Devarakonda Balagangadhara Tilak

Devarakonda Balagangadhara Tilak Biography

Devarakonda Balagangadhara Tilak was a noted writer associated with Telugu literature. He was known as a poet, novelist and short story writer. He lived during the period, 21 August 1921 – 1 July 1966. He was posthumously awarded both Andhra and Kendra Sahitya Academy award in 1970 for his work - Amrutham Kurisina Ratri, an anthology of poems regarded as a milestone work of Telugu literature. This celebrated work is regarded as his masterpiece. "Sundari-SubbaRavu", "Vuri Chivara Illu" and "Tilak Kadhalu" are his popular short story works. He died at a comparatively young age of 44.

Devarakonda Balagangadhara Tilak was born in the year 1921. Mandapaka village in the Tanuku district is his native place. He started his acting career at the age of 11 and his first poem was published in a magazine. By the age of 16, he developed a unique writing style and took writing seriously. He completed his intermediate studies in Visakhapatnam and moved to Chennai to do his graduation. However due to ill health he couldn’t complete his graduation. He started Vigjnana Parishad to promote literary works of Telugu language.

His first anthology, a romantic collection of poems - Prabhatamu-Sandhya was published in the year 1945. This influential poet continued with his literary works though he was short lived. His short stories were influenced by the works of Maxim Gorky and Rabindranath Tagore. He was part of the two streams of poetry ‘the romantic’ and ‘the proletarian’, and since the age of 11, he was associated with Telugu literature for three decades. He was an advocate of free verse-prose poetry and developed a style of his own. His poetry revolves around nature’s bounty.

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Updated: April 26, 2016