Jayanti Ramayya Pantulu

Jayanti, Ramayya Pantulu (Telugu: జయంతి రామయ్య పంతులు) is a celebrated Telugu polymath. He was known for his field research and epigraphic work that uncovered the origins of Telugu poetry and literature. , the principal lexicographer who assembled the Sūryarāya Andhra Nighantuvu ---a comprehensive Telugu dictionary , a Telugu poet , the founder of the Andhra Sāhitya Parishad , a Presidential Magistrate of the Madras Presidency in British India , a First Class Deputy Collector , and an elected Member of the Central Legislative Assembly of India , where he championed the principle of Equal Opportunity https://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/760612/1/clad_03_10-03-1923.pdf. Ramayya Pantulu is also known for his role as an advocate for Grānthika Telugu (Literary Telugu). His advocacy for the unified literary Telugu language and opposition to dialectical hegemony, detailed in his Defense of Literary Telugu , is credited as a keystone in the preservation and teaching of Telugu classics , such as the Kavitraya Andhra Mahabhāratam and Potana Bhāgavatam, in the modern era.
== Early Life ==
Information about the birth and education of Jayanti Ramayya Pantulu was documented in a volume of the Andhra Historical Research Society's journal that was dedicated as the Jayanti Ramayya Pantulu 75th Birth-Day Celebration Commemoration Volume 
=== Birth ===
Jayanti Ramayya Pantulu was born at sunrise on Wednesday, Ashadha bahula amāvāsya of the Raudri nāma samvatsaram (బుధవారం, ప్రాతః సంధ్య, ఆషాఢ బహుళ అమావాస్య, రౌద్రినామసంవత్సరం) by the Hindu calendar, which corresponds to July 18, 1860 in the Gregorian Calendar. His birthplace was the temple town of Muktīswaram (ముక్తీశ్వరం), also known as Kshanamuktīswaram (క్షణముక్తీశ్వరం) and Mukteswaram (ముక్తేశ్వరం), by the bank of the Godavari river in Amalapuram Taluk.
=== Education ===
Traditionally, Hindu temples served as centers of comprehensive human development---schools, places of meditation, places of debate etc.---rather than simply spiritual or religious centers. This tradition was still alive in Muktīswaram during Ramayya Pantulu’s early childhood. As a result, Ramayya Pantulu who was initiated for education through his Upanayanam at age five, started his education in the traditional method at the Muktīswara Siva Temple. He continued this education at the temple school for five years and learnt the Balarāmāyanam and Amarakosam, before the school was turned into a grant-in-aid school. While Ramayya Pantulu was selected for the more advanced “upper” division in the newly instituted school, he quit shortly thereafter and spent the next few years without schooling. His education took a sharp turn in the summer of 1874 when his elder brother, Jayanti Perayya Sastri, took an interest in his education, and in Ramayya Pantulu’s words, “initiated him into the mysteries of English language.” Ramayya Pantulu’s quick mastery of the course sparked his educational career. He was admitted to the B division of III form in the Town School of Rajahmundry that July, and quickly earned a slew of degrees: he earned a First Class Matriculation (1877); First Class F.A. (1879); and passed his B.A. in logic, psychology, metaphysics, and ethics from Rajahmundry College (1882). After a brief stint as the Headmaster at Rajah’s High School in Pithapuram from 1882-84, he started law school in Madras, and became the first man from the Godavari district to receive a B.L. in 1886.
== Career in Civil Services ==
While Jayanti Ramayya Pantulu wanted to pursue a career in law, his friend Mr. Jandhyala Parvateeswara Sastri, who was then Collector’s Sheristadar, compelled him to pursue a career in the Revenue Department . Ramayya Pantulu started as the District Magistrate’s Head Munshi on a (at the time, eye-catching) salary of Rs. 60 a month , and briskly shot up to great heights in the civil services, being promoted to Sheristadar in 1890 , Acting Deputy Collector in 1891 , Madras Presidency Magistrate in 1911 , and First Class Deputy Collector in 1914 . To understand the significance of these posts, it is instructive to recall that British India which contained about 20% of the world’s population at the time was split into only three presidencies---Madras, Bombay, and Bengal.
== Member of the Central Legislative Assembly of India ==
The late 1800s and early 1900s marked a period of substantial rise in the Indian populace’s efforts for independence. The seeds of Indian self-governance as a parliamentary democracy were planted by the 1919 Government of India Act that established the Indian Legislative Assembly---the lower house of a bicameral parliament of India, and the predecessor of the Constituent Assembly of India, and modern Lok Sabha. While the first assembly that was convened in 1920 had 142 members, only 52 of these were elected through general elections . The remaining 90 seats were nominated positions (to serve British interests) or elected only by select religious and cultural special interest groups. 
Jayanti Ramayya Pantulu was one of the 52 Indians who won his constituency's general election to serve as a member of the inaugural Indian Legislative Assembly from 1920-23 . He served as the elected representative of the Krishna and Godavari Districts, and was one of just four generally elected representatives from the modern Telugu states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Ramayya Pantulu was a champion of equal opportunity . He articulated his viewpoint most clearly in the third session of 1923’s Legislative Assembly Debates , that focused on the criteria for hiring members into the civil services. Ramayya Pantulu objected to a proposal to “give preference” to certain sub-communities in the Indian nation and hire based on “provincial considerations”. As an alternative he proposed appointment to civil services based on “considerations of capacity, efficiency and character irrespective of caste or creed.” He further justified his standpoint by arguing that “all that is aimed at even in the most democratic country is equality of opportunity for all people,” and expanded on his thoughts by stating that "the rule which ought to be followed in this as in all other cases is to put a man in the place for which he is best fitted. That is the only rule. Once you depart from that rule, you do not know where you will go. It will be impossible to depart from that course and give any weight to the considerations of communal representation without demoralising the whole service." 
Category:Indian poets
Category:Members of the state Legislative Assemblies of India
Category:1860 births