Muddu Narasimham Naidu
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- Writer
- Social reformer
S. Muddu Narasimham Naidu | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1792 |
| Died | 1856 Rajahmundry, Madras Presidency, British India (now in Andhra Pradesh, India) |
| Occupations |
|
| Known for | Hitasūchani |
S. Muddu Narasimham Naidu (1792–1856) was an Indian writer and social reformer considered to be the first essayist in Telugu.[1][2] He was a pioneer of the popular language movement, the widow remarriage movement and the rationalist movement in Andhra through his writings.[3][4] He was a government officer by profession and served as a District Munsif in Rajahmundry.[5]
Narasimham Naidu's essay collection, titled Hitasūchani, was published in 1862 after his death.[5] It is considered to be the first Telugu book in the essay format.[6] It is perhaps the earliest Telugu work promoting rational and scientific ideas predating the works of Kandukuri Veeresalingam.[7] It was written in colloquial Telugu and dealt with several issues such as reforms in education, marriage among others.[8][9] These essays were printed earlier in a Telugu journal, Hitavadi, published from Machilipatnam.[7]
Muddu Narasimham Naidu was born in 1792 in an Adi Velama family[10] in Rajahmundry of present-day Andhra Pradesh. He attained English education with great difficulty.[7] He was one of the earliest English-educated persons in Andhra.[11]
His surname is variously given as Swamineena, Swamineni, Samineni, Samineena in different sources.[1][12][13][14] His first name is also given as either Narasimha Naidu or Narasimham Naidu.[3][6][7] Writer and journalist Samineni Muddu Krishna (1889–1973) was his great-grandson.[10]
Career
Entering the service of the East India Company, Narasimham Naidu gradually rose in the service.[15] He was a second grade District Munsif from 1848 to 1852. In 1853 he was promoted to a first class District Munsif.[15]
Writings
Naidu's essay collection, titled Hitasūchani, was published in 1862 after his death by his son Ranga Prasada Rao Naidu.[3][5] It is estimated to have been written around 1850.[11] It is considered to be the first Telugu book in the essay format.[6] These essays were printed earlier in a Telugu journal, Hitavadi, published from Machilipatnam.[7] In his works, Naidu adopted the spoken language of the learned, deliberately in opposition to the archaic literary language used by his contemporary Chinnaya Suri.[16] He called his style grama bhasha (colloquial language).[17]
Naidu used the word prameyamu for the essay, rather than vyasamu, the more common word.[1][13] He also gave an English title to the book — Moral Instructor in Prose.[17] The book contains eight prameyas (subjects or issues) and discussed various issues like education, marriage, superstitions, modern medicine etc.[18] Naidu in his book wondered if the traditional grammatical theories and classical prose writings had any relevance to contemporary society and its requirements.[19] Hita Suchani was republished in 1986 by Andhrakesari Yuvajana Samithi, Rajahmundry with a foreword by Aarudra.[10]