Veturi Prabhakara Sastri: Difference between revisions

| relatives = [[Veturi Sundararama Murthy]] (nephew)

'''Veturi Prabhakara Sastri''' (7 February 1888 – 29 August 1950) was a [[Sanskrit]] and [[Telugu language|Telugu]] scholar, editor, translator and historian. He was born in the town of [[Pedakallepalli]] in the [[Krishna district|Krishna District]] of [[Andhra Pradesh]]. He was known for deciphering a few thousand of Annamayya's composition during his tenure at the Devasthanam Oriental Institute.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ramesan|first=N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aKEcAAAAMAAJ&newbks=0&hl=en|title=The Tirumala Temple|date=1981|publisher=Tirumala Tirupati Davasthanams|pages=279|language=en}}</ref> He is also recognized for his scholarship on Telugu poet [[Srinatha|Srinatha's]] work.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rao|first=Velcheru Narayana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=42zTcscPpOcC&newbks=0&hl=en|title=Srinatha: The Poet who Made Gods and Kings|last2=Shulman|first2=David|date=2012-03-21|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-986304-4|pages=9|language=en}}</ref> Veturi was involved in researching lost texts and forgotten literature, and he is regarded for his enlightened and liberal scholarship that was free of literary or religious prejudices.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5hwABAAAQBAJ&newbks=0&hl=en|title=Siva's Warriors: The Basava Purana of Palkuriki Somanatha|date=2014-07-14|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-6090-6|pages=20|language=en}}</ref>

As a publisher and writer, he introduced to the [[Telugu people|Telugu]] people several antiquated texts, in association with [[Manavalli Ramakrishna|Manavalli Ramakrishna Kavi]] from prachya likhita pustaka bhandagaram (library of ancient scripts). He discovered the copper scripts of [[Annamayya]]'s poetry and introduced them to Telugu people.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/Tributes-paid-to-Veturi-Prabhakara-Sastry/article15291852.ece | title=Tributes paid to Veturi Prabhakara Sastry | date=30 August 2008 | newspaper=The Hindu | accessdate=6 June 2018 }}</ref> Similarly, he unearthed palm scripts of Ranganatha's Ragadalu. He published Tanjavuri Andhra Rajula Charitra, Srinatha Vaibhavamu, Sringara Srinatham, Manu Charitra, Basava Puranam etc. with elaborate introductions. He translated Bhasa's Pratima Natakam, Karnaabharam and Madhyama Vyayogam.  

Veturi Prabhakara Sastry was also an editor of Ayurvedic texts. He edited and wrote an introduction for an Ayurvedic text called the Carucarya for a patron, the then-[[Muktyala Raja|Raja of Muktyala]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=REDDY|first=D. V. S.|date=1950|title=A NOTE ON "CARUCARYA" OF BHOJA|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44443510|journal=Bulletin of the History of Medicine|volume=24|issue=2|pages=187–189|issn=0007-5140}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Krishnamurthi|first=Salva|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5YOAAAAYAAJ&newbks=0&hl=en|title=A History of Telugu Literature|date=1996|publisher=Institute of Asian Studies|pages=168|language=en}}</ref> He also edited the 'Ballad of the Battle of Yerragaddapadu' written by Gangula Pinayellaya.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sDLXAAAAMAAJ&newbks=0&hl=en|title=Folk Culture: Folk culture & literature|date=1983|publisher=Institute of Oriental and Orissan Studies|pages=220|language=en}}</ref> Veturi also edited many [[Hinduism|Hindu]] religious [[Satakam|satakams]] and stavams in praise of [[Venkateswara|Venkateshwara]], such as Venkatachala Vihara Satakam.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ramesan|first=N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aKEcAAAAMAAJ&newbks=0&hl=en|title=The Tirumala Temple|date=1981|publisher=Tirumala Tirupati Davasthanams|pages=209|language=en}}</ref> Veturi Prabhakara Sastry was also a translator. He rendered the classical Sanskrit farcical play 'Bhagavadajjukam' of Bodhyanakavi into Telugu, and he translated a Sanskrit farcical play 'Mattavilasaprahasanam' into a Telugu work entitled 'Mattavilasamu.'<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sinha|first=Biswajit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kloqAQAAIAAJ&newbks=0&hl=en|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Theatre: South Indian Theatre|date=2000|publisher=Raj Publications|isbn=978-81-86208-54-0|pages=124|language=en}}</ref>