Maanavalli Ramakrishnakavi (1866-1957) or M.R. Kavi as he was popularly mentioned, was a scholar of extra-ordinary ability. The volume under review is a monograph on M.R. Kavi’s life and work. written by U.A.Narasimha Murthy.
Ramakrishna Kavi earned the epithet ‘Kavi’ at a Telugu literary meeting at Madras, held in the later part of the 19th century, by dispelling the misconception that English-educated modern youth could never compose good poetry in traditional format. This ability of Ramakrishna Kavi was subsequently quoted to denounce him as a scholar-poet of dubious distinction of passing off his poetical works as those of some poet of a distant past!
M.R. Kavi, was born in Madras and studied at The Presidency College to get his Master of Arts degree. By the time he came out of college, he was recognised as a scholar of great promise, in view of his deep knowledge of Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and English. He was further aided by his photographic memory. He took up many a job, some befitting his ability and stature and some just to make an earning. He joined as the Personal secretary of the ruler of Vanaparti, and collected many old palm-leaf manuscripts and inscriptions and started publishing works of old poets. He wrote articles on the Kakateeya inscriptions. He left Vanaparti when he was accused of misusing the royal book-collection for personal gain. He went to Madras and took up a teaching assignment and later was appointed as an assistant to the Curator of the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library in 1915. He continued in the position till 1926, till he was accused of publishing the officially collected material in his name. In spite of these accusations , M.R. Kavi was instrumental in bringing to light valuable Sanskrit manuscripts from Kerala held as family treasures by Namboodri families. He took up other assignments, such as tabulating marks for the SSLC examinations before his appointment at Tirupati, first as the Devasthanam’s Educational officer (when he started the Sri Venkateswara Oriental Research journal) in 1933 and later as the head of Sanskrit at the Sri Venkateswara Oriental Research Institite in 1940. He died in abject penury at Tirupati in 1957.
M.R. Kavi is remembered for his discovery of Nannechoda’s KumaaraSambhavamu in Telugu and his erudite prefaces to books edited by him. His edition of Natyasastra with Abhinavagupta’s commentary is held in high esteem. His unique lexical work Bharata kosa provides meanings and definitions of technical terminology associated with Dramaturgy, music and other allied arts. He wrote many articles in Telugu and English which portray his extensive knowledge in many disciplines ranging from fine arts to statecraft. In his unfinished play entitled Kalingasena , he stressed the need for patriotism.
U.A. Narasimhamurthy’s monograph is scholarly and objective. The monograph has seven chapters and provides detailed accounts of M.R. Kavi’s prefaces, his writings in English, his articles in Telugu and his creative output. The chapter on the scholarship, research and personality of M.R. Kavi, succeeds in portraying his positive and negative traits (and of course his occasional intemperate comments). Narasimha Murthy rightly comments that the disgraceful neglect suffered by Maanavalli Ramakrishna Kavi during the latter’s last days was a testimony to our national apathy. The monograph suffers from typographical errors, which could have been avoided.
Maanavalli Ramakrishnakavi: Telugu monograph
U. A. Narasimha Murthy
Sahitya Akademi, 2013.
Rs.50
