Dr. Lakshmi Prasad Yarlagadda
was honored with the prestigious
"Padma shri" award in the year 2003
for his widely acknowledged
contribution towards enrichment
of our literary traditions. Most
particularly, for his relentless
efforts towards promotion of
national integration through
creative use of the great
tradition of translating
acknowledged works in the
languages of Hindi and Telugu.
Dr. YLP’s mastery in the two
great Indian languages of Hindi
and Telugu is only to a small
extent testified by his doctoral
degrees in both languages and
more appropriately amplified by
his original works as well as
translated works in these two
languages. In the process he has
emerged as the leading champion
of the cause of Hindi in the
south of Vindhyas. As a chairman
of the Andhra Pradesh Hindi
Academy- an acknowledgement
provided by the government of
Andhra Pradesh as a leading
academician, Dr. YLP has also in
his capacity served as the
Professor and Head of the
Department of Hindi at the
Andhra University,
Visakhapatnam.
Some of Dr. YLP’s literary
achievements include:
Prestigious Kendra Sahitya
Academy Award in 1992 for best
translation of the famous
“Tamas” novel into the Telugu
language originally written by
Bhism Sahani – This became
immensely popular and was
serialized in the leading Telugu
journals. The National Awards
from the Ministry of Human
Resources Development in 1988
for his Hindi work on the
leading social reformer
Tripuraneni Ramaswami Chowdary
and the same award for his Hindi
book on a leading modern poet of
Telugu Aluri Bairagi in 1981
exemplified his achievements in
the literary circuit. In 2007,
Dr. YLP was honored with the
prestigious Pushkin Award by the
government of Russia – another
great achievement for India.
Dr. YLP’s other notable works
include Telugu translation of
the famed V.S.Khandekar’s
Marathi novel Yayati and Dr.
Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s
biography. He has about 30
original and translation works
to his credit. The significance
of Dr. YLP’s literary endeavors
lies not in pursuing literature
for its own sake but in
promoting the cause of
brotherhood and national
integration through popularizing
acknowledged literary works
through the medium of
translation.
Dr. Lakshmi Prasad Yarlagadda
was also a member of the Rajya
Sabha during 1996-2002, Dr. YLP
was also the Deputy Chairman of
the prestigious Parliamentary
Committee on Official Language
as he rendered yeomen service to
the cause of implementation of
the official language policy of
India. A regular attendee at the
World Hindi Conferences since
1983, Dr. YLP has spoken in
several national and
international seminars on
literature.
Since being honored with the
“Padmasri” Award in 2003,
Dr.Lakshmi Prasad Yarlagadda has
mounted massive campaigns in
promoting and popularizing
Telugu literature and its rich
legacy by organizing district
and state level conferences for
poets and writers. Marking a
very innovative initiative, Dr.
YLP has recently organized
“Telugu Sahiti and Sanskriti
Jagriti Yatra” an awakening
rally to promote and popularize
Telugu language and culture
passing through the coastal
districts of Andhra Pradesh
marking the birth centenary of
the late Dr. Bezawada Gopala
Reddy, former Chief Minister of
the state of Andhra and former
union minister and an acclaimed
men of letters himself. This is
revolutionary in the sense it
amounted to taking literature
out of its ivory towers and
sharing it with the masses. This
initiative was widely acclaimed
and similar awakening rallies
are being planned all through
the state. |