Justice N.V. Ramana, Chief Justice of India, will participate as chief guest at the centenary celebrations of noted writer and lawyer Rachakonda Viswanadha Sastri, popularly known as Raavi Sastry, being organised, here from Sunday. The organisers said that the celebrations will begin from Saturday and will culminate with the CJI’s visit on Sunday.
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Justice Ramana will participate on the second day of the celebrations on Sunday. He will participate in a literary meet on ‘Vandha Vasanthala Raavi’ to be held at AMCOSA Auditorium near Zilla Parishad on Sunday evening.
On the inaugural day on Saturday, Justice U. Durga Prasada Rao, Judge, AP High Court, will be the chief guest. He will pay floral tributes to Raavi Sastri at his statue on Beach Road.
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Born at Tumpala, a village in the erstwhile Visakhapatnam district, on July 30, 1922, Raavi Sastri fought as a lawyer on behalf of the common man and as a writer he shared the suffering of the masses till his death on November 10, 1993.
Raavi Sastri was a master story writer, novelist, dramatist, essayist and critic. The downtrodden and oppressed were his heroes and he was a ray of hope for the poor and aggrieved. As a practising lawyer and creative writer, he was the spokesperson of the less privileged. His usage of the North-Andhra dialect further endeared himself to the masses of the region, in particular, Dr. G. Raghurama Rao, president of Visakha Rasagya Vedika, said in a statement on Friday.
He made his creative debut in 1938 with the short story: ‘Demude Chesadu’ in the monthly magazine ‘Vinodini’. His anthologies of short stories inlcude: ‘Aaru Chitralu’, ‘Aaru Sara Kadhalu’, ‘Aaru Sorrow Kadhalu’, ‘O manchi vadi kadha Kalakanthi’, ‘Rukkulu’, ‘Baki kadhalu’ and ‘Maro aaru chitralu’. He penned four novels, three dramas and over 1,000 stories, essays and articles.
He received the AP Sahitya Akademi Award in 1966 and Andhra University announced the Kala Prapoorna to the writer in 1983.