Dr. Pappu Venugopala Rao (1948–2024)

[Nityānanda Miśra]

Dear list members

I woke up this morning to the devastating news that Dr Pappu Venugopala Rao, a prolific scholar of Telugu and Sanskrit and one of the foremost exponents of Nāṭyaśāstra of our times, passed away late last night in Chennai. It is a deep personal loss for me as I interacted with him over countless emails, phone calls and video calls during the previous 18 months discussing many fine aspects of the Nāṭyaśāstra and other texts of dramatics. Like a father figure, he patiently answered all my questions on the Nāṭyaśāstra with meticulous details and inexhaustible energy. Just this Saturday, I had asked him a question on chapter 32 of the Nāṭyaśāstra. As he was travelling, he said he would get back to me by Sunday night or Monday morning. Bhagavān had other plans and the question will remain unanswered forever.

Sometime last year, I had composed this verse as a tribute to his scholarship in Nāṭyaśāstra—

ब्रह्मदेवसमारम्भां भरताचार्यमध्यमाम्।
वेणुगोपालपर्यन्तां वन्दे नाट्यपरम्पराम्॥
brahmadevasamārambhāṃ bharatācāryamadhyamām
veṇugopālaparyantāṃ vande nāṭyaparamparām
“I salute the Nāṭya tradition, which has Brahmā-deva at its beginning, which has preceptors like Bharata in the middle, and which extends till [Dr. Pappu] Veṇugopāla [Rao].”

A brief introduction to Dr. Rao and his works is here. The below biography is from his forthcoming publication on the Nāṭyaśāstra.

Dr. Pappu Venugopala Rao is a multi-faceted scholar who is renowned for his erudition in many Indian arts. He is an academician with master’s degrees in Sanskrit, Telugu and English Literature, as well as doctoral degrees in Sanskrit and Telugu and a D.Litt in Indology. Presently the Chairperson at the University Of Silicon Andhra and formerly the academic administrator at the American Institute of Indian Studies, Dr Rao holds several prominent positions at many academic centres across the globe.
A prolific writer, Dr. Rao has authored books such as Flowers at His Feet, The Science of Sri Cakra, Rasamanjari, Fragrance of Padams, Bunch of Javalis, and the critical edition of Nṛttaratnāvalī published by IGNCA. The books have received both critical acclaim and popularity with Rasikas.
Dr. Rao has been associated with giants in the fields of dance and music such as Sri Patrayani Sangeeta Rao, Dr. Balamurali Krishna and Dr Vempati Chinna Satyam, with the latter of who he is credited with introducing academic enquiry in the field of Kuchipudi dance. His lectures and workshops on music, dance, and literature, particularly those on Natyasastra are much in demand and known for their intellectual profundity.
In his illustrious career, Dr. Rao has been decorated with numerous awards including the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Sangita Samrat, the Natya Visaradah by Krishna Gana Sabha 2017, Artiste of the Year 2012 by the Bangalore Gayan Samaja, the Nritya Kala Saagara by the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana 2012 and the Musicologist Award by the Music Forum, Mumbai to mention a few.
For his many contributions, Dr. Rao was awarded one of India’s highest honours in the field of arts, the Sangeeta Natak Academy Puraskar in 2016.

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Nityānanda Miśra

[Nagaraj Paturi]

Thanks, aadaraNiya Nityaananda Misra ji for writing this and sharing here. 

The book that Sri Nityanand Misra ji is mentioning is an Indica Classical Library publication. Sri Megh Kalyana Sundaram who is looking after the work of ICL at Indica toiled meticulously for this project, closely interacting with Dr Pappu Venugopala Rao garu. 

Sri Nityanand Misra ji wrote a foreword to this book apart from contributing  through his knowledge of printing related softwares.  

 I was able to write the publisher's foreword to this Indica publication of his English translation of Natya Shastra with Samshodhinee English commentary.

Sri Hari Kiran garu, founder Indica took keen interest in bringing this book out contributing his ideas to the design of the book at every stage , in every aspect of the design. 

It is sad to see that this sad development happened with the coming out of the book being just a few days away. 

Dr Pappu lost his wife a year ago and as I it in the case of many of these elderly people, was not able to bear the loss and this happened within a year of the loss. 

My association with him is decades long. 

My namaskaraams to the matchless polymath. 

Sadgatipraaptirastu. 

🙏🙏🙏


 

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Nagaraj Paturi

 

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

Dean, IndicA

BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra

BoS Kavikulaguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University, Ramtek, Maharashtra

BoS Veda Vijnana Gurukula, Bengaluru.

Member, Advisory Council, Veda Vijnana Shodha Samsthanam, Bengaluru

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies, 

FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education, 

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.