Ande Sri

Loka Kavi / Praja Kavi / Prakruthi Kavi Dr. Ande Sri is born in Rebarthi village near Jangaon in Warangal district, born to parents whose identity is unknown, and then just like a sprout pierced out from the womb of rocks, he sprang up like a Hyperion tree and out grown the frontiers. He grew up as an Orphan and did not have any formal education. He started his literary journey in the lap of nature and with his blessed intuition he molded himself as a vocalist, lyricist, a cine songwriter and ultimately evolved into a universal poet. He received an honorary doctorate from Kakatiya University.

When observed his early phase of life and the further stages and his present colossal iconic identity, one must wonder at his insurmountable accomplishments. His brought up is rather uncared, poverty stricken and an episode of hunger. He was forbidden from the warmth of his mother's lap. Wandering around the fields as a cattle care-taker, days rolled away and his valuable childhood melted into nothing worth of memories. The petty jobs like masonry work which he took up for the survival had never filled his stomach. The entire three decades of his insignificant life compelled him to move in search of livelihood. All of a sudden, he set out to the capital city detaching his roots with his native place. Even there, he couldn't feed his family with his whole day's labor. The inefficiency, the helplessness, the frustration, and like a bolt from the blue the sudden illness of his beloved son drove him to think of even committing suicide with his family members.

It was in those chaotic circumstances, the streaming Indian spirit had come to his rescue. Like Vivekananda, like Buddha, his search of life took into a twirl and he extensively traveled around. He met many seers, saints, yogis and many a spiritual leader. As a result of this interaction with these personalities, he was spiritually enlightened. His undeterred peace of mind empowered him to face the buffets of life. Like the story of Kalidasa, blessed by Goddess Mother, Ande Sri was profusely showered by the blessing of Goddess of Knowledge, Vagdevi. The fresh fragrance of the folklore spirit on one side and his indefatigable spiritual and intellectual quest of traveling on the other side, has transformed him into a nature poet. Couldn't write, couldn't even read yet this vedic land where the vocal cultural heritage streams down through generations blessed him with rare extempore lyrical skills.

He perceived every particle of nature like a curious child who wonders at everything and he began to compose spontaneous lyrics. Nature blessed him; the Almighty guided him to translate the marvelous mysteries of the world around him. He continued the inheritance of the classical poet Mahakavi Potana, where his origins also lie and are deeply rooted into the soil. He voiced the common man's song, the pundit's poem and the modern prosaic lyric conjugating these three streams into a beautiful tapestry.

It's a great turning point in Ande Sri's life when he met the great researcher and scholar in folklore studies Professor Biruduraju Ramaraju. This has left an indelible mark throughout Ande Sri's successive years. When the Professor happened to listen to Ande Sri's pastoral purity of his lyrics, he felt an upsurge of emotion and flung his hands open to hug him in a bewilderment and exclaimed, “where have you been all these days, oh lad!?”. Their relationship lasted until the Professor's last breath.

When Mysore Dutta Peetadhipathi, Sri Sri Sri Ganapathi Sachidananda Avadhutha heard about his insight of Indian spiritual values in his lyrics, he was enthralled and warmly welcomed him and honored him with a ‘Swarna Kankana’ (golden bracelet) amidst of great literary legends. The great Maharshi also offered him a cash award of one lakh rupees. Ande Sri's life has taken one more turn when a humblest soul whose reputation even crossed overseas, ushered the way to this nature poet for his literary journey. By the virtue of his companionship, Ande Sri's journey of life as well as his literary career flourished.

Ande Sri worked as a shepherd at local landlords estate. He was picked up by Swami Shankar Maharaj associated with Sringeri Matam after hearing him at his village. Swamiji was enthralled and warmly welcomed him and honored him with a ‘Swarna Kankana’ (golden bracelet) amidst of great literary legends. The great Maharshi also offered him a cash award of one lakh rupees. Ande Sri's life has taken one more turn when a humblest soul whose reputation even crossed overseas, ushered the way to this nature poet for his literary journey. By the virtue of his companionship, Ande Sri's journey of life as well as his literary career flourished.

Sri's outward appearance is simple, unassuming, andrustic. But the moment one peeps into his inner soul, his colossal cosmic spirit plaited with Indian spirituality illuminates. During the second half of the nineties, when the separate Telangana aspiration was picking up its pace on the political, social and literary scenarios, Ande Sri voiced his inner spirit and chorused to the cause, as a mean at his disposal. When the movement took its form into volcanic outburst of struggle, Ande Sri with an unparalleled commitment, began to stride along with the cause, voicing the Telangana people's longing desire through his lyrics. The whole land of struggle resonated with his songs. During the period of seventeen years in the history of Telangana struggle, no platform was left untouched by his songs. The songs like ‘JAI BOLO TELANGANA JALA GARJANALA JADIWANA’ and ‘JAYA JAYA HEY TELANGANA JANANI JAYA KETHANAM’ ignited the people's spirits. When the state came into existence, the later was honored as state song which echoed thousands of triumphant beats into the millions of hearts. Today, the song is echoed on every premise of Telangana schools. Like Bankim's Vandemataram and Tagore's Jana Gana Mana, Ande Sri's Jaya Jaya He received a great respect across the Telangana region.

