Prakasarao Asavadi

Asavadi Prakasa Rao was a Telugu poet, critic, translator and scholar, and an ashtavadhani, a master of the traditional art of composing and memorising metrical verse on the spot. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2021 in the field of literature and education, from Andhra Pradesh ^[1].

Rising from Rayalaseema

Prakasa Rao was born on 2 August 1944 into a lower-middle-class Madiga family from a remote village in the Rayalaseema region ^[2]. He overcame the disadvantages of his birth to make his mark in literature, education and social service, and was the only traditional Telugu poet and ashtavadhani in the country from a Scheduled Caste community ^[2]. He took a postgraduate degree in Telugu and served as lecturer and principal in government degree colleges ^[2]. As a teenager he received the title Balakavi, young poet, from Dr S. Radhakrishnan in 1963 ^[2].

Sixty books

He wrote 60 books and 49 research papers ^[2]. They include a study comparing the Prahlada Charitramu of Errana and Potana (1989), Sant Ravidas (2020) and a poem on Sister Nivedita (2020), and several books for the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams ^[2]. Telugu Akademi published his Telugu Padya Kavita Prasthanam, on the craft of verse, for the fourth World Telugu Conference in 2012 ^[2]. He gave 73 talks on All India Radio and Doordarshan, and 22 books of criticism have been written about his work ^[2].

Giving back

He spent his own earnings promoting Telugu and Sanskrit literature and helping poor, deserving students ^[2]. He set up a library at his home with free food and lodging for researchers ^[2]. Telugu University gave him an honorary DLitt in 2000, and the Andhra Pradesh government its Kalaratna award in 2012 ^[2].

Prakasa Rao died at his home in Penukonda in February 2022, aged 77 ^{[3] [4]}.