracking from it, then using the age-old Congress trick from the book - employing delaying tactics. Instead of facing the issue head on and accepting its goof-up in December 2009.

Does the author think the Congress understands any other language, other than the language of threats and fear? This is one party that has always penalized the victim and placated the aggressor in its history (starting from MK Gandhi's handling of the Muslim problem).

Telangana political leaders very well understand the Congress - and what they are doing will very well end up serving their cause. If this won't work, so wouldn't any other. These guys at least now seem to be sincere about the formation of Telangana, unlike the past when the ordinary man perceived otherwise and voted it out in the most recent elections.

Whether it is about reviving their fagging political careers or really about getting Telangana, one thing is for sure - the method they are employing is the only method that will ever cut any ice with the power-mongers at the Center.

Sarath Chandra said...

Sudhir,
I am lucky could have a last look at these statues in August when I was there in Hyderabad. It was always a great pleasure and nostalgic feeling walking past those statues at early or late hours.

I read in some comments that this was just a 'Collateral Damage'. If so, then why doesn't this 'Collateral Damage' happen with statues of YSR or NTR or other political leaders of our time. Looks like this 50,000 strong 'mob' is afraid of a hit back from respective political parties. Isn't it strage that 50,000 strong 'mob' is afraid of politicians, or is it their counterparts involved in instigating this 'Collateral Damage' afraid.

Another Q, are these fools making room for their own statues?

What a loss man? People who support the actions, do they even understand the need for a seperate state? Or is it that they just are answering a call from their LEADERs?

Leader. Who is a leader in these days? Sudhir, I would like to see an article from you on lines of 'Greatness' you wrote a loooong time ago.

flawsophy said...

Thanks for this article. You inspired me to write my own. keep up the good work

"The day we broke our history's spine: Telangana Million March"

http://www.flawsophy.net/2011/03/day-we-broke-our-historys-spine.html

Anonymous said...

Hello,

I would like to know if there are any statues of YSR or NTR in nearby area that the protesters avoided for fear of backlash. One of the previous commentators seems to imply that.

Here is Dr. JP's excellent speech on the
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnKEjm_V9xs

Anonymous said...

Inni statues ni pagala kotti vallu! telangana Fighters! Lanja kodukulu! I was never ever against the movement! but when i was the statues of great people like sri sri garu, arthur cotton garu!Annamayya,pingali venkayya garu! and above all! great artists like! siddhenra yogi! etc lanti pedda pedda vallu!. i challenge seriously! ade place lo T valla statues petti choda manu!

Anonymous said...

idiotic deeds done by the people...but led by the most nonsensical leaders.....it's shame on their part...but not the spirit or memories whirl round the statues....pothaamo ani antunnavaallani enthakani pattukuni velladagalam? manamu,mana sri..sri, gurajada, veereshalingam, vemana, anniti kante,...mana srikakulam udhyamam ...vaallakakkharalenappudu... vaallendukuraa manaki? pothe pommanandraa..... tharavatha kalustharo...chasthaaro....phondraa....seperate state vochchesthe...edo brathukulu veligipothaayanukuntunnaru...kaaneendi...aa saradhaa kooda theeranidhdham. tharavaatha valla kalle vishalamga theruchukuntayi....ikkada manamedho baavukuntunnatlu...verupadithe vaallaki leni baadha manakendukura...pichi mohaallara......

S.S.Nagaraj said...

Is this yet another way of imposing English and killing Telugu by the all powerful Christian missionaries of Telangana.Is this an extension of Vemula episode?How is that nobody complained to police when destruction was going on?The least KCR could do is to install new statues at the earliest.

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