His lyrics are sung across the state and many of them were instrumental in the success of Telugu movies.

He mostly composes and sings on nature (prakruti) in Telugu with a touch of Telangana.

He can recite a poem without preparation on any subject.

Telangana is his motherland. He never forgets his roots. He not only orchestrated the social issues of his own land but also wove various lyrics of universal concern and unsung pathos of humanity. One of his unprecedented compositions of the modern times in the literary field, the song ‘Mayamai Pothunnadamma Manishannavaadu’ rocked the whole world. The pathos that he filliped and the pangs that he touched in this song questioned the entity of vanishing humanity. The poem had the unwritten record registered on everybody's heart. And this exquisite piece of lyric had the honor of inclusion in the curriculum of united Andhra Pradesh state. ‘Nadachipoye Nalla Meghalalo…’ The maestro's mastermind swings on fluffy clouds taking you into a world of hanging heavens where you listen to the music of raising waves and falling tides, rustling leaves, chirping birds and crickets, hissing snakes, buzzing bees, and the mellifluous musical stream hidden behind a bough, and the reed that becomes alive when the lips touch. You can see the arch of vibrant colours, and the tapping drum beats of raindrops. As a whole; nature's mask is unveiled in this poem. ‘Adithya Nee pada dhuli… Sanjatha keli…’ The bright star over the horizon, the fire of the flower that illuminates the earth, the rays that pierce into impregnated dark ignorance awakened the poet spiritually. The song's grand delineation of the sun clings to the heart. “The human body is the chariot and the hopes are the white horses and the breaths are the reins”, he sings. He beautifies the Sun with marvelous menageries. His one more master piece, ‘Kaalam Karavaalam’ A Time-scimitar, obviously in the hands of the poetry-mastroe, bewares everyone unveiling the universal truth ...Time is scimitar. It engulfs everyone and everything. Nothing exists permanent in front of it. Hey Man! Raise yourself by your deeds. Imprint your footprints on the time by doing blissful and righteous errands as you are a given a chance to do so... is altogether unparalleled to any poetic work of its kind. His philosophical explore into various facts of day-to-day life shrugs the roots of age-old beliefs. He questions the injustice to the unappreciated hands, which build everything. He worries about the malevolent unequal status of the woman folk. He raises his voice against the unjust social disparities of colour, creed, and caste.

Having started his life as a pastoral kid, the journey of his life, like a streaming flow never ceased nor coursed aright. Perhaps, that has induced him to switch over to write an epic poem on the Rivers. This dream of his travel to the majestic streams and the magnificent beauties of leaping Waterfalls across the globe had no way to come true as he was literally penniless. This has come true when the myriads of admirers extended their support. Consequently, in 2010, the tour began from Peru where the great river, the Amazon takes its birth and courses into Brazil. He then proceeded to the Parana River streaming along the frontiers of Brazil and Argentina and there he also witnessed the exquisite scenic beauties of the Iguazu waterfalls cascading over rocks. He also experienced the tranquility of the Mississippi river of the United States of America and the grandiose of the Nile that flows into arid African lands of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. He also visited the dazzling beauties of the Congo River. Then his next visit was to Victorian falls of Zimbabwe, the largest sheet of falling waters, and the flow of Zambezi River satiated some extent of his thirst of streaming beauties. He has flown to Chinese lands and perched on the banks of the Yangzi and the Yellow river, the creeping giants with extreme stillness. Then he rushed to Australia to witness the splendid beauties of the Murray River and then went London to watch the grandiose of the Thames.

Then he explored the European great river the Rhine and flew to the banks of Russian rivers the Ob, the Irtysh, the NC Yenisei and the Volga. For centuries, these are the rivers where the great human civilizations flourished. He witnessed their inception, the course of their journey and their humble convergence into the mighty oceans. Perhaps he is the first poet to have this opportunity to perceive the wonders of the world, the waterfalls and the great streams and capture these experiences into a lyrical epic.

With his massive lyrical abundance, he conquered the universe. The ardent lovers of his lyrics are everywhere in the world. He became a universal man of letters. The Kakatiya University honored him with an honorary doctorate. The Academy of Universal Global Peace, Washington D.C of the USA conferred on him the coveted honorary doctorate. Two more universities also honored him with prestigious awards. He was a winner of Nandi award and plenty of other awards feathered in his crown.

• A song, Maayamai Pothundamma Manishanavadu which was penned by him for the film Erra Samudram has inspired the Andhra Pradesh Universities syllabus committee to include it in the Telugu second year graduation text books for the next academic year starting in 2009. This is the third song to feature in Telugu syllabi after Maa Telugu Thalliki and Telugu Jathi Manadi in the 77 years of Telugu cinema.[2]
• Kakatiya University conferred him an honorary doctorate for his contribution as a lyricist.[3]
• The Academy of Universal Global Peace, Washington D.C of the USA conferred on him the coveted honorary doctorate
• Nandi Award for a Telugu film Ganga in the best lyrics category for the song Vellipotunnava in 2006