The Trio Padma award winners of 2022 from Andhra Pradesh

On 22^nd March, 2022 AP Bhavan and AP Government has felicitated three Padma award winners from the state of Andhra Pradesh Mr. Garikapati Narasimha Rao, Dr Sunkara Venkata Adinarayana Rao
  and  Late Gosaveedu Shaik Hasan (represented by his grandson).   I attended the program – first in the last two years since outbreak of pandemic.   All three awardees well deserve the Padma award and brought respect and dignity to the award conferred on them.

                                                                                                                

Garikapati Narasimha Rao – conferred Padmasri in Literary & Education category

Garikipati Narasimha Rao, 62 years, a renowned Avadhani and religious Pravachana karta (discourser) is the most popular and recognisable person among the three awardees and got Padmasri under `Literature and Education’ category.   Garikapati has become a household name for his discourses on Hindu religion/epic and personality development.    He has great sense of humour and mixes contemporary issues with his religious discourses of epics like Ramayan, Mahabharat, Bhagavatam etc., which made him popular among youth also and motivated them to go back to their religious roots.     Garikapati’s discourses are broadcast on radio, telecast on prominent Telugu channels, receive millions of views on YouTube and are circulated on Whatsapp group.

What sets Garikapati apart from others is his ability to do Astavadhanam (with eight Pruchakas) / Satavadhanam (with hundred Pruchakas) / Sahasravadhanam (with thousand Pruchakas).   While doing the Avadhanam, The Avadhani spins out verses confirming to the Telugu grammer on literally any subject under the Sun which Pruchakas (who themselves are literary scholars) throw at him as challenge.   The most challenging part of the `Avadhanam’ is at the end of completing the entire process he has to recite back all the verses he made for 8 to 21 days as the cases may be at one go without any help of notes/computers.    For doing such a tough task one need to have a super computer like brain apart from having literary competency. Garikipati has successfully done 288 Avadhanams including a 21 days long Sahasravadhanam with 1116 Pruchakas in 1996 which found a place in Guinness world record books.   The process of Avadhanam is done only in Telugu language and Garikipati is one of the very few with ability to do Avadhanam - a dying art.  

For over the last one decade I listen to his Pravachan daily in the morning during my walk.   For the first time i could listen to him live delivering fantastic discourse on Gita for one hour non stop.   Happy that the audi was packed to the brim and he was accorded a rousing reception like a film star.  

 

Dr  Sankara Adinarayana Rao – conferred Padmasri in Medcine category

                                                                                              

Dr Adinarayana Rao, 82 years, is a well known Orthopaedic Surgeon who served thousands of polio patients.   Born in Bhimavaram of West Godavari,  Dr. Adinarayana Rao completed his MBBS as well as PG from Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam.   He is also trained in micro-vascular and hand surgery in Germany. He served as a professor of Traumatology and Orthopaedics in the Andhra University. Later, he worked as a Civil Surgeon in the King George Hospital, Visakhapatnam. Apart from this, he has also presented many research papers in various state and national level conferences and seminars, and authored two books, Surgery on Polio Disability and Principles and Practices of Orthopaedics.

In an illustrious career of six decades, Dr. Adinarayana Rao has rendered his services to the poor and needy. He has successfully completed over one lakh surgeries till date.  Dr. Adinarayana Rao had previously received the National Award  from the Prime Minister of India, for his welfare work for the disabled  in 1988 and also received the National Award for Child Welfare from the President of India in 2014.  He is currently managing trustees of Free Polio Surgical & Research Foundation and director general of Prema Group of Hospitals and Institutions.

Gosaveedu Shaik Hassan, - Conferred Padmasri  posthumously in Art Category

                                                                                                  

Ghaik Hassan was an exponent of Nadaswaram, a traditional piped classical instrument of South India.   He was the symbol of India’s great secular tradition and was `Astana Vidvaan’ and performed in Seeta Rama temple in Bhandrachalam for 46 years from 1950 to 1996.  

Shaik Hassan is the only person from the Telugu states to perform in all the famous temples of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana through government orders.   He performed at TTD Sri Venkateswara Temple, Kanakadurga Temple at Vijayawada, Srikalahasti, Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple, Ahobilam, Simhachalam, Vemulawada, Annavaram and many more temples.     Shaik Hassan has performed for nearly seven decades continuously in the Annual Tyagaraja Aradhan festival in Tanjayur district of TN.  He was honoured with gold bracelet by the organisers in 1962 and Thyagaraja Puraskar Award in 2007

Shaik Hassan learned instrumental music from renewed  musician Sheik Chinna Moulana and vocal music from  M Balamurali Krishna’s father Mangalampalli Pattabhiramaiah.   Hassan was a freedom fighter.     He worked with All India Radio, Delhi, Hyderabad and  Vijayawada,

Shaiek Hassan died at the age of 93 years old in June, 2021 and did not live to receive Padma Sri personally.  

 

S. Prabhakar

23.3.22