Scholar extraordinaire

Rallabandi Kavita Prasad’s contribution to the state’s cultural arena was immense and his void cannot be filled easily

March 26, 2015 09:08 pm | Updated 09:08 pm IST

Rallabandi Kavitha Prasad.

Rallabandi Kavitha Prasad.

The death of eminent scholar and administrator Rallabandi Kavita Prasad is still haunting many a lover of language and culture. The directorship of state department of Culture and Kavita Prasad looked as though they were made for each other. He brought in many reforms to promote art and language, be it folk or classical. During Ugadi his ‘Panchanga Pravachanam’ had been a major attraction for he was knowledgeable both in astronomical science and grammar. He was considered to be ‘an encyclopaedia of epics’.

The last time Rallabandi Kavita Prasad actively took part in a session was when he addressed artistes and art lovers at Saptaparni, establishing his theory that Perini was not just meant for men’s Thandava dance, but also for lasya for female dancers. That was an hour long discourse. On the following day he took charge as Joint Director of Social Welfare Department and a few days later he passed away. Prior to this posting he served as the Department of Culture as its Director.

On one occasion, someone asked Kavita Prasad whether he can pen a ballet, train artistes and stage at Ravindra Bharati in one day. The subject suggested by this writer was ‘Panchakanya’. Believe me, it had happened. He wrote the poetic text, Kuchipudi guru Satyanarayana trained the artistes, music was recorded and it was staged within 24 hours. It was nothing short of a record. Though it was a hurried production, there was no compromise in its quality.

Rallabandi could pen a verse so fast that Avadhanas he presented amidst scholars were always a cakewalk for him. He was blessed with a fantastic memory. Refer to the name of any poet of the past, Kavita Prasad would be ready to read out the verses from the works of that poet. In fact his research work for his doctorate was ‘Avadhana Vidya - Aarambha Vikasalu’, a work that he brought out as quite a voluminous book. For any scholar interested in knowing or performing Avadhanas this book serves as a guide. He was said to have given as many as 500 Avadhanas. He also published some books. He presented Avadhanas in the presence of Telugus living abroad, especially in the US. He performed all kinds of Avadhanas — ‘Ashta’, ‘Sata’, ‘Dwi Sata’ and ‘Sahasra’. He served as Secretary of Dharmaprachara Parishat of TTD. Credit for holding the World Telugu Conference successfully at Tirupati last year largely went to Rallabandi Kavita Prasad. His death is a loss for literature, arts and art forms.

May his soul rest in peace.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.