Paravastu Chinnayasuri


Paravastu Chinnayasuri was a Telugu writer who played a prominent role in the elevation of prose to importance in Telugu literature. He was the first Telugu Pandit at the Presidency College, Madras. He was born in 1806/7 in Perambur of Chengalpattu district and died in 1861/2. Suri was the son of Venkata Rangayya a Vaishnavite Scholar. He worked as a Telugu teacher at Pachaiyappa's College in Madras. He also worked as a law scholar for the Supreme Court of East India Company. He was a Pundit in Sanskrit, Telugu, Prakrit and Tamil languages. He was acclaimed as a profound scholar in Telugu and Sanskrit in the traditional education. More than a third of his life span was spent in teaching Telugu in schools and in the Presidency college, Madras.

Literary works

Chinnayasuri translated Mitra Labham and Mitra Bhedam from the Sanskrit Panchatantra as Neeti Chandrika and published by Vavilla Ramaswamy Sastrulu and Sons, Chennai.
He wrote Bala Vyakaranamu which is a textbook for teaching Telugu grammar in schools.
He has translated the work by Thomas Lumisden Strange on Manual of Hindoo Law of 1856 and entitled it as Hindu Dharmashastra Sangrahamu.