SWAMI SRI VEERABRAHMENDRA

A Monograph on Pothuluru Veerabrahmendra Swamy

Veerabrahmam and Vemana

Of all the Telugu Poets of the seventeenth century there are only two who require to be introduced to the world at large and they are Veerabrahmam and Vemana. What they spoke and wrote was at a high degree of social consciousness. It was not merely consciousness but a sort of missionary zeal with which they took to social reformance. They made sincere attempts to reform the society of which they were a part and parcel. They rose high, above the common man, by their constant efforts to root out the social evils which plagued the mankind in those days.

They do not belong to the category of those who simply satisfy themselves with a sense of self-complace¬ncy. They never thought that God was in Heaven alone and all was well with this world. When the world around was not at all well, they wished that the heavenly gods should descend unto this world if they were really aware of the sorrows of this world. When the gods failed to do so, they pleaded, that the man himself should rise to the status of a god and save the mankind. By self-retaliation and service to follow-beings Veerabrahmam and Vemana saved the mankind.

Social reformers are of two kinds one with the political bent of mind and the other with religious bent. The social reformer with political bent of mind is altogether different from the social reformer with religious bent of mind. When the latter happens to be post, he invariably becomes a saint-poet. Veerabrahmam and Vemana were, by any test, the true saint-poet. Veerabrahmam and Vemana were, by any test, the true saint-poets who spent a major portion of their life for the social and spiritual uplift of the common man.

Veerabrahmam was born in the first decade of the seventeenth century while Vemana was born in the sixth decade of the same century. During this period the Telugu country-particularly the Rayalaseema-suffered heavily at the hands of the Muslim invaders and the resultant political crisis among the Hindu rulers of the country led to chaos. Consequently there was a social and religious crisis in the life of the people. The situation demanded such saints who could cater to the social and spiritual needs. While Veerabrahmam initiated the movement, Vemana pursued it, towards the end of the seventeenth century and also the first decade of the eighteenth century, although the two saint-poets did not see one another.