Bhavaraju Narasimharaoji
Honoured
V. SIVARAMAKRISHNAN
BHAVARAJU NARASIMHA RAO
Editor, TRIVENI
[The
Nagarjuna Univesity at its convocation held on
January 23, 1987, conferred the DEGREE OF DOCTOR LETTERS (Honoris
Causa) on MR. BHAVARAJU NARASIMHA RAO, Editor, TRIVENI. The following
note by Mr. V. Sivaramakrishnan, Associate Editor. Bhavan's Journal, is
reproduced with the kind courtesy of the journal. - Associate Editor]
Honorary doctorates conferred by our universities
are going cheap and sometimes even becoming controversial. The latest unsavoury episode is that of a Vice-Chancellor deciding on
his own to confer the doctorates on two persons (one of them the Chief Minister
of the State concerned) without the approval of the Academic Council. Academic honours do and can gain in value only if the choice falls
on men and women who have served the country and the society, intellectually or
otherwise, without undue ostentation and without expectation of any reward. It
is not so much the deed performed as the spirit that inspires it which should
count for recognition. Looking at the honour done to Shri Bhavaraju Narasimha Rao recently by the Nagarjuna University of Andhra
Pradesh, this way, one feels happy.
Shri Narasimha Rao, at 73,
has a fine record of public service behind him. It is in the field of culture that
he has done the most. As the founder of the Triveni Publishers and owner of the
Triveni Press of Machilipatnam (1946), Shri Rao has brought out Ramayanam,
Srimad Bhagavatam, Jnaneswari Bhagavadgita, all in
Telugu, besides a Telugu Dictionary, Gandhiji’s Autobiography (in Telugu), many
novels of high literary value and text-books in English, Telugu, Hindi, Tamil
and Malayalam. One can understand the dynamism of Shri
Rao if it is realised that all this is the work of
one man who had to paddle his own canoe. He had abundant goodwill from men in
the limelight but little else. That Shri Rao has been
keeping aflame that brilliant torch of Indian culture lit 60 years ago, TRIVENI
(a quarterly), in the face of overwhelming difficulties, is a tribute to his
perseverance and devotion to culture. “Triveni’s”
founder-editor, Shri K. Ramakotiswara Rau, a soul of
goodness if ever there was one, was on the point of giving up the struggle of
running the journal when in 1950, Bhavaraju took over
the responsibility. The torch could not have been passed on to a worthier man.
The journal is still far from being an economic proposition but what sustains Bhavaraju is his loyalty to the founder and his sense of
mission and the support of his scholar-friends.
Bhavaraju Narasimha Rao’s gifts are versatile–journalist, writer of short
stories and plays, actor, broadcaster, connoisseur of music and tennis player.
Spotlessly dressed in khadi, he is soft of speech and
gentle of manner. Your first impression of the man endures – a gentleman to the
finger-tips.
Shri Rao is closely associated with the Bhavan as its Life Member and Vice-Chairman of the Machilipatnam Kendra. The Kendra felicitated him on being
the recipient of the honour from the Nagarjuna
University at a function held on February 10, 1987. His article entitled “Noble
Thoughts for a Happy Life” contributed to Bhavan's
Journal of April 1-15, 1986, is worth re-reading. The article reflects the
man and his mind.