Korada Ramakrishnaiya

Korada Ramakrishnayya (2 October 1891 – 28 March 1962) was a Dravidian philologist and litterateur. He was the first Telugu scholar to publish research works on comparative Dravidian linguistics.

Ramakrishnayya authored works of fundamental importance and extended the borders of research in Telugu literary criticism, philological interpretation of Telugu grammar, cognate Dravidian vocabulary, comparative Dravidian grammar, and comparative Dravidian prosody.

Early life Korada Ramakrishnayya was born on 2 October 1891 in Amalapuram, East Godavari district, at his grandmother's house. His parents were Sitamma and Lakshmi Manoharam.

He completed his early education and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from Noble College, Machilipatnam in 1915. After his graduation, he worked as a lecturer at the same college. Later, he pursued his Master of Arts (M.A.) at Presidency College, Madras, and completed his degree in 1921.

Career After completing his B.A., Ramakrishnayya worked as a lecturer at Noble College, Machilipatnam. He then taught Telugu and Sanskrit at Maharajah's College in Vizianagaram. After earning his M.A., he served for 12 years (1915–1927) at Maharajah's College. In 1927, he joined Madras University as the Head of the Department of Telugu. He retired in 1950. Following his retirement, he worked for six years at the Tirupati TTD in the Department of Oriental Research.

Publications Korada Ramakrishnayya was among the first to show that Southern Indian languages share a common metrical tradition in poetry. He established high standards in linguistic research and was recognized for his scientific approach to language studies. He was also a pioneer in applying historical knowledge of words to illuminate social history, and he contributed significantly to the promotion of democracy and public discourse through his works.

Telugu literary criticismPhilological interpretation of Telugu grammarComparative Dravidian grammar

Personal life Korada Ramakrishnayya was the eldest of two brothers, his brother being Korada Seshavadhani. He comes from a rich line of Telugu scholars, litterateurs, and writers, with his grandfather Korada Ramachandra Sastri being the first known original Telugu playwright. He had 3 sons and 2 daughters, his second son being noted linguist Korada Mahadeva Sastri.