Pendyala Varavara Rao, born in 1940 in Warangal district, played an active role in "virasam" (viplava racayitala samgham = Revolutionary Writers' Association) for a long time. He used to work as a college lecturer in Warangal town - probably retired by now. jeeva naaDi (living pulse), cali negaLLu (cold bonfires), ooraegimpu (parade), svaeCCa (freedom), mukta kanTham (united voices) are some of his important poetry compilations. He strongly believed in the significance of literature in revolutionary movement as well as in the revolutionary ideology that should pervade literature. His poems boldly trumpet the message of revolution for social change. As a poet, social commentator and literary critic, Varavara Rao stayed true to this conviction in his writings.

manishi maraNam

manishi maraNam nannu kalavara peDutumdi
amaruDayyaaDanoo
aruNa taara avutaaDanoo
oka manishi caavaDamanTae
maanavatvam oopiri bigabaTTaTamae
ae ooroe ae paeroe teliyadu
evaroo poelcukoeru
kaani hatuDu manishani hantakuniki telusu
aDaviloe kanneeTi poolu kurisina ceTTukoo telusu
Savampai piDikeDu maTTi callina gaalikee telusu
manishamTae vomTari kaadukadaa
oka saamaajika khanDam
soorya taapaannee samudra aardratanoo
tanaloe imuDcukunna pRthvee khanDam
manishi oopiri deepam aaripoeyimdamTae
manasu ceekaTavutumdi
naakae paricayamoo laeka poevaccu
naenu paerainaa vini vunDaka poevaccu
phoeToeloenae kaadu, coosinaa poelcukoelaeka poevaccu
kaani ataDu manishani teliSaaka
manaku kaavalsina vaaDu
kaakumDaa eTlaa vumTaaDu ?


A rendition in English
Man's Death

Man's death disturbs me
Say he became immortal
Say he'll be a red star
Still, a human dead implies
Humanity suffocating
No one knows who he is, where he's from
No one identifies
However, that the victim was a human, the murderer knew
The tree knew too, that rained teary flowers in the forest
So too did the wind that sprinkled a fistful of dirt on the corpse
A man is no island, is he?
He's a piece (1) of society,
A contiguous continent (1), containing in himself
The hot (2) Sun and the moist (3) ocean
When the lamp of human breath is snuffed out
The soul turns dark
I may not know him
I may not have even heard his name
Not just in a photo, even face-to-face, I may not recognize him
But, once you realize he's human
How can he be not our kin?

Notes:
(1) 'khanDam' means both a piece and a continent. A neat pun in this usage.
(2) 'taapam' means both feeling hot and having a strong desire
(3) 'aardrata' means both moisture and strong empathy