Hyderabad: Dasaradhi Rangacharya, 89, a well known poet and writer, who fought against the Nizam’s government with gun and pen, died on Monday.
He was rushed to a private hospital here on Monday morning after his condition deteriorated, where he breathed his last.
According to family members, Dasaradhi was not keeping well for the past one week.
His body was shifted to his residence in West Maredpally and the last rites will be performed on Tuesday.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao ordered a state funeral. Several people thronged his residence to pay homage to the departed soul.
Born on August 24, 1928 in Warangal district of erstwhile Hyderabad State, Dasaradhi actively took part in the Telangana Armed Struggle and fought against the Nizam’s rule. He went underground till Hyderabad was liberated from Nizam’s rule.
Initially, he worked as a school teacher in Vijayawada and later shifted to Hyderabad and joined the municipal corporation in Sec-underabad Division where he worked for over three decades.
In 1969, his pen attracted the spotlight with movie Chillara Devullu. He followed it up, writing Modugu Poolu in 1971, a chronicle of the history of Telangana. Chillara Devullu brought him the Sahitya Akademi award. Jeevanayanam was his autobiography.
His two novels, which were written in typical Telangana dialect, became highly popular as common people could easily understand them. Though the literacy rate in Telangana was very low at that time, the novels were widely read and told and were considered as the great novels of Telangana during that period.
He achieved a unique distinction of translating the four Vedas into Telugu creating history in the Telugu literature. He had also written Srimad Ramay-anam and Sri Maha Bharatam in literary Telugu.
The Chief Minister, condoled the demise of Dasaradhi saying that the Telugu literary world had lost a towering personality.
