Chetty Bhanumurthy

Chetti Bhanumurthy, CBCNC
Born 23 February 1888[1]
Andhra Pradesh, India
Died January 6, 1973(1973-01-06) (aged 84)[1]
Andhra Pradesh, India
Nationality Indian
Education L.Th. (Senate of Serampore College (University))
Occupation Theologian
Church Canadian Baptist Mission/Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars
Offices held
Pastor, Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars
Teacher, Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada and Ramayapatnam Baptist Theological Seminary, Ramayapatnam
Title The Reverend

Chetti Bhanumurthy (born 23 February 1888;[2] died 6 January 1973[1]) was a Hymn Writer whose hymns are found in the Hymnal in Telugu.[3] Bhanumurthy was a Pastor of the Canadian Baptist Mission/Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars who also led the Principalship of the Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada from 1945-1956 leading to its affiliation to the nation's first[4] University, Senate of Serampore College (University) in 1946[5]

Comparative religion Scholar R. R. Sundara Rao who researched at the University of Wisconsin–Madison highlighted the literary standard of Chetty Bhanumurthy terming him as a pioneer hymn writer whose songs had the element of Bhakti.[6] The Old Testament Scholar, Victor Premasagar was also enthused by the lyrical content in Bhanumurthy's compositions,[7] especially Hymn Number 94 titled Yesuku Samanulevaru (Translated Who is equal to you Lord?) with direct reference to Psalm 71:19 and strikingly similar to Thyagaraja's composition in Kharaharapriya. Dayanandan Francis brings Chetty Bhanumurthy in the line of another Hymn writer, Puroshottam Choudhary and writes,

Like Choudhary, Bhanumurthy also is interested in picking up ideas, thought-forms and even ragas from popular Hindu poems and lyrics, while at the same time endeavouring to broaden the perspectives found in such religious literary forms with distinctive Christian ideas.

Studies

In 1915,[8] Bhanumurthy discerned his avocation towards priesthood and went for ministerial formation to the Serampore College, Serampore, a constituent College of the nation's first University,[4] studying upto 1918,[8] during the Principalship of George Howells, as a candidate of the Canadian Baptist Mission/Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars where Bhanumurthy obtained a Licentiate in Theology (L.Th.).[2]

Theological Teacher

Bhanumurthy taught at the Ramayapatnam Baptist Theological Seminary in Ramayapatnam[2] and later on moved to Kakinada where he taught at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Kakinada along with Muthyala Theophilus who was his colleague. This was the period when A. B. Masilamani joined the seminary for spiritual formation. In 1952, Bhanumurthy became Principal of the seminary.

Hymns

Roger E. Hedlund, the Missiologist writes that along with the Bible, the Christian Hymnal in Telugu also forms 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.[9] In such a context, it is noteworthy that sixteen of Bhanumurthy's compositions are found in the Christian Hymnal in Telugu with the following sequence,

Academic offices
Preceded by
Archibald Gordon
1945-1952[10]		 Principal,
Baptist Theological Seminary,
Kakinada
1952-1955[10] 		Succeeded by
A. B. Masilamani
1955-1958[10]
Religious titles
Preceded by
M. Venkata Reddy,[11] 1912/
T. Israel Raju, 1915-1917		 Pastor,[11]
Andhra Baptist Church,
Kakinada
1913-1914, 1918-1919 		Succeeded by
T. Israel Raju, 1915-1917/
D. Jeevaratnam,[11] 1920-1927

References

  1. 1 2 3 Roger E. Hedlund, Jesudas M. Athyal, Joshua Kalapati, and Jessica Richard (Edited), The Oxford Encyclopaedia of South Asian Christianity, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 Mary Stillwell McLaurin, Chetti Bhanumurti in John Craig, J. R. Stillwell, I. C. Archibald, A. E. Baskerville (Edited), Some of the Trophies: Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board Jubilee Volume, Telugu Trophies - The Jubilee story of some of the principal Telugu converts in the Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission in India from 1874 to 1924, American Baptist Publication Society, Toronto.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Andhra Christian Hymnal, Christian Literature Society, Madras, 1966
  4. 1 2 Murli Manohar Joshi, Higher Education in India Vision and Action, A paper presented at the UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education in the Twenty First Century, Paris, 5–9 October 1998. Internet, accessed 22 August 2008. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  5. ↑ Orville E. Daniel, Rising Tides in India, Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board, 1963, p.91.
  6. ↑ R. R. Sundara Rao, Bhakti theology in the Telugu hymnal, CISRS/CLS, Bangalore/Chennai, 1983.
  7. ↑ T. Dayanandan Francis, Attempts at Critical Assimilation in Regional Christian Literature: A Tamil Perspective in H. S. Wilson (Edited), The Church on the Move: A Quest to Affirm the Biblical Faith - Essays in honour of P. Victor Premasagar, CLS, Chennai, 1988, pp.135-144
  8. 1 2 S. J. Samartha, M. P. John (Compiled), Directory of students 1910-1967, Serampore College (Theology Department), Serampore, 1967, p.1.
  9. ↑ Roger E. Hedlund, Quest for Identity: India's Churches of Indigenous origin: The "Little" Tradition in Indian Christianity, New Delhi, 2000, p.261.
  10. 1 2 3 C. L. Johnson (Edited), Canadian Baptist Mission 125 year's Jubilee Celebrations of Baptist Churches in Northern Circars, Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada, 1999, p.217-219.
  11. 1 2 3 Andhra Baptist Church, Jagannaickpur, Kakinada 100 years souvenir 1906-2006. Office Bearers of the Church 1906-2006, p.2.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.