TANGUTURI PRAKASAM PANTHULU GAARU SHORT STORY

Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu

Tanguturi  Prakasam Pantulu (23 August 1872 – 20 May 1957) was an Indian politician and freedom fighter, chief minister of the Madras Presidency, and subsequently became the first chief minister of the new Andhra state, created by the partition of Madras State along linguistic lines. He was also known as Andhra Kesari (Lion of Andhra). The Andhra Pradesh government issued G.O on 10 August 2014 declaring his birth anniversary a state festival.

He was born to Telugu Niyogi Brahmin family of Subbamma and Gopala Krishnayya in the village of Vinodarayunipalem, 26 km from Ongole in Madras presidency (now Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh). When he was 11, his father died and his mother had to run a boarding house at Ongole, a profession that was looked down upon at the time.When E. Hanumantha Rao Naidu, his teacher at school, moved to Rajahmundry, he took Prakasam along with him as that place had better opportunities for education. He acted in Gayopa khyanam by Chilakamarti Lakshmi Narasimham in 1890 along with his teacher. He was interested in becoming a lawyer since childhood, but Prakasam failed his matriculation examination. However, he managed to go to Madras and become a second-grade pleader. Returning to Rajahmundry, he eventually became a successful lawyer. He was elected as Municipal Chairman of Rajahmundry in 1904 when he was 31 years old. This election was a tough one at that point in time.

Andhra Kesari Prakasam Life History-video