Grantha Āviṣkaraṇa Sabha

Delivering the inaugural address, he announced the establishment of the 'Acharya Madiraju Ranga Rao Rasaduni Sahithi Peetham' in his father's name.

He said that every year, on behalf of this Peetham, awards would be conferred upon litterateurs and poets. He further announced that literary programmes would also be organised for students.

Presiding over the assembly, he expounded on Madiraju Ranga Rao's Swecchaa Kavitvam and brought his towering personality vividly before the audience's eyes.

Every poet writes for the sake of a moral vision, and adopts a manner in which to write it. What, then, was Ranga Rao's moral vision? As far as I understand it, it was principally humanity. Everyone writes for the sake of humane values — Ranga Rao wrote for their nurture and their betterment, he said.

In all the books Ranga Rao composed, it is these that he chiefly addresses. In one sense, if all these writings are taken together, they become a history of humaneness itself. He wrote that history not as others had written it, but in an entirely new way. It is a history useful to everyone, to all countries and to all ages; in that manner he gave a single name to all the histories of the past. That is, in a sense, an invention and an innovation — to give history another name. And in that, Ranga Rao was the pioneer.

The Swecchaa Kavitvam he wrote is called Verse Libre, Prose Poetry and Blank Verse in English. There are many ways of writing poetry. The poetry of earlier times belonged largely to slokas, padyas, songs and geyas — and for all of these, countless rules and regulations were prescribed. That is why he was an 'inventor' and an 'innovator'; he thought about everything anew, ever anew, he said.

As far as I have read, there are many new words and phrases in Ranga Rao's language — all of them his own creations. If you ask me, his language is his alone, he said. Likewise his thought too is remarkable, because it belongs to the philosophical, visionary and spiritual order.

Speaking as chief guest, he said that Madiraju's teaching of criticism was magnificent. When Ranga Rao taught a lesson in the classroom, the students would be transported into rapture, he said.

He noted that the Telangana Swaram Ranga Rao wrote has been translated into English. He was not one to toss off a padya casually — he would sing it beautifully and melodiously, he said. Looking at the collected literature published now, Madiraju appears to us as ever-youthful, he said.

Speaking about Madiraju's Swecchaa Kavitvam, he said this is a new age — an age of freedom and equality. With a democratic and socialist vision, freedom flourishes ever more newly as time passes. This is not vachana kavitvam; what he has been writing for seventy years was established under this name — 'Swecchaa Kavitvam', he said.

He said Ranga Rao took the elements of nature as symbols and wrote his free verse, and that he wrote poetry remarkable both in quantity and in quality. Rather than writing padyas, he chose another new path and named it Swecchaa Kavitvam, he said.

He said that writing so many books was something only Ranga Rao could have accomplished. That he could offer criticism on all subjects and on the poetry of all poets was a great thing, he said. He added that his literature also contains an analysis of the human being.

He said it was a matter of sorrow and of lasting want that he could not meet Madiraju during his lifetime. Ranga Rao, paying no heed to himself, went on doing his own work like a rishi, he said.

Poetry is a Pushpaka Vimana — however many poets may come, there is room for them in the world of poetry, he used to say. Even when critics paid him no attention, Ranga Rao went on doing his own work, he said.

He introduced the writings of Acharya Madiraju Ranga Rao, saying that to bring out 170 books as a poet and a writer is no small matter.

The manner in which Ranga Rao offered criticism on Viswanatha's Ramayana Kalpavruksham was unprecedented and unrepeatable, he said. Ranga Rao was a litterateur who blended the ancient and the modern, he said, adding that the printing of his books should be expanded further.

He said Madiraju Ranga Rao was neither an extremist nor a moderate — he was a well-wisher (hitavaadi). The humaneness in Madiraju Ranga Rao's poetry is a great thing, he said.

He said that the son and daughters who have printed Madiraju's books have repaid their debt to their father.

He said that Madiraju Ranga Rao's poetry is universal, and spoke of the closeness he shared with Ranga Rao.