Garimella Satyanarayana
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Garimella Satyanarayana (b. 1892 - d. 18 December 1952) is a Poet and Freedom Fighter of Andhra Pradesh, India.
Satyanarayana Garimella was a great nationalist who influenced and mobilized the Andhra people against the British with his patriotic songs and writings for which he was jailed several times by the British government.
He was born into a poor Brahmin family. He was born in Gonepadu village in Narasannapeta taluq of Srikakulam district in 1892. His father was Venkatanarasimhamu and mother was Suramma.
Garimella Satyanarayana is identified as a “Tiger Poet” by his famous song - “mAkoddI tella doratanamu” (We don’t need this white rule). Garimella himself used to sing this song and the British were scared right from their roots. This particular song was a popular freedom cry in households in Andhra Pradesh during the Independence movement.
He finished his education with the help of a kind lawyer, Narasimharao Kannepalli, in Bandar, Vijayanagaram and Rajahmundry. After finishing his BA, he worked as a clerk for sometime in Ganjam district collector's office and as a teacher at a high school in Vijayanagaram. He gave up his studies to participate in civil disobedience movement called by Mahatma Gandhi. During this time, he wrote his famous song Maakoddee Telladoratanamu for which he was jailed in 1922 for one year. He continued his participation in the movement by singing songs in villages after the release from jail. For this he was sentenced for two and half years rigorous imprisonment. His wife, father and grandfather died when he was in jail.
His works include swaraajya geetamulu (1921), harijana paatalu (1923), khandakaavyalu, baalageetaalu (1926), a translation tallikota from Kannada, an English poem Heart of the Nation, and a Telugu translation of the Economic Conquest of India by Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya. He wrote several articles in various daily and weekly journals such as grihalakshmi, krishnapatrika, aanandavani, dhanka, aandhraprabha, bhaarati etc.
Although he was one of the greatest political poets of Andhra Pradesh and devoted everything for freedom movement, he died destitute on December 18, 1952 after spending several years in poverty.
Prof. Challa Radhakrishnamurthy of the Madurai Kamaraj University Telugu Department did outstanding research on Garimella's literary works and ultimately published a book called "garimeLLa sAhityam" (garimeLLa's literary works).
Smt. B. Krushnakumari did an MPhil research with an emphasis on the critical analysis of Garimella's literary works. She obtained her degree in 1990. During the course of her research, Smt. Krushnakumari collected various works of Garimella after visiting several libraries.
In 1992, his birth centenary was celebrated in Andhra Pradesh and on this occasion the collection of his songs as "garimeLLa gEyAlu" was published by the Visalandhra Publishers. The book written by Smt. B. Krushnakumari (garimeLLa vyAsAvaLi) was released by the Telugu University during the same time.
