Question

Who was known as the 'Vidyasagar of South India'?

Answer 1

Hint: He is also known as the Andhra Raja Rammohan Roy. In 1887, he founded a temple known as 'Brahmo Mandir' and the 'Hitkarini School' in Andhra Pradesh in 1908.

Complete answer:
Kandukuri Veeresalingam was known as the 'South India Vidyasagar'. Rao Bahadur Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu was a writer and social reformer for the presidency of Madras, British India. He is known as the founder of the Telugu Renaissance Movement.

He was one of the early social reformers who promoted the education of women, the remarriage of widows who during his period were not supported by society, and fought against the dowry system.
The title Gadya Tikkana, meaning 'Tikkana of Prose', was also known. Veeresalingam was a scholar in Telugu, Sanskrit, and Hindi. Considering literature as an instrument to combat social evils, the same was also expressed in his writings. He wrote plays such as Prahlada (1885), Satya Harischandra (1886).

In 1880, he published a book, Rajashekhara Charita, originally serialized in 1878 in Viveka Chandrika.
The ideals of Brahmo Samaj leaders like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, and Maharshi Keshab Chandra Sen influenced Veeresalingam. In 1887, he started his own Brahmo Mandir in Rajahmundry near the bridge. Therefore, Kandukuri Veeresalingam was known as the 'Vidyasagar of South India'.

Note:
i) One of Veeresalingam's biggest reforms was to encourage the education of women, which in those days was considered to be a taboo. He began a journal called Viveka Vardhini in 1876 and published articles on the issues of women of that period.
ii) During those days, widows' remarriage was not appreciated in society, and he opposed this by arguing that widows were not forbidden to remarry by citing verses from the Hindu Dharma Sastra to prove his point.
iii) Veeresalingam served as one of the participants of the 1885 first meeting of the Indian National Congress (INC).