Ramakotiswara Rau: A Tribute

It seems so long ago that I first met Kolavennu Ramakotiswara Rau that his passing away a few months brings to memory some of the events connected with our acquaintance, which happened over the years. Triveni, which was started by him in 1928, had been in existence for a few years, when it carried a few of my articles, which encouraged me to feel that I could, if I strove hard, become a sort of writer myself. But it was when I was in distant Patna that I remember receiving a letter from him asking me to contribute to the magazine and to become a life subscriber. I do not remember the date exactly but it was some time in 1935 or 1936. By then Triveni was in bloom reflecting in its columns the idealism and the ideals of its founder. I did become a life subscriber and also continued to write occasionally to it on constitutional, economic and allied subjects.

Since then, and until a few years , I had been not only a contributor but a regular reader of the magazine. As I was away for many years in North India and came South only once in three or four years, my personal contacts with Ramakotiswara Rau were not very intimate or close, nor had I occasion to watch closely the running of the magazine which had its ups and downs. I knew however that Ramakotiswara Rau had been nursing the child Triveni with all possible care and that he was doing so at great personal sacrifice. I had come to entertain a high regard for him as an individual even as I had a high regard for the magazine. It was altogether a magazine out of the ordinary: Ramakotiswara Rau had imparted to it the veneer of an essentially literary, cultural and artistic magazine and utilised it as a medium for the promotion of cultural understanding among people speaking different languages and hailing from different linguistic areas in the country. It did and does even now carry articles on other subjects also but its predominant interest was cultural and literary.

I returned to Madras after nearly 15 years in the North in 1946, and during my eight years’ stay in that city before I migrated again to Delhi, my meetings and contacts with Ramakotiswara Rao were more frequent. For sometimes during this period he was out of Madras himself.

My personal impression of Ramakotiswara Rau was that he had a genius for friendship; that he had a high sense of moral and human values; that he had a highly developed perception of what is fair and unfair; and finally, that he was a person of great sensitiveness and fine sensibility. I do not know, and I have not heard, that he ever consciously said or did anything which injured the susceptibilities of anyone.

One incident which enhanced my regard for Ramakotiswara Rau may be mentioned here. After nearly 2½ years, the Indian Republic published by the Subhodaya Publications Ltd., Madras, of which I was the first editor (1948-1951), began to experience financial difficulties. The management, after much hesitation, decided ultimately to hand it over to the then managing director who agreed to continue its publication. But the assurance was not fully kept and the editorial staff was given notice and I also received notice of termination of service. But a private offer was made to me that I could continue as editor, if I was prepared to accept reduced emoluments, which in essence meant that I would work on only half the salary I was getting till then. I would have agreed to the proposal, if only it was made in the proper spirit and manner, as I realised that in a situation of the kind that faced us, everyone had to make a sacrifice to facilitate a growing institution going until things brightened up. But in the humiliating “accept or leave” attitude in which it was made, the proposal was not worth considering.

While the matter was pending, the editorship was offered to Ramakotiswara Rau on the reduced scale of emoluments which I was asked to accept. Before accepting or rejecting it, Ramakotiswara Rau came to me to know the circumstances in which he was approached and whether I on my side was accepting the proposal made to me. When I explained the circumstances, in which I decided to decline it, he said that he would not also agree to take my place in the circumstances and refused the offer. I was deeply touched by the courtesy shown by Ramakotiswara Rau in consulting me and by his refusal to accept the position in what would have been a humiliating situation.

My contacts with Ramakotiswara Rau continued after I left Madras for Delhi in 1954. Unfortunately the Triveni’sfinancial embarrassments persisted and not only was it somewhat irregularly published but the periodicity of its publication had to be changed more than once. My occasional contributions to the magazine continued for some time subsequently and I received very cordial and friendly letters from Ramakotiswara Rau who, for some years preceding his passing away, was in declining health and settled down in Narasaraopet, while friends helped him in the editing and publication of Triveni.

Freedom had brought with it a number of undesirable developments, one of which is the inordinate proneness for acquisition of n positions of power and of money by persons who had till then participated in the freedom movement and even served jail sentences. Ramakotiswara Rau was remarkably free from personal ambition and I believe by temperament disliked the methods indulged in by our latter day politicians who have made politics a profession and utilised it for personal or other equally ignoble ends. To the end he shunned politics with power as the end objective and preferred to live in obscurity and poverty even though he could have come into public prominence and become affluent, if he wanted. On the other hand, it was also possible, that he may not have gained any recognition if he chose to enter the lists as a competitor for political preferment.

Triveni is Ramakotiswara Rau’s pet child to which he was so greatly devoted that his name and that of the magazine are inseparably inter-twined in the minds of many who know him. He was for tome time the editor of the Krishna Patrika and was also associated with the Andhra Jateeya Kalasala in Machilipatnam but whatever other avocations he adopted, Triveni remained the principal object of his affection.

I can only hope that the journal, which is a monument to his sacrifices and his personal devotion during his lifetime, will continue to exist as a monument to his memory and that its publication will be continued without interruption to serve as a reminder to its readers and his friends and acquaintances about the ideals of its founder, who gave everything he possessed for it.