Aarudhra
Aarudhra (born Bhagavatula Sadasiva Sankara Sastry; 31 August 1925 – 4 June 1998) was an Indian author, poet, lyricist, translator, publisher, dramatist, playwright, and an expert in Telugu literature. Aarudhra is the nephew of Telugu poet Sri Sri and is also known for his works exclusively in Telugu cinema as a screenwriter, dialogue writer, and story writer, and is the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1987. Early life. Aarudra was born in Yelamanchili, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India on 31 August 1925. After the primary education, he shifted to Vizianagaram in 1942 for his college education. He got attracted  to Communism after coming into contact with people like "Ronanki Appalaswami" and Chaganti Somayajulu. He joined the Indian Air Force as a Band Boy in 1943 and served it till 1947. He shifted to Madras and worked as editor of "Anandavani" magazine for two years. Joining the cine field in 1949, he wrote lyrics and dialogues for many films. He married noted writer K. Rama Lakshmi (a columnist and a writer-critic in her own right) in 1954. Literary works. "Tvamevaham" (You are none other than me) and "Samagra Andhra Sahityam" (An Encyclopedia of Telugu Literature) are his landmark works . He wrote poetry such as "Koonalamma Padaalu", reminiscences of the Second World War. He belonged to the school of progressive writers such as "Abhyudaya Rachayitala Sangham". Tvamevaham. "Tvamevaaham" written in 1948 was based on the contemporary violence and lawlessness during the Razakar movement in the princely state of Hyderabad. The Razakar attrocoties were sponsored by the Nizam against his own people who wanted to overthrow him in favor of democracy and join the Indian Union. In this kaavyam, death spoke to a human being and says, "you and I are the same (Tvamevaaham)". The Samagra andhra Sahityam. Aarudhra first published  the SAS in 12 parts between 1965 and 1968. It spans the Telugu literature from the 9th century CE to modern times. He chronicled the history of Telugu Literature in 12 volumes: How is Sita related to Rama? "Ramudiki Sita Yemautundi?" or "How is Sita related to Rama?", put before the public the riddle of Mandodari, Sita and Hanuman and their origins in a lucid and scholarly way. It was a bold attempt at cracking the Valmiki-Ramayana code and in the process de-mystified the story of Rama to the middle-class, literate, modern day Telugu reader. The book  explores the Buddhist and Jain sources of the story of Rama. It also surveys the Khotan Siam (Thai), Laos, and Malaysian versions of the story of Rama. Here is a sampling from the 'Dasaratha Jataka ', a Buddhist Tale: Buddha narrates the 'Dasaratha Jataka' tale to a householder who was grieving the death of his son...Long long ago.. Dasaratha was the king of Varanasi. He had sixteen thousand wives.The Queen had two sons and a daughter.The eldest son was called Ramapundit and the younger one was called Laxmanpundit.The daughter was called Sitadevi. The Queen dies after sometime . Dasaratha marries again, and comes to like her the most. She begets a son named Bharata...When Ramapundit returns from the forest, he marries Sita and rules for 16000 years...Bodhisatta concludes the story stating that Dasaratha was none other than Shuddhodana (Father of Buddha) in an earlier reincarnation. Similarly, Sita was none other than Rahulmata(Mother of Rahul or Wife of Buddha) and Ramapundit was none other than Buddha himself. Aarudra's questions like "How is Sita related to Rama?" or "Were they just Husband and wife?" may sound naive or sacrilegious but a serious study of genealogies, as revealed  from different sources, logically leads to them. To deny the existence of such stories, per Arudra, would amounted to intellectual dishonesty. Filmography. Film songs. His Film songs are compiled and published by his wife K. Ramalaxmi in five volumes.,