When one refers to saint composer Thyagaraja many associate him with Thiruvaiyaru in Tamil Nadu where Carnatic musicians congregate to sing the famous Pancharatna Kritis to pay tribute to the musical legend.
Only the knowledgeable recall that the great devotee of Lord Rama hailed from a non-descript village of Kakarla in Ardhaveedu mandal of Prakasam district.
Another great music composer Shyama Sastri, who along with Muthuswamy Dikshitar form the Trinity of Carnatic music, also hailed from Cumbum near Markapur in Prakasam district and his picture along with Thyagaraja’s adorns the compound wall of the Prakasam Bhavan, which was defaced with obscene film posters and sundry advertisements in the past.
Beautiful pictures of great sons of soil were drawn on the compound wall of the Prakasam Bhavan, the seat of administration, for onlookers to get a peep into the great Andhra culture so that they could draw inspiration from the lives of the cultural ambassadors, and make a mark of their own, says District Public Relations Officer Poornachandra Rao.
The other paintings that adorn the compound wall include that of engineer and statesman Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, who hailed from the sleepy Mokshagundam village near Giddalur, Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu, first chief minister of Andhra State, the great Telugu poet Yerranna from Gudluru, who translated Mahabharatam into Telugu along with Nannayya and Tikkanna, and the majestic Ongole bull.
Lauding the initiative, Prakasam District Writers’ Association secretary Ponnuri Venkata Srinivasulu said, “The initiative is worth emulating by one and all, especially to create awareness among youngsters who are losing touch with our culture in the wake of western onslaught.”
Herculean taskIt has always been a Herculean task to prevent people from pasting obscene posters, laments a civic official, who keeps removing posters on a continuous basis from the compound wall which is now free of posters thanks to imposition of a model code of conduct in view of the polls.
