TELUGU SOCIAL ACTIVIST-WRITERS OF TELANGANA: LITERATURE, SOCIAL REFORM, AND THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

Abstract

Telangana has a rich tradition of Telugu writers who used literature as an instrument of social reform, political awakening, and resistance to oppression. From the library movement and anti-feudal struggles under the Nizam rulers to the Dalit movement, revolutionary cultural activism, and the movement for separate Telangana statehood, writers and activists played an important role in shaping public consciousness. Figures such as Suravaram Pratap Reddy, Vattikota Alwar Swamy, Kaloji Narayana Rao, Dasarathi Krishnamacharya, and Bhagya Reddy Varma contributed to social awareness through literature, journalism, education, and public organisation. In later periods, cultural activists and writers such as Gaddar, Guda Anjaiah, Goreti Venkanna, Ande Sri, Jupaka Subhadra, and Gaddar's fellow revolutionary performers used poetry, folk songs, theatre, and oral performance to communicate the experiences of peasants, workers, Dalits, and marginalised communities. This paper examines the relationship between Telugu literary expression and social activism in Telangana. It argues that the region's activist-writers helped transform literature from an activity associated primarily with literary institutions into a means of public education, collective resistance, cultural identity, and political mobilisation.