Triveni is Seventy Years Young

Padmabhushan, Prof. Dr. P. Tirumala Rao

When you think of men of the “STREET OF INK” on the editorial side late Sri Kolavennu Ramakotiswara Rau stands outstandingly in the line. He had a quiet charm of his own. He belonged to the village Kolavennu and bears it as his surname in the traditional Andhra style. He lived in Narasaraopet in Guntur District. He was educated as a lawyer at Madras to practice in Naraswaraopet, but he chose to be a journalist and started the monthly journal “TRIVENI” in the year 1927 at Madras, the capital of the composite Madras State.

The TRIVENI completed seventy years as a literary and cultural journal and as a mouth piece of Indian art, history, culture and literature. My first cousin bearing my own name (taking it after from grandfather), elder brother Peda Tirumala Rao was his office Secretary. There was nothing between them except office contact. My brother was lucky being a failed matriculate, as otherwise he would have been recruited to the Revenue Department and would have lost contact with the cultural world of TRIVENI. After nearly four decades, when my grandson was talking to him, he could not believe that he was a failed matriculate, with all his voluminous knowledge of all the arts and a good reading habit. My cousin graduated in the University of TRIVENI, of which Sri Ramakotiswara Rau was the Vice Chancellor. That was the type of literary instruction the editor could give through his journal to my brother.

In the beginning TRIVENI was in a modest two-room office in Thambuchetty Street, Madras in the building of YMIA, (Young Men’s Indian Association). Mrs Annie Besant built it in Madras on the pattern of the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association). Annie Besant was the top notch of World Theosophical Society preaching unity of religions. Thus the building YMIA itself had a flavour of the world culture. It is the precursor of the present Sahitya Akademi and the National Book Trust of India of Delhi.

It is the harbinger of the P.E.N. of India. Its founder Editor was the trendsetter and the creator of good journalists and gentlemen like M. Chalapati Rau of the National Herald, Lucknow.

The great inspiration of TRIVENI was Sri Ramakotiswara Rau. He had a galaxy of intellectual and literary giants contributing to the journal on subjects of national and international importance. In this holy atmosphere, the prepossessing personality of Sri Ramakotiswara Rau was a study for us who were then young students in Madras. The immaculately dressed, smooth talking Ramakotiswara Rau called my brother Tirumala Rao and my brother responded with the alacrity of devoted disciple. The youngsters looked upon the scene with awe and respect.

On the ground floor of the building there was a canteen exclusively for the members. We had a special access to the great man through our brother. We lined the canteen because the menu was deliciously prepared with pure butter melted ghee. The dosa, the bread – butter - jam and salt and pepper, specially stimulated our young palate. All this pleasant atmosphere added to the charm of TRIVENI office with its inspiring editor and the devoted secretary. My brother was like a versatile actor of the old times on the drama stage, readily substituting any role that was missing.

The yearly subscription of this great journal was a mere meagre sum of six rupees. Life Membership was a hundred rupees only. Besides this, the donations promised by the philanthropists whet their appetite with allurement. In those days, the aristocratic professionals lived in big compounds. We the ‘urchins’ had the allurement and the distance we had to keep. My brother with his simple dress used to creep in with the audacity, of a self- possessed intellectual! The modern, rich persons may wonder, how, the older generation of eminent journalists maintained their cheerful outlook on life. They had no money in the pocket but only cheer in the mind. Mr. Kolavennu was one such enigmatic personality.

The journal faced financial crises very often. But he did not put up a white flag and run in panic. As it did not pander to the vulgar taste of the masses and flatter the rich, it faced problems. But the editor did not lower the standards.

When I look in retrospect how finances were trickling in, as Rs 6 or Rs 100 were immediately used for the paper as though they were receiving an yearly bonus, I am surprised, depending on the dividend with no thought for the morrow. The editor immediately proceeded to purchase a silk curtain or a wall design or a table cloth or some artiste decoration and aesthetic beauty which pleased the eye and satisfied the mind.

It is the eternal waiting for the finances like the proverbial Macawber of Charles Dickens, every day waiting with expectation that something will turn up! We must salute that generations’s tenacity and patience. Mr Ramakotiswara Rau with all his cultural attainments was given membership of Madras Legislature. Honesty was his main quality.

In the last days of his noble life, Sri Kasu Brahmanda Reddy (former Chief Minister) provided him with a monthly pension of Rs. 100/-which must have still over flown the brim of the cup of satisfaction with all the cheer possible till the end! He sacrificed every thing to maintain this journal. It was then taken over by Sri Bhavaraju Narasimha Rao. It is the duty of all of us to do our best for the journal. Support to this journal is the touchstone of a person’s taste and the test of his culture. It is truly the journal of Indian Renaissance. The glorious TRIPLE STREAM should take us to those good old days.

Golden Jubilee year of Independence is a golden opportunity to philanthropists to prove their merit and mettle by assisting this sole surviving cultural quarterly of India. Let us try to recapture the Gandhian vision. Long live TRIVENI.