Uttarandhra · Eastern Coastal Plains
People
| Name | Years | Field | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gurajada Apparao | 1862–1915 | Playwright and poet | Wrote Kanyasulkam in 1892 in ordinary spoken Telugu and set it in Vizianagaram, at a time when serious Telugu literature was expected to be written in a classical register. It is still performed, and his poem beginning "a country is not its soil" is the most quoted modern Telugu line. |
| Gidugu Venkata Ramamurthy | 1863–1940 | Linguist and reformer | Born in Srikakulam district and long a teacher at Paralakhemundi on the Odia side of the hills, he led the campaign for vyavaharika bhasha — Telugu written as it is spoken — and at the same time produced the first serious grammar and vocabulary of Savara, a Munda language of those hills. Telugu Language Day is observed on his birthday. |
| Adibhatla Narayana Das | 1864–1945 | Musician and narrator | Created the modern Telugu Harikatha at Vizianagaram, performing narrative in Carnatic ragas with spoken commentary, and headed the Maharajah's music college there. Very few performance genres have a documented author; this one does. |
| Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu | 1893–1964 | Violinist | Taught and directed at the Vizianagaram music college and made the Carnatic violin a solo concert instrument rather than only an accompanying one. |
| Alluri Sitarama Raju | c. 1897–1924 | Rebel leader | Led the Rampa rebellion of 1922–24 in the agency tracts against forest laws and the muttadari system, raiding police stations for arms with a small hill force. He was captured and shot in 1924; the district covering that country now carries his name. |
| Srirangam Srinivasa Rao (Sri Sri) | 1910–1983 | Poet | Born at Visakhapatnam. Mahaprasthanam, published in 1950, broke Telugu poetry out of its metrical conventions and gave the language its modern political voice. |
| Rachakonda Viswanatha Sastry | 1922–1993 | Writer and lawyer | Practised law at Visakhapatnam and wrote fiction in the region's own spoken register, taking his material from the courts he worked in. His prose is the standing counterexample to the idea that the northern dialect is only good for comedy. |
| The Sarwasiddhi veena-making families | — | Instrument making | Hereditary makers around Bobbili who hollow a saraswati veena from a single block of jackwood. The craft's geographical indication rests on their method, and the number of families still doing it is very small. |
People from Uttarandhra who shaped its history, arts, science, sport and public life. (8)