Alur Venkata Rao Road
Road
Name: Alur Venkata Rao Rd (A.V Rd) named after
Road Location: AV Road is the first main
road of Chamarajpet (which was the first extension created outside the old Pete
area in 1892.)
Famous
for/ Contributions to society:
Summary:
When the Kannada speaking people were unaware of their glorious past and the
rich cultural heritage they had confined their language to their homes and
languages like Marathi, Urdu, Telugu and English ruled the roost in the public
domain, there came a man whose only
passion and goal in life was to work for the re-establishment of Kannada’s
glorious status. That man was Alur Venkata Rao. He fully involved himself in
the freedom struggle. He was responsible for starting a National school at
Dharwad in 1908 where Da. Ra. Bendre had studied as a child. Alur Venkata Rao
also started the Karnataka unit of Home Rule League. He has written and published many books. He also
started his very own monthly magazine called Jayakarnataka.
Detailed Description:
Popularly
referred to as the Karnataka Kulapurohita, Alur Venkata Rao was an eminent
literary personality and historian who led the Karnataka unification movement. Alur Venkata Rao who was born at Bijapur in 1880. His father
Bhima Rao was working as a Shirethedar in the revenue department. He went to Poona for his college
education and obtained his B.A. and Law degree. Poona at the time was where freedom fighter
and patriots like Tilak and Gokhale lived. He was a good organizer and
during his student days at Fergusson College, Pune, had started a Kannada
Sangha and fought with the college authorities to sanction Rs. 50 for
purchasing Kannada books for the college library.
Contribution towards Freedom struggle: Alur Venkata
Rao, who was practicing as an Advocate at Dharwad completely gave up his
practice in 1920 on the call given by Mahatma Gandhi and fully involved himself
in the freedom struggle. He was
arrested during the Civil Disobedience Movement during 1931 and barred from
political activities.
Literary contribution: In 1906 he began to work as an editor for a monthly magazine,Vagbhushana. In November 1922, he started Jayakarnataka, a monthly magazine where articles on a variety of subjects and topics were published. About 27 books written by Alur Venkata Rao have been published of which the first, Vidyaranya Charitre was published in 1907. His other works include, Karnataka Gathavaibhava, Karnataka Veeraratnagalu, Karnatakathva Sutragalu and Karnatakathva Vikasa. In 1908 he started the Karnataka Grantha Prasarada Mandali.
Alur Venkata Rao’s joy knew no bounds when Karnataka was unified on 1st November 1956 but he felt sad that the name of Karnataka did not find a place in the list of states mentioned in the national anthem and wrote about its inclusion to the Prime Minister and President of India. Fully devoted to the Karnataka and Kannada, Alur Venkata Rao breathed his last on 24th February 1964.
Contributed by: Aryan Kurup
References:
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