Korada Ramakrishnayya (2 October 1891 – 28 March 1962) was a Dravidian philologist and litterateur. He was the first Telugu scholar to publish research works on comparative Dravidian linguistics. He published the first literary criticism based on modern methods 'Andhra Bharata Kavita Vimarshanamu'.
Ramakrishnayya authored works of fundamental importance and extended the borders of research in Telugu literary criticism, history of the Telugu language, philological interpretation of Telugu grammar, cognate Dravidian vocabulary, comparative Dravidian grammar, and comparative Dravidian prosody.
Early life Korada Ramakrishnayya was born on 2 October 1891 in Amalapuram, East Godavari district, at his grandmother's house. His parents were Sitamma and Lakshmi Manoharam.
He completed his early education and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from Noble College, Machilipatnam in 1915. After his graduation, he worked as a lecturer at the same college. Later, he pursued his Master of Arts (M.A.) at Presidency College, Madras, and completed his degree in 1921.
Career After completing his B.A., Ramakrishnayya worked as a lecturer at Noble College, Machilipatnam. He then taught Telugu and Sanskrit at Maharajah's College in Vizianagaram. After earning his M.A., he served for 12 years (1915–1927) at Maharajah's College. In 1927, he joined Madras University as the Head of the Department of Telugu. He retired in 1950. Following his retirement, he worked for six years at the Tirupati TTD in the Department of Oriental Research.
Publications Korada Ramakrishnayya was among the first to show that Southern Indian languages share a common metrical tradition in poetry. He established high standards in linguistic research and was recognized for his scientific approach to language studies. He was also a pioneer in applying historical knowledge of words to illuminate social history, and he contributed significantly to the promotion of democracy and public discourse through his works.
Telugu literary criticismHistory of Telugu languagePhilological interpretation of Telugu grammarCognate Dravidian vocabularyComparative Dravidian grammarComparative Dravidian prosodyCritical editions and translations
Personal life Korada Ramakrishnayya was the eldest of two brothers, his brother being Korada Seshavadhani. Ramakrishnayya was married to Annapurnamma from the Khandavilli family of Munganda Agraharam. They had 3 sons and 2 daughters. The elder son was Korada Ramachandra Sastry while second son being noted linguist Korada Mahadeva Sastri and the third son was Korada Nageswara Rao. His elder daughter was Susarla Sita Devi married to Susarla Gopala Sastry of Vizag and the younger daughter is Bhamidi Kamala Devi married to Bhamidi Viswanadha Sarma of Palangi near Tanuku. Korada Ramakrishnayya comes from a rich line of Telugu scholars, litterateurs, and writers, with his grandfather Korada Ramachandra Sastri being the first known original Telugu playwright.
See also Dravidian studies Dravidian University Elamo-Dravidian Proto-Dravidian
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