Chellapilla Venkata Sastry (born 8 August 1870) was a Telugu language poet laureate and scholar. He was one of the two poets known as Tirupati Venkata Kavulu

Tirupati Venkata Kavulu

Tirupati Venkata Kavulu refers to the Telugu poet duo Divakarla Tirupati Sastry and Chellapilla Venkata Sastry . This twin poets are acclaimed as harbingers of modern poetry in Telugu. They have dramatized several of the Hindu epics into dramas and plays consisting of singable verses set to...

 and other being Divakarla Tirupati Sastry

Divakarla Tirupati Sastry

Divakarla Tirupati Sastry was a Telugu language poet and scholar. He was one of the two poets known as Tirupati Venkata Kavulu and other being Chellapilla Venkata Sastry.-Early life:...

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Early life

Chellapilla Venkata Sastry was born at Kadiyam village near Rajahmundry

Rajahmundry

Rajahmundry is a city and municipal corporation of the Andhra Pradesh state in India. It is located east of the state capital, Hyderabad, on the banks of the River Godavari. Known as the Cultural Capital, Rajahmundry is noted for its intense Veda culture and intellect...

, East Godavari

East Godavari

East Godavari District is a district situated on the northeast of the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. Its district headquarters is Kakinada. It is the second richest district in the whole country...

, Andhra Pradesh, India. His great grandfather's younger brother was the author of two Telugu works, Venkateswara Vilasa and Yaminipoornatilaka Vilasa.

Life

There was a priceless library of palm leaf books at home collected by this poet. They were shifted to Yanam where he studied Telugu, English and Sanskrit. He studied under Kanukurthi Bhujanga Rao and Allamraju Subrahmanya Kaviraju. At the age of eighteen, he composed a sataka on Venkateswara of Yanam, which the local connoisseurs criticised for grammatical errors. Insulted by the episode, he was determined to go to Benaras to learn Sanskrit grammar. But finance was the problem. He also had a chronic eye problem on one side. He joined as disciple at Sripada Krishnamurthi Sastry, wherein he encountered Tirupati Sastry.