Cingireddi Narayana Reddy, better known as C. Narayana Reddy, was an award winning Indian Telugu poet and writer. Reddy had produced over eighty literary works including poems, prose-plays, lyrical plays, translations, and ghazals. He was also a professor, lyricist, actor, and politician.
Early life and career
Cingireddi Narayana Reddy was born on 29 July 1931 in Marumulu village of Hanumajipet in Karimnagar district, Telangana statenow in Rajanna Sircilla district, Telangana, India to a Telugu family of Malla Reddy and Buchamma. His father was a farmer and his mother was a house wife. After completing his higher secondary education, he went on to study at the Osmania University, Hyderabad in 1949. Reddy studied in Urdu medium till his graduation as education in Telugu was not available under Nizam's rule. He took Telugu as his subject during his graduation. Reddy received his Master of Arts degree in 1954 and became a college lecturer in 1955. He received Ph.D. in 1962 on "Modern Traditions of Telugu" and became a Professor in 1976. He did his primary, secondary and higher secondary in Urdu medium. He studied Telugu privately during schooling in Sircilla under the guidance and tutelage of Gurus Satavadhani Seshadri Ramana Kavulu of Machilipatnam. He was mentored by the legendary poet and Jnanpith awardee Kavi Samrat Viswanatha Satyanarayana of Vijayawada, the first principal of Karimnagar Government College. After completing his primary and secondary education at his hometown, he moved to Hyderabad to pursue his degree education. He came to know of the Modern Telugu literary giants and read books written by Gurram Jashua, Sri Sri, Devulapalli Krishna Sastry. Naryana Reddy married Suseela and with her had four daughters. Reddy instituted an award named after his wife which is presented annually to the female writers. Reddy was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, in August 1997.
Literary works
Reddy's first published work was a poetry collection Navvani Puvvu in 1953 and later went on to publish several other works like Vennela Vada, Jalapatam, Divvela Muvvalu, Ritu Chakram, Madhyataragati Mandahasam, and Mantalu Manavudu. His 1980 published poetic work Viswambhara received wide critical acclaim and has been translated into several Indian languages. The Sahitya Akademi appreciated it as "monumental work in free verse depicts the journey of man through the ages as he strives to attain spiritual, artistic, and scientific excellence." Reddy's Nagarjuna Sagaram is a Buddhist epic poetry based on a heart-breaking love story of a lady Santisri who comes to study Buddhism and falls in love with a sculptor Padmadeva. His 1957 Karpura Vasantha Rayulu was an epic poem retelling the romance between the King Kumara Giri of Reddy dynasty and his court dancer Lakuma. The book was dedicated to Telugu historian Mallampalli Somasekhara Sarma whose main contributions were regarding the recording of Reddy history. Bhimsen Nirmal translated Vishwambhara into Hindi as Viswambhara and his Telugu poetry collection Prapanchapadulu was translated into Sanskrit as Prapanchapadi by R. Sri Hari. Nirmal and Hari won the Sahitya Akademi Translation Award for these works in 1991 and 2001 respectively. Along with poetry, Reddy also composed musical plays Ramappa, based on Kakatiya dynasty and the collection of ten plays Narayana Reddy Natikalu. He published analysis of modern Telugu poetry, its precursors, its progression through various phases and its modern day forms in Adhunikandhara Kavitamu - Sampradayamulu Prayogamalu: Modern Telugu Poetry Tradition and Experiment. His 1997 published book Matti Manishi Akasam consists of a long poem of around hundred pages. He wrote a few travelogues about his travels to various countries including a tour of Malaysia in Muchataga Moodu Varalu, about Russia in Soviet Russsialo Padi Rojulu and about the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France in Paschatya Desallo Yabai Rojulu. Reddy's first film as a lyricist was Gulebakavali Katha which was directed by Kamalakara Kameswara Rao. Reddy later went on to write more than 3000 film songs. His last song was for the movie Inkennallu'' which was directed by Syed Rafi.
