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C P BROWN (10 NOVEMBER 1798 − 12 DECEMBER 1884)

C P Brownwas a Telugu writer and an Englishman by descent. He worked as an official in Cuddapah and Rajahmundry during the British rule in India. Telugu literature was in a dormant phase and declined in 18th century because of various social and political reasons, including lack of creative Telugu poets, prevailing illiteracy and decline of empires, like Vijayanagara Empire, who were patrons of the literature. Brown being an official in the region collected the works, printed them and he believed he saved the heritage of the Telugu language. In his own words, "Telugu literature was dying out; the flame was flickering in the socket in 1825, I found Telugu literature dead. In 30 years I raised it to life". Janamaddi Hanumth Sastri who has done an extensive research on Brown established a library in Kadapa in his memorial..

BIOGRAPHY

Charles Brown was born in Calcutta on 10 November 1798. His father David Brown was a manager of an orphanage and a missionary and scholar in many languages including Sanskrit. Charles Brown moved back to England in 1812 after his father's death and returned to Madras on 4 August 1817 to obtain training from Haileybury College for a civil service job in India.[2] In 1820, Sir Thomas Monroe, governor of Madras had ordered that every official should learn a local language. As part of the curriculum he had to learn a local language and he chose Telugu language under the guidance of Velagapudi Kodandarama Panthulu. Charles Brown passed Telugu exam as well as the civil service exam in 1820. He joined as a deputy to Mr. Hunbury, the collector of Cuddapah. He was inspired by Hunbury's fluency in Telugu and improved his Telugu more. He was transferred to Machilipatnam in 1824 and then to Rajahmundry in 1825. His administrator services at the time of the Great Guntur famine(1832 − 1833) were highly appreciated. He was relieved from his duties in 1834. He went back to London and stayed there from 1835 to 1838. Brown returned to Madras again in 1837 as a translator of Persian for the East India Company and joined as a member of the Madras College Board. He retired in 1854 because of health reasons and went back to London again. He worked as a Telugu Professor at the London University for some more time before his death on 12 December 1884 in London. Although he patronised Telugu[3] he was a polyglot. Some of the other languages he knew were: Greek, Latin, Persian, Sanskrit...

STYLE

He collected the stories and poems of common people and published them first. Though he was less interested in pedantic works, he also published many major Telugu works along with translations written by him or other copiers closely monitored by him. He prepared an index, a glossary and commentaries to all the works. Brown mentioned that the purpose of the commentary was to make the poems to be understood clearly without oral instructions. He also included many spoken words in his dictionary. There is no concrete evidence that Brown introduced any more than Sandhi breaks for the Telugu alphabet. The 1906 Linguistics Survey of India does not credit Brown for change in alphabets or making it easy for pronunciation.

DEATH

He died in 1884 on 12 December at the age of eighty-seven.[citation needed] He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery (The General Cemetery of All Souls) in London.

CP Brown Video

A Tribute to CP Brown | A Scholorly Figure in Telugu Language Literature.

CP Brown Video

CP Brown Research Telugu Library In Kadapa | Ground Report

CP Brown Foundation

Firstever London Telugu Sabhalu and formation of CP Brown European Telugu Foundation on 07 April 2012 .