Charles Phillip Brown

Charles Phillip Brown
Born	November 10, 1798 Calcutta
Died	December 12, 1884 London
Pen name	C. P. Brown
Occupation	Civil Servant
Nationality	British
Ethnicity	Christian
Education	Indian Civil Service
Literary movement	Collection of Telugu books
Notable work(s)	Telugu dictionary

C. P. Brown (Charles Philip Brown, Telugu: చార్లెస్ ఫిలిప్ బ్రౌన్) (November 10, 1798 – December 12, 1884) was a Telugu writer and an Englishman by descent. He worked as official in Cuddapah and Rajahmundry during the British rule in India. Native Telugu people call him Brown Dora (Telugu: బ్రౌన్ దొర), which means Lord Brown in English.^[1]

Telugu Literature was in dormant phase and declined in 18th century because of many social and political reasons including lack of creative Telugu poets, prevailing illiteracy and decline of empires like Vijayanagara Empire, who were patrons of the literature. Brown being an official in the region collected the works, printed them and saved the heritage of Telugu language. In his own words, "Telugu literature was dying out; the flame was flickering in the socket in 1825, I found Telugu literature dead. In 30 years I raised it to life".

Biography

Charles Brown was born in Calcutta on November 10, 1798. His father, David Brown was a manager of an orphanage and a missionary and scholar in many languages including Sanskrit. Charles Brown moved back to England in 1812 after his fathers' death and returned to Madras on 4 August 1817 again to get training from Haileybury College for a civil service job in India.

In 1820 Sir Thomas Monroe, governor of Madras had ordered that every official should learn a local language. As part of the curriculum he had to learn a local language and he chose Telugu language under the guidance of Velagapudi Kodandarama Panthulu. Charles Brown passed Telugu exam as well as the civil service exam in 1820. He joined as deputy to Mr. Hunbury, the collector of Cuddapah. He got inspiration from Hunbury's fluency in Telugu and improved his Telugu more. He was transferred to Machilipatnam in 1824 and again to Rajahmundry in 1825. His administrator services at the time of the Great Guntur famine(1832–1833) were highly appreciated.

He was relieved from his duties in 1834 and went back to London and stayed there from 1835 to 1838. Brown returned to Madras again in 1837 as a translator of Persian for the East India Company and joined as member of the Madras College Board. He retired in 1854 because of health reasons went back to London again. He worked as Telugu Professor at London University for some more time before his death on December 12, 1884 in London.

Though he patronized Telugu^[2] He was a polyglot and also learned Greek, Latin, Persian, Sanskrit etc.

Literary service

Charles Brown established two schools in Cuddapah and two more schools in Machilipattanam, with free food for students and free education that includes Telugu. He did three great services to Telugu, his own works, recovery and discovery of old works and printing the Telugu books.

He got interested in Vemana's literature in 1824. He studied Vemana's and other Telugu literature, and Telugu meter and grammar under the guidance of Venkatasivasastri Tippabhatla and Advaitabrahmasastri Vatthyam. Charles Brown was transferred to Rajamundri in 1825. He continued his study of Telugu literature. He collected the written scripts of Telugu Kavyas (poems) that were on the verge of extinction. He hired some copyists/writers (raayasagaallu) to prepare fresh copies. He reprinted Andhra Mahabharatamu and Andhra Mahabhagavatamu. He found a shelter for the destitute Goddess Telugu Saraswati and was able to redecorate her like a married Indian woman.

He also wrote several grammar and prosody books and learning materials for English people who were interested in learning Telugu. He created Telugu English dictionaries and Telugu readers. He authored chronicles and monographs in literary journals. He translated many poetical works. Madras Oriental Library still hosts many works of C. P. Brown.

He also collected essays, stories, poems etc. that have no written copies, but were popular among common men. Since 1824, he started collecting old books of Tikkana and Potana and poems of Vemana. During his stay in London around 1835-38, he collected 2,106 hand written books in South Indian Languages from the India House Library and sent them back to Chennai Library.

He edited and published several Telugu and Sanskrit books. He also hired writers and created fresh copies of the old books.Brown was also an editor of the Madras Journal of Literature and Science. He also wrote articles about the stories of the manuscripts he collected in The Asiatic Journal in London.

Charles Brown spent his own money for the development of Telugu and even took loans for the same. He saved every penny for the development of Telugu. Even in the tough financial times he didn’t give up his Telugu development programs. He retired in 1854 and settled in London. He worked at London University as Telugu Professor for some time.

Works

^[3]

• A Dictionary, Telugu and English, (Telugu: బ్రౌణ్య నిఘంటువు Brownya Nighantuvu)^[4] explaining the Colloquial Style used in Business, and the Poetical Dialect, with Explanations in English and in Telugu; explaining the English Idioms and Phrases in Telugu. with the Pronunciation of English Words. With a Dictionary of Mixed Telugu, also an Explanation of the Telugn Alphabet. By Charles Philip Brown. Three vols. Madras, 1852-54.
• A Grammar of the Telugu Language, By Charles Philip Brown, Second Edition, much enlarged and improved, Madras, 1857.
• A Dictionary of the Mixed Dialects and Foreign Words used in Telugu; with an Explanation of the Telugu Alphabet By C. P. Brown, Madras, 1854.
• The Telugu Reader, being a series of Letters, Private and on Business, Police and Revenue Matters, with an English Translation, Notes explaining the Grammar, and a little Lexicon. By Charles Philip Brown. Three Parts. Madras, 1852.
• A Little Lexicon, explaining such Words as occur in the first three Chapters of the Telugu Reader, and in the Telugu Dialogues. By C. P. Brown. Madras, 1862.
• Dialogues in Telugu and English, with a Grammatical Analysis. By C. P. Brown. Second Edition. Madras, 1853.
• The Zillah Dictionary, in the Roman Character; explaining the various Words used in Business in India. By C. P. Brown, Madras, 1852.
• Disputations on Village Business; the Original Telugu Record. Edited by C. P. Brown. Madras, 1855.
• Andhra Geervana Chandamu (ఆంద్ర గీర్వాణ చందము) (Prosody of Telugu and Sanscrit), College Press, Madras in 1827.
• Vemana Satakam (వేమన శతకము) (verses of Vemana): Collection of 693 poems by Vemana along with English Translation and glossary in 1829.
• Lokam Cheta Vrayabadina Subha Vartamanamu (లోకం చేత వ్రాయబడిన శుభ వర్తమానము), translation of bible stories in Telugu.
• The Wars of the Rajas or Rajula Yuddhamulu (రాజుల యుద్ధములు), being the History of Anantapur. Written in Telugu; in or about the year 1750-1810. Translated into English by Charles Philip Brown. Madras, 1853.
• Brown's grammar book of Telugu in 1840
• Telugu to English and English to Telugu dictionaries (తెలుగు-ఆంగ్ల నిఘంటువు, ఆంగ్ల-తెలుగు నిఘంటువు) in 1852 and 1854.
• Vemana Satakam (వేమన శతకము) (verses of Vemana): Second collection of 1164 poems by Vemana along with English Translation and glossary in 1839.

Other publishings

He had prepared commentaries for all of the published works so that non scholars can understand them. Some of the publishings sponsored by him are:

• Tale of Nala by Raghava in 1841.
• The Calamities of Harischandra by Gaurana Mantri in 1842.
• Nannaya's Andhra Mahabharatam in 1843
• Ramarajabhushanudu's Vasu Charitra in 1844
• Peddana's Manu Charitra in 1851.
• Potana's Andhra Mahabhagavatam in 1848 along with Puranam Hayagreeva Sastry.
• Tikkana's Andhra Mahabharatam in 1848 along with Puvvada Venkata Rao.
• Srinatha's Palanadu Veera Charitra in 1852.

He also left many press ready copies like Basavapurana, PanDitaaraadhya Charitra, Ranganaatha Ramayanam, 'Uttara Raamaayanam, Vijaya Vilasam, Sarangadhara Charitra, Hari Vamsam, Kasi Khandam, Aniruddha Charitra, Kuchelopakhyaanam, Radhika Santvanam, Vikramaarka charitra etc. They were published by different institutions in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh after his death.

He also collected poems of Sumathi Satakam and Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy published it in 1973 acknowledging him. This is similar to Vemana Satakam that Brown published.

Style

He collected the stories and poems of common people and published them first. Though he was less interested in pedantic works, he also published many major Telugu works along with translations written by him or other copiers closely monitored by him. He prepared an index, a glossary and commentaries to all the works. Brown mentioned that the purpose of the commentary was to make the poems to be understood clearly without oral instructions. He also included many spoken words in his dictionary.

Changes in alphabet

He had done few innovations in the Telugu alphabet to be print them easily. He changed the below-base form of ra in conjuncts, that looked like a half circle placed under the base consonant in the conjunct, into the shape of a rounded ‘L’ and placed it on the bottom left of the base. He also introduced a shape that looked like a ‘9’ placed at the bottom right of the base.

He dropped Bandi Ra^[5] or the Sakata Repha(hard ‘Ra,’ ఱ) from the alphabet and used only the Sadhu Repha (soft ‘Ra,’ ర). He was also responsible for the dropping of the arasunna or the ardhaanusvaara sign (a nasalization sign, ఁ) in proper names. He used only the soft sounds of cha and ja (చ, జ), and gave up the hard ones (indicated by a mark above చ, జ).

He broke each line of poems into two at the point of Caesura (Yati Sthaana).

Death

He died in 1884 on December 12 at the age of eighty-seven. His selfless service to Telugus and their culture and literature is unparalleled even among Telugus.

Hanumachchastri Janamaddi says, “minuku minuku mantunna Telugu waangmayadeepaanni snehasiktam chesi prajwalimