| Charles Phillip Brown | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 10, 1798 Calcutta |
| Died | December 12, 1884 London |
| Pen name | C. P. Brown |
| Occupation | Civil Servant |
| Nationality | British |
| Ethnicity | Christian |
| Education | Indian Civil Service |
| Literary movement | Collection of Telugu books |
| Notable work(s) | Telugu dictionary |
C. P. Brown (Charles Philip Brown, Telugu: చార్లెస్ ఫిలిప్ బ్రౌన్) (November 10, 1798 – December 12, 1884) was a Telugu writer and an Englishman by descent. He worked as official in Cuddapah and Rajahmundry during the British rule in India. Native Telugu people call him Brown Dora (Telugu: బ్రౌన్ దొర), which means Lord Brown in English.[1]
Telugu Literature was in dormant phase and declined in 18th century because of many social and political reasons including lack of creative Telugu poets, prevailing illiteracy and decline of empires like Vijayanagara Empire, who were patrons of the literature. Brown being an official in the region collected the works, printed them and saved the heritage of Telugu language. In his own words, "Telugu literature was dying out; the flame was flickering in the socket in 1825, I found Telugu literature dead. In 30 years I raised it to life".
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Charles Brown was born in Calcutta on November 10, 1798. His father, David Brown was a manager of an orphanage and a missionary and scholar in many languages including Sanskrit. Charles Brown moved back to England in 1812 after his fathers' death and returned to Madras on 4 August 1817 again to get training from Haileybury College for a civil service job in India.
In 1820 Sir Thomas Monroe, governor of Madras had ordered that every official should learn a local language. As part of the curriculum he had to learn a local language and he chose Telugu language under the guidance of Velagapudi Kodandarama Panthulu. Charles Brown passed Telugu exam as well as the civil service exam in 1820. He joined as deputy to Mr. Hunbury, the collector of Cuddapah. He got inspiration from Hunbury's fluency in Telugu and improved his Telugu more. He was transferred to Machilipatnam in 1824 and again to Rajahmundry in 1825. His administrator services at the time of the Great Guntur famine(1832–1833) were highly appreciated.
He was relieved from his duties in 1834 and went back to London and stayed there from 1835 to 1838. Brown returned to Madras again in 1837 as a translator of Persian for the East India Company and joined as member of the Madras College Board. He retired in 1854 because of health reasons went back to London again. He worked as Telugu Professor at London University for some more time before his death on December 12, 1884 in London.
Though he patronized Telugu[2] He was a polyglot and also learned Greek, Latin, Persian, Sanskrit etc.
Charles Brown established two schools in Cuddapah and two more schools in Machilipattanam, with free food for students and free education that includes Telugu. He did three great services to Telugu, his own works, recovery and discovery of old works and printing the Telugu books.
He got interested in Vemana's literature in 1824. He studied Vemana's and other Telugu literature, and Telugu meter and grammar under the guidance of Venkatasivasastri Tippabhatla and Advaitabrahmasastri Vatthyam. Charles Brown was transferred to Rajamundri in 1825. He continued his study of Telugu literature. He collected the written scripts of Telugu Kavyas (poems) that were on the verge of extinction. He hired some copyists/writers (raayasagaallu) to prepare fresh copies. He reprinted Andhra Mahabharatamu and Andhra Mahabhagavatamu. He found a shelter for the destitute Goddess Telugu Saraswati and was able to redecorate her like a married Indian woman.
He also wrote several grammar and prosody books and learning materials for English people who were interested in learning Telugu. He created Telugu English dictionaries and Telugu readers. He authored chronicles and monographs in literary journals. He translated many poetical works. Madras Oriental Library still hosts many works of C. P. Brown.
He also collected essays, stories, poems etc. that have no written copies, but were popular among common men. Since 1824, he started collecting old books of Tikkana and Potana and poems of Vemana. During his stay in London around 1835-38, he collected 2,106 hand written books in South Indian Languages from the India House Library and sent them back to Chennai Library.
He edited and published several Telugu and Sanskrit books. He also hired writers and created fresh copies of the old books.Brown was also an editor of the Madras Journal of Literature and Science. He also wrote articles about the stories of the manuscripts he collected in The Asiatic Journal in London.
Charles Brown spent his own money for the development of Telugu and even took loans for the same. He saved every penny for the development of Telugu. Even in the tough financial times he didn’t give up his Telugu development programs. He retired in 1854 and settled in London. He worked at London University as Telugu Professor for some time.
He had prepared commentaries for all of the published works so that non scholars can understand them. Some of the publishings sponsored by him are:
He also left many press ready copies like Basavapurana, PanDitaaraadhya Charitra, Ranganaatha Ramayanam, 'Uttara Raamaayanam, Vijaya Vilasam, Sarangadhara Charitra, Hari Vamsam, Kasi Khandam, Aniruddha Charitra, Kuchelopakhyaanam, Radhika Santvanam, Vikramaarka charitra etc. They were published by different institutions in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh after his death.
He also collected poems of Sumathi Satakam and Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy published it in 1973 acknowledging him. This is similar to Vemana Satakam that Brown published.
He collected the stories and poems of common people and published them first. Though he was less interested in pedantic works, he also published many major Telugu works along with translations written by him or other copiers closely monitored by him. He prepared an index, a glossary and commentaries to all the works. Brown mentioned that the purpose of the commentary was to make the poems to be understood clearly without oral instructions. He also included many spoken words in his dictionary.
He had done few innovations in the Telugu alphabet to be print them easily. He changed the below-base form of ra in conjuncts, that looked like a half circle placed under the base consonant in the conjunct, into the shape of a rounded ‘L’ and placed it on the bottom left of the base. He also introduced a shape that looked like a ‘9’ placed at the bottom right of the base.
He dropped Bandi Ra[5] or the Sakata Repha(hard ‘Ra,’ ఱ) from the alphabet and used only the Sadhu Repha (soft ‘Ra,’ ర). He was also responsible for the dropping of the arasunna or the ardhaanusvaara sign (a nasalization sign, ఁ) in proper names. He used only the soft sounds of cha and ja (చ, జ), and gave up the hard ones (indicated by a mark above చ, జ).
He broke each line of poems into two at the point of Caesura (Yati Sthaana).
He died in 1884 on December 12 at the age of eighty-seven. His selfless service to Telugus and their culture and literature is unparalleled even among Telugus.
Hanumachchastri Janamaddi says, “minuku minuku mantunna Telugu waangmayadeepaanni snehasiktam chesi prajwalimpachesina aandhrabhashodhdhaarakudu C. P. Brown.” (C. P. Brown, the savior of Telugu Culture and Literature, rekindled the dying lamp of Telugu literature with his friendship and service.)
He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery (The General Cemetery of all Souls) in London.
Grave Number - 29517, Section - 98, Path side.