C.P. Brown: Telugu linguist

By Nandiraju Radhakrishna, Senior Journalist

Charles Philip Brown, who is immortal in the hearts of Telugu people, is an Englishman who compiled and published the first Telugu dictionary.

Brown’s dictionary is still used as standard Telugu dictionary.

Brown is one among the four Englishmen who served in Andhra, the other three english officers include Arthur Cotton, Colin Mackenzie and Thomas Munro.

C. P. Brown was born to David Brown, a noted Christian scholar, on November 10, 1798 in Calcutta. After his father’s death, Brown’s family moved to England. Inspired by his father, CP Brown learned Greek, Latin, Persian and Sanskrit, and Brown also learned Hindustani there. 

On August 4, 1817, he joined the East India Company in Madras and acquired basic knowledge of Telugu from Kodandarama Pantulu in Madras as part of his job duties.

In August 1820, he joined in Kadapa as a Deputy Collector. As an employee, it is mandatory to learn local language Telugu. But since there was no easy, scientific approach to learning Telugu at that time, scholars used to teach in their own ways.

It was difficult for non-Telugu people to learn Telugu. To unearth ancient Telugu poetry, fix it and publish it in an understandable way for all people; it led to the formation of a grammar, a dictionary for the language.

He was involved in the printing of historical poems such as Vemana and Sumati satakas, Palnati Yuddha, works of Nannayya, Tikkana, Gaurana, Srinathudu, Potana, Peddana and Ramaraja Bhushan.

This difficulty in learning the language prompted Brown to research the Telugu language. He brought out his first print of English Telugu dictionary 175 years ago (1852-54). After retirement, he settled in London in 1854 and was appointed Professor of Telugu in London University in 1865.

After working in Machilipatnam, Guntur, Chittoor, Tirunalveli etc., he returned to Kadapa in 1826 and bought a bungalow there and established a permanent residence. He appointed scholars with his own money and conducted literary studies in their presence. A person named Ayodhyapuram Krishna Reddy was appointed as the overseer of these affairs. He also established schools in Kadapa and Machilipatnam and provided free education and free boarding and lodging to the students. Due to paying monthly salaries to scholars, charity, and book publishing expenses, Brown ran into financial difficulties and went into debt.

Browne’s services to the people during the Guntur famine or Dokkala famine or Nandana famine of 1832-33 were appreciated. At that time, the officials said that the drought should be written as a shortage, but he faced their displeasure by mentioning it as a drought. In 1834 he was dismissed from his job and left for England and returned to India in 1837 as a Persian translator for the company.

Brown was a humanitarian. Brown describes in his own words the prevailing conditions when he started working in Telugu literature at the end of the early part of the nineteenth century. “Telugu literature was still alive and kicking by then. By 1825, the lamp was going out in Pramida. It has come to my attention that Telugu literature is almost disappearing. “I spent 30 years trying to rebrand it,” said Brown.

Brown studied Vemana literature for five years. Even as early as 1827, Brown wrote the book “Andhra Girvana Chhandamu”, but his best known book was “Vemana Shatakam” of 1829. An extensive glossary has also been provided along with English translations for almost seven of the poems. After another ten years, he re-minted the “Vemana Shatakam” expanded to 1164 verses. Brown died unmarried on 12 December 1884 at his home at 22 Kildare Gardens, Westbourne Grove, London.

Nelathuru Venkatachalam popularly known as “Tatachari” was the first Telugu storyteller in Brown’s literary court. Brown heard the stories narrated by him, compiled 24 stories, including two stories told by Srikrishnamachari, into a book. Being a resident of Gunupadu village, Guduru taluk, Nellore district, Tatachari spent his life teaching the children of Tirupati in street schools. He went to Chennapatnam in 1848 and stayed in Brown’s institution until his last breath.

He helped him in translating and publishing the books like “Palnati Veera Charitam, Vasu Charitam..” etc. Tathachari was well versed in Kavya Tarka grammars. His stories are not mere moral teachings; they stood as a mirror of the social condition of that time. Brown was close to Enugula Veeraswamayya, the first travel historian and scholar in Telugu. Veeraswamayya and Brown used to often correspond with each other and share their passion for the progress and works done in their conservation.

As a memorial to Brown, the Brown Memorial Trust under the leadership of Janamaddi Hanumacchastri built the Brown Library at the site of his bungalow in Kadapa with public and government funds. Various organizations and individuals have donated books.  It became a part of Yogi Vemana University on 10 November 2006 as a linguistic research centre.

(Brown Dictionary celebrates 175th birthday)

…o0o…