Garimella Satyanarayana

Garimella Satyanarayana (Telugu: గరిమెళ్ళ సత్యనారాయణ) (b: 1893 – d: December 18, 1952) is a Poet and Freedom Fighter of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Satyanarayana Garimella was a great nationalist who influenced and mobilized the Andhra people against the British with his patriotic songs and writings for which he was jailed several times by the British government.

Brief life sketch

He was born in a poor Brahmin family to Venkatanarasimham and Suramma. He was born in Gonepadu village in Narasannapeta taluq of Srikakulam district in 1892.

Garimella Satyanarayana is identified by his famous song - “mAkoddI tella doratanamu” (We don’t need this white rule). He himself used to sing this song. This particular song was a popular in the households of Andhra Pradesh during the Indian independence movement.

He was helped to study by a kind lawyer, called Kannepalli Narasimha Rao and finished graduation (BA). He worked as a clerk in collector's office of Ganjam district and as a teacher at a high school in Vijayanagaram. He gave up his studies by the call of Mahatma Gandhi to participate in civil disobedience movement. During this time, he wrote his famous song Maakoddee Telladoratanamu for which he was jailed in 1922 for one year. After the release from Jail, he continued his participation in the movement by singing songs in villages. For this he was sentenced for two and half years rigorous imprisonment. His entire family (wife, father and...
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