RAO BALASARASWATI DEVI-GREAT SINGER WHOSE CAREER WAS CUT SHORT.

 

She was born in the year 1928 at Madras into a Telugu Brahmin family. Her grandfather was an advocate and used to practice at the Madras High Court.

Actress Vijayanirmala is her maternal uncles daughter (mena mamas daughter), and actress Jayasudha is another maternal uncles granddaughter.

She did not study up to any higher class but was taught by an Anglo Indian tutor at home. They had a movie theatre named Ratnamahal at Guntur and therefore they migrated there in the year 1934 when she was just 6 years old.

Due to the influence of her family, she learnt music at a very young age. Her father was proficient in Carnatic music and used to sing while playing on the harmonium. He taught her music from the age of 6 years but she started singing at the age of 4 even before that.

Her education had been in music. For some time she learnt Carnatic music and then her father took her to Bombay and made her a disciple of Vasant Desai for learning Hindustani music. By 1940 when she was just 12 years old, she became proficient in music.

In 1936, their family converted the movie theatre into theatre for plays. They displayed many plays there. Whenever there was an opportunity for a song in any of the plays, Balasaraswati was rendering the songs. When she was just 4 years old, Balasaraswati gave her first performance on stage while someone carried her. At one such occasion HMV company representatives listened to her song and were impressed. They then they signed an agreement with her father and she sung 2 songs for them which gave her a good name in music.

After listening to her singing C.Pullayya gave her an opportunity to act and sing in his film Sati Anasuya in 1935. She was then only 7 years old. For the film she received a remuneration of Rs 200 then. The film also brought her an appreciation for her acting and music. She was the first ever Telugu movie playback singer.

Then in the year 1937 she played the lead role in the Tamil Film “Balayogini”. The film was released in the year 1937 when she was just 9 years old and brought her further appreciation. Her original name was Saraswati Devi and with this film the prefix Bala was added to her name and was made Bala Saraswati. She received a remuneration of Rs 1500 for the film.

Then she acted in the film named “Illalu” produced by Goodavalli Ramabrahmam. In the film she acted as a pair to S.Rajeswarrao who later became a famous music director. They both sang their songs in that film.

In 1941-42 the film Bhakta Tukaram was made simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil where she acted as the daughter of Tukaram. She sang in the movie in both the languages. She was just 14 years old then.

The Tamil movie “dancing Girl” with MG Ramachandran in the lead was made between 1940-43. She sang all the songs in the film whose music director was S Rajeswrarao.

In 1944 her family relocated to Madras possibly because she was acting in films. In that year once she went to the Guindy Race course along with her uncle and aunt to watch horse racing. She was then 15 years old. The 4^th son of the Raja of Venkatagiri Rao Pradyumna Krishna Suryarao adopted by the Rani of Kolanka, also came to the races on that day. Some of his horses were also running in the race.

Rao Pradyumna Krishna Suryarao saw her there and came to know about her singing and film acting and his family visited Balasaraswati’s home and said that they came to listen to her singing. After hearing to her, the Raja asked her father for her hand in marriage. He was then 34 years of age and was already married once while she was just 15 years old, but they just could not refuse the proposal and agreed to it.

They got married 1944. Before the marriage the Raja promised her that her singing would go on as before. However, when an article came out in the papers along with her photo praising her singing and acting, he felt insulted and forbade her to sing anymore. However, she went on singing without his knowledge and sang some 2000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Sinhala. She sand many songs pairing with S Rajeswrarao between the years 1940 and 1950. She completely stopped singing from the year 1958.

Both All India Radio Madras in 1944 and All India radio Vijayawada in 1948 have first started with her singing.

Instituted by Raja Rao Pradyumna Krishna Suryarao , the Kolanka Cup is the pride of Madras and also Polo. Made of silver and marvellously carved it stands 6 feet tall and is the tallest sports trophy in the world as per the Guinness Book of World Records. He was adopted by the Rani of Kolanka. He presented the Madras Polo & Riders Club with the Kolanka cup. The last match for the Kolanka cup was played in 1998 and since then, the Kolanka cup was stored.

EXOPLANETS

 

What is an Exoplanet? It is a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun.

Till the 1990’s all the planets we knew were in orbit around the Sun. Since the year 1992, astronomers have discovered many Exoplanets. Based on the data at our disposal there could be hundreds of billions of Exoplanets in the Milkyway alone.

The first discovered Exo planets were much bigger than Jupiter and were detected by their gravity tugging the star they orbit. Some were found by light difference in the star when the Exo planet passes between earth and the star they orbit. Most Exo planets we know of are rocky planets much larger than the earth known as super earths or mini Neptunes which are made up of compressed gases. These type of planets do not occur in our solar system, so researchers do not know how different they are from the worlds we know. As of today there are 6022 confirmed Exoplanets in 4490 planetary systems.

About 1 in 5 stars have an earth like planet in the habitable zone. The Milkyway has about 200 billion stars. Based on that there would potentially be 11 billion such planets in our Galaxy.

The nearest Exoplanets discovered are orbiting Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our Sun at a distance on 4.2 light years.

Many Exo planet systems are tightly packed with their innermost planet orbiting the star much closer than Mercury does. As of now we do not know why such solar systems are more common in our galaxy and why they are not like ours.

Astronomers have found many Exoplanets in their stars habitable zones; ie those zones where liquid water is likely to exist coupled with proper kind of atmosphere. So far the planets discovered are much larger than earth or the star is much smaller and redder than our Sun which would emanate much less heat. With the methods we are adopting to find Exoplanets, it is much more difficult to find Exoplanets of Earth’s size. Upcoming observations are designed to find Exoplanets with greater sensitivity which would let us see more earth sized worlds allowing us to compare them with our Solar system.

However, more than their size, far more essential is the chemical composition of their atmosphere before we can know if it can support life. So far we could not study the surfaces of Exoplanets. Whatever information we got is when the time the Exoplanet transits its star. Then, the gases of the planet absorbed or emitted by its atmospheric gases astronomers can identify some molecules like water, Oxygen or Methane. But it is a very difficult process because the planets are too small and too far away for allowing us to make any precise observations.

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), is an Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and is a ground based telescope currently under construction at Chile’s Las Campanas Observatory in the Atacama desert. It has an altitude of 2516 Meters. The construction of this telescope would be completed by the year 2030. It is a reflecting telescope and the diameter of the mirror of the telescope would be 1000 inches (25.4 Mtrs) whereas the largest optical telescope ever built till now only has a mirror with a diameter of 406 inches.  This is for observation in optical and mid infrared wavelengths. The GMT would contain 7 of the world’s largest mirrors and its resolving power is 10 times that of the Hubble Space Telescope and 4 times that of the James Webb Space Telescope. However, it would not have the observing power of the Space Telescopes in the infrared region. The GMT would be used to observe a wide range of phenomena including the search for signs of life on Exoplanets and study of the cosmic origin of chemical elements.

Las Campanas has exceptional astronomic seeing conditions and clear weather through much of the year. The area is also very sparsely populated combined with favourable geographical conditions ensures minimal atmospheric and light pollution.

We still have a long way to go in discovering Exoplanets and those among them that are habitable, and it may yet take a long time, but we are on the job.

 

EAST GODAVARI DISTRICT HISTORY PART-I

The Rajahmundry district was created in 1802 which included the current East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur Districts and was a part of the Madras Presidency. From this, the Godavari District was established in 1859 with Kakinada as its headquarters.

This Godavari district was formed by reorganising the Collectorates of Rajahmundry, Masulipatam and Guntur into Godavari and Krishna districts.

East Godavari district is the residuary district of Godavari district when the West Godavari district was separated from it in the year 1925.

Chandragupta Maurya the founder of the Mauryan dynasty, got control of the Empire which included large parts of the Deccan plateau. He was succeeded by his son Bindusara ( 297-272 BC) who conquered the Andhra country lying south of Kalinga. This is corroborated by the works of the poets of the Sangam age. 

Bindusra’s son and successor Ashoka claimed the Andhra’s are one of those who subjected to his authority. The district passed on to the Satavahanas after the fall of the Mauryan dynasty. 

Hala of the Satavahana dynasty led an expedition against Draksharama in 6-7 AD. The rule of Gautamiputra Satakarni (62-86 AD) and Vasishtiputra Pulomavi ( 86-114 AD) & Yajnasri Satakarni ( 128-157 AD) over this district is known through their coins.

Thereafter nothing is known about what happened in the district till the invasion of Samudragupta in 350 AD. At this period the eastern Deccan was cut into a number of minor kingdoms of which 2 belonged to this district; with Pishtapura & Avamukta as capitals. Samudragupta fought with both Mahendra of Pishtapura and Nilaraja of Avamukta. Samudragupta defeated Nilaraja of Avamukta in many battles.

Mahendra of Pishtapura traced his descent from the Magadha dynasty of Mahapadmananda. Avamukta is identified as the upper Godavari region of the district and Pishtapura with the present Pithapuram. 

The continued existence of Pishtapura even after this period is proved by the inscriptions of the subsequent period. 7 Kings of the Mathara Kula whose names ending with Varman and bearing the title Kalingadhipati are known from their inscriptions and their rule went on from 375 AD to 500 AD. The earliest known ruler of this dynasty was Maharaja Saktivarman. He was succeeded by Ananta Saktivarman. Later these kings had a fight with the Simhapura (Srikakulam) kingdom, conquered it and moved over to the North.

In the 1^st Quarter of the 5^th century AD the kingdom fell into the hands of Vishnukundins under Vikramendavarma I. Their dominion extended over Visakhapatnam, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and East Godavari districts. The greatest of the 9 Vishnukundin kings was Madhavavarma I. 

One Ranadurjaya was allowed to rule the Pishtapura kingdom as a vassal by these kings. Ranadurjaya was succeeded by his son Vikramendra (whom he named after his benefactor) who was followed by his son Pruthvimaharaja.

Later the area of Pishtapura was conquered by Raja Anantavarman of Vasishta kula. This was resisted by the Vishnukundin king Indrabhattaraka who defeated them and restored back the kingdom.

The early Gangas of Kalinga who were just then becoming stronger enlisted the help of all the kings defeated earlier by Indrabhattaraka  and he was not only routed in this battle, he also lost his life. With this defeat, the Vishnukundin power was extinguished in Visakhapatnam and Godavari districts. His successor Vishnukundin kings tried to regain the lost territory of Kalinga but to no avail.

In the meantime the Durjayas pushed out the Vishnukundins from Vengivishaya ( Eluru). However, their rule was rather brief as Pulakesin II of the Western Chalukyas of Badami attacked Pishtapura and reduced it to submission. In a token of appreciation of his contribution of his brother Kubjavishnu, Pulakesin II granted him the newly conquered territories of the East including Pishtapura. The Eastern Chalukyan dynasty founded by Kubjavishnu ruled from Pishtapura and not from Vengi. This was later shifted to Vengi and then to Rajahmundry by the Eastern Chalukyas.   

The kingdom of Vengi at its greatest extent comprised the area between the Mahendra mountains (Eastern Ghats) in Kalinga to Manneru river in Nellore. Its western boundary ran along the foot of the Eastern Ghats.

Nothing is known about the early Chalukyas till we come to Bhima I (892-921 AD) who has built the Shiva Temple at Draksharama.  

After that there was a civil war for power in the Eastern Chalukya kingdom and Amma I was victorious in the war and ruled the kingdom for 7 years. There were continuous attacks by the Rashtrakutas on Vengi (near Eluru) and therefore Amma I laid the foundation stone of Rajahmundry on the other side of the Godavari. However, this foundation does not have any historical evidence and it might have taken place during the time of the Chalukya Kings Vijayaditya and Rajaraja who succeeded Amma I. One thing is certain; any of these 3 kings laid the foundation stone for Rajahmundry. Tradition points to Rajaraja and therefore we can accept that.

Amma I was succeeded by his son Vijayaditya V who was deposed just 15 days after accession. He took refuge at Pithapuram where he founded a dynasty.

In 973 AD the Eastern Chalukyan ruler Danarnava was killed and Vengi was occupied by Jata Choda Bheema of Pedakallu in Kurnool district. He ruled from 973 AD to 1000 AD. 

The 2 sons of Danarnava Saktivarman I and Vimaladitya fled and took refuge with Rajaraja Chola I who was waiting for an opportunity extend his influence over the coastal area. He gave his daughter Kundavai in marriage to the younger Vimaladitya and invaded Vengi during the year 999-1000 with the idea of restoring Saktivarman I to the throne of Vengi. In the war Jatachoda Bheema was killed and the Kingdom of Vengi became a vassal of Rajaraja I.

However, this Ascenscion of the Cholas at Vengi in this fashion was not liked by Satyasraya the ruler of the Western Chalukyas at Kalyani and for the next 135 years there were intermittent wars between the Western Chalukyas and Cholas. In the process, the Eastern Chalukyas themselves seem to have receded into the background. During the rein of Rajadhiraja I, the Cholas seem to have lost Vengi and also a portion of Kalinga to the Western Chalukyas of Kalyani.

During the rule of Vijayaditya VII, the last king of the Eastern Chalukyas, the Vengi kingdom was invaded by Chedi King of Dahala, Yasahkarnadeva in 1073 AD.  He bestowed gifts to the temple at Draksharama. With the death of Vijayaditya VII in the war in 1075AD, the Eastern Chalukyan dynasty ended and Vengi became a part of the Chola Empire.