Puripanda Appala Swamy

Puripanda Appala Swamy (Telugu: పురిపండా అప్పలస్వామి) (1904–1982), also spelled Appalaswamy, was a linguist, writer, translator, journalist and editor.[1]

Early life

He was born in Salur, Vizianagaram district on November 13, 1904. After primary education, he learned Telugu, Sanskrit and many other languages including Oriya, Hindi, Bengali and English.

Life

He actively participated in Indian Freedom Movement particularly Non-cooperative movement, Harijan upliftment and Khadi Prachar movement. He worked as organizer in All India Charaka Sangham at Visakhapatnam.

He has distinguished skill in the field of journalism. He has worked as associate editor for 'Swasakti', a national newspaper. He used to write articles for 12 years in Andhra Patrika as freelance journalist. He has organized 'Satyavani' magazine with very informative editorials. He published 'Vaisakhi', a monthly magazine with a praise from literary populace.

The credit of discovering the Mahakavi Sri Sri should go to Puripanda, who identified him at young age and published his poems in his own journal. Puripanda was his friend, phylosopher and guide as long as he lived. He took him to London and got his voice and handwriting recorded and published by Gutala Krishnamurthy. Sri Sri reciprocated this by translating the poems of Puripanda into English and remained his lifelong friend and admirer.[2]

He was actively involved in the Library Movement in Andhra Pradesh. He has developed libraries in Sriramavaram, Parvathipuram and established a library in Marakam. He was life member of Andhra Pradesh Library Society.

He was president of Visakha Writers Association and member of Andhra Pradesh Lalit Kala Akademi and Sahitya Akademi. He was awarded Kalaprapoorna by Andhra University in 1973 for his contributions to Indian literature.

Death

He died on November 18, 1982.

Honour

His statue was erected in Visakhapatnam on the beach road. Brief biographic book was written by Dwana Sastry and Bandi Satyanarayana and released on the occasion.[3]

Literary works

References

  1. ↑ "Litterateur's statue to be installed in city". The Hindu. November 14, 2005. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  2. ↑ Mahakavi Srisri: Life and Works of Srirangam Srinivasa Rao by Būdarāju Rādhākr̥ṣṇa.
  3. ↑ Litterateur's statue to be installed in city in The Hindu.
  4. ↑ Full text of Puripanda Bhagavatam at Internet archive.