Garimella Satyanarayana - Poet & Freedom Fighter

ANDHRA & 50 Years of India’s Independence - #3

Satyanarayana Garimella was a great nationalist who influenced and mobilized the Andhra nation against the British with his patriotic songs and writings for which he was jailed several times by the British government.

He was born into a poor Brahmin family. His place and date of birth are disputed. According to Kameswarrao Tekumalla, he was born in Gonepadu village of Srikakulam district in 1893 and according to M. L. Narasimharao, in Priya village of Srikakulam district in 1882. His father was Venkatanarasimhamu and mother was Suramma. He was married very young to his first wife in menarikam, which is legal and an ancient and continuing tradition in Andhra society.

There died a famous man “unhonored, unsung, and unwept” in a helpless state on the 18th December of 1952, just a couple of days after the death of Father of Andhra Pradesh, Sri Potti Sreeramulu. Sri Sreeramulu’s death brought a complete halt of all the activities and transportation throughout the state of Andhra pradesh and the result was the absolute lack of a functioning news media. The AIR might have probably ignored Garimella’s death and it would be surprising to see if his death was covered in any local news papers of Madras. Garimella Satyanarayana is identified as a “Tiger Poet” by his famous (popular) song - “mAkoddI tella doratanamu” (We don’t need this white rule). Garimella himself used to sing this song and the British were scared right from their roots. This particular song was a house-hold freedom rhyme in all four corners of Andhra those days.

He finished his education with the help of a kind lawyer, Narasimharao Kannepalli, in Bandaru, Viajanagaramu, Rajamandri cities. After finishing his BA, he worked as a clerk for a short while in Ganjam district collector’s office. For sometime he worked as a teacher at a high school in Vijayanagaram. Later, he went to school again to study L.T. However, he gave up his studies to participate in civil disobedience movement called by Mahatma Gandhi. During this time, he wrote his famous song “maakoddee telladoratanam (we reject this white rule),” for which he was jailed in 1922 for one year. He continued his participation in the movement by singing songs in villages after the release from jail. For this he was sentenced for two and half years rigorous imprisonment. His wife, father and grandfather died when he was in jail.

He learned Tamil in jail and translated “tirukkuraalld” and “naandiyar” from Tamil. His works include swaraajya geetamulu (1921), harijana paatalu (1923), khandakaavyalu, baalageetaalu (1926), a translation tallikota from Kannada, an English poem “Heart of the Nation,” and a Telugu translation of “the Economic Conquest of India” by Pattabhiseetaramaiah Bhogaraju. He wrote several articles in various daily and weekly journals such as grihalakshmi, krishnapatrika, aanandavani, dhanka, aandhraprabha, bhaarati etc. He also ran a restaurant called kalpakavilaas for sometime.

Mahatma Gandhi was surprised that Garimella was imprisoned for his song “maakoddee telladoratanamu.” Although he was one of the greatest political poets of Andhra nation and devoted everything for freedom movement, he died as a destitute on December 18,1952 after spending several years in poverty. Tekumalla laments his death as “Unwept, Unhonoured and Unsung.”

Posted by shanti at August 3, 2003 7:50 AM

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