HYDERABAD: Telugu Bhagavatham — the magnum opus of Bammera Pothana — is a big hit on mobile phones now-a-days. The complete work, containing 9,014 poems, is available in the form of a mobile application now. The app has been downloaded a whopping 48,761 times on Android and another 4,500 times from iOS till date.
This has been made possible due to the efforts of a father-son duo. While Vulapalli Sambasiva Rao, who retired as an executive engineer in Transco, penned the translation and meaning of the poems, his son Vulapalli Fani Kiran developed the mobile application. The best part of the app, however, is that there is an audio version too.
“There are no advertisements on the app. There are no charges even for downloading the app. We are doing this purely out of interest in the works of Bhakta Kavi (devout poet) Pothana and Telugu literature,” Sambasiva Rao told Express, adding that he needed no financial assistance. Rao launched his project initially as a website few years ago, and later migrated to mobile app.
Interestingly, Sambasiva Rao learnt to type on a keyboard only after he retired from his job. Now, however, the rating for his app on Google Play Store is 4.8 on 5. “We call the app as Charavani Bhagavatham (mobile Bhagavatham),” Sambasiva Rao said adding that Hyderabad-based Chartered Accountant Venkata Kandada rendered the poems.
Mobile Bhagavatham in Stats
Total Installs - % by Country
Android: 48,761 (98.41% India, 1.77% USA)
Apple (iPhone): 4,540 (50% Asia Pacific, 30% India and Middle east)
Amazon: 16 (80% India, 20% US-Canada)
Total installs: 53,317 (98% in India and 2% in other countries)