R. R. Sundara Rao

Rayi Ratna Sundara Rao (born 1934; died 1992^[1]) was a prolific writer, theologian and comparative religion scholar who once served as the principal of the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, Chennai, affiliated to the nation's first^[3] university, the Senate of Serampore College (University).

Some of the writings of Sundara Rao are kept in digitized versions at the National Library of India^[4] and the Indian Institute of Science.^[2]

In a recent 2014 study by Katherine C. Zubko of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Zubko highlights that Sundara Rao's assumption of Bhakti was a more inward expression for concern for others cutting across religious boundaries.^[5] In fact, Sundara Rao's treatise, Bhakti Theology in the Telugu Hymnal had struck new ground in finding out the origins of Bhakti element in Christian Hymns in Telugu. The Missiologist, Roger E. Hedlund asserted that along with the Bible, the Christian Hymnal in Telugu also formed the main bulwark of Christian spiritual life for the Telugu folk and of equal use to both the non-literates and the literates as well.^[6] In such a setting of the importance of the Telugu Hymnal, Sundara Rao's study reiterated^[7] the fact that Bhakti had been a binding factor for the early Christians in the Telugu-speaking states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. While this has been so, new studies in 2014 by Harvard-Scholars, Ch. Vasantha Rao and John B. Carman indicate that the element of Bhakti had not done much inroads into the otherwise rural India which in their study wholly depended on folk element.^[8]

Studies

Sundara Rao had his ministerial formation at the Lutheran Theological College, Rajahmundry, affiliated to the nation's first^[3] University, the Senate of Serampore College (University), under the Principalship of William D. Coleman (Pastor). Sundara Rao later upgraded his academics by pursuing a Bachelor of Divinity degree.^[2] Sundara Rao was awarded a degree by the University during the Registrarship of Chetti Devasahayam.

For language studies, Sundara Rao enrolled for a graduate and postgraduate programme in Telugu at the Andhra University and the Venkateshwara University which awarded him with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts respectively. Sundara Rao also researched from 1976 to 1980^[2] at the University of Wisconsin, Madison^[9] submitting a dissertation in 1981 entitled The bhakti element in Āndhra Kraistava Kīrtanalu : an intensive study of the phenomenon of bhakti, a Sanskrit word for devotion, as presented in the Telugu Christian Hymnal^[10]

Ecclesiastical career

Sundara Rao was a Pastor of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society and ministered in congregations until his appointment as Lecturer in 1973^[2] at the Andhra Christian Theological College, Hyderabad where he taught in an ecumenical setting with other Protestant congregations. In fact, the Lutheran Theological College, Rajahmundry in which Sundara Rao had his ministerial formation amalgamated itself in 1964 into Andhra Christian Theological College, a special purpose entity which comprised four existing Seminaries,

• the Andhra Union Theological College, Dornakal comprising of the Anglicans and the Methodists,
• the Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada comprising of the Baptists (Canadian), and
• the Lutheran Theological College, Rajahmundry comprising of the Lutherans (American and German),
• the Ramayapatnam Baptist Theological Seminary, Ramayapatnam comprising of the Baptists (American).

Sundara Rao taught in the special purpose entity from 1973^[2] through 1988 when the College was led by three Church Societies, namely the Church of South India, the Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars and the Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches led by Victor Premasagar, K. David, and S. Joseph respectively.

From 1988 onwards, Sundara Rao accepted a teaching assignment at the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, Chennai and taught Religions. On 1 April 1992, Sundara Rao was made Principal of the College, a role which brought greater responsibilities on him. On November 9, 1992, he breathed his last in Chennai.^[1]

Writings

R. R. Sundara Rao (left) with T. Swami Raju, his disciple.

Ravela Joseph and Suneel Bhanu who have compiled Bibliography of original Christian writings in India in Telugu in 1993 have included the writings of Sundara Rao in their compilation published by the Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College.^[11]

• No date, Essays on Special Christian Themes (in Telugu),^[12]
• No date, Renaissance Movements (in Telugu),^[13]
• 1963, Prayer (in Telugu),^[14]
• 1976,^[15] Telugulō Kraistava sāhityaṃ (in Telugu) (reprint in 1989)^[16]
• 1983, Bhakti theology in the Telugu hymnal,^[4]
• 1986, Mahākavi Jāṣuva vyaktitvaṃ, kavitvaṃ (in Telugu)^[17]
• 1987, Bābālu, Svāmījīlu, Gurumahārājulu (in Telugu)^[2]
• 1989, A critical look at Ambedkar's conversion^[18]
• 1990, Mission and evangelism in India^[19]
• 1990, The Church in Andhra Pradesh^[20]

Honours

In 1975,^[2] the Kadapa-based Kala Kendriya Sangham and Yuva Rachayitala Sangham conferred upon Sundara Rao the title of Sahitya Vibhushan. Subsequently in 1982,^[2] the Secunderabad-based Kraistava Sahitya Vihaaram awarded him a Sahitya Ratna.

Further reading

• Dorothy Yoder Nyce (2015). "Glimpses of Mennonite Engagement with Hindu Thought and Practice". 
• Katherine C. Zubko (2014). "Dancing Bodies of Devotion: Fluid Gestures in Bharata Natyam". ISBN 978-0-7391-8728-9. 
• John B. Carman & Chilkuri Vasantha Rao (2014). "Christians in South Indian Villages, 1959-2009". ISBN 978-0-8028-7163-3. 
• James Elisha Taneti (2011). "History of the Telugu Christians: A Bibliography". ISBN 978-0-8108-7243-1. 
• Chandra Mallampalli (2004). "Christians and Public Life in Colonial South India, 1863-1937: Contending with marginality". ISBN 0-203-39087-3. 
• Herbert E. Hoefer (1991). "Churchless Christianity". ISBN 0-87808-444-4. 

References

Notes