Eminent scholar and writer Samala Sadasiva passed away at the age of 89 at his residence in Vidyanagar here on Tuesday. Survived by his wife and three sons, he died of cardiac arrest at 5 am.
The body has been kept at his residence for his admirers to pay their condolences. The cremation will be held on Wednesday.
Born to Chinnamma and Nagaiah on May 11 in 1928 at Tenugupalle of Dahegaon mandal in Adilabad, Sadasiva was known as ‘Yadi Sadasiva’ after his famous collection of personal memoirs ‘Yadi’. He started his career as a primary school teacher at a government primary school in Kagaznagar in 1947 and retired as the principal of the government junior college in Bhadrachalam in Khammam district in 1981.
He embarked on a literary journey in 1949 and was a beacon of light and wisdom in both Urdu and Telugu literature for 60 years. Sadasiva’s works were published in the 1950s and 60s but they are now being reprinted by various literary organisations.
Some of his well-known works include Sambasiva Satakam, Nireekshanam, Prabhatam, Viswamitram and Sakhinama, Apashruti, Urdu Sahitya Charitra (historiography), Parsi Kavula Prasakti, Mirza Ghalib (biography), Amjad Rubayeelu (translation), Moulana Rumee Masnavi, Kesava Sut (Marathi), Malaya Marutalu and Sangeeta Sikharalu on Hindustani music and Yadi. A multi-faceted personality, Sadasiva was a scholar, cultural activist, connoisseur, creative writer, chronicler of personal and social histories, critic, and linguist. He had been credited with recreating some classical Urdu and Persian texts apart from introducing Hindi and Marathi literatures to Telugu readers. Similarly, he also conveyed the finer aspects of Telugu literature to Urdu readers.
In 2011, Sadasiva was given the Sahitya Akademi award for his book ‘Swaralayalu’ on Hindustani music, which chronicles his experiences with classical musicians including the vocalists Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Parveen Sultana during the 1960s and 1970s.
He was bestowed with several awards including honorary doctorates from Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University and Kakatiya University.
Recently, the Andhra Pradesh government honoured him with Hamsa award. Sadasiva also worked as a member of the Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Akademi Urdu Advisory Committee during 1963-83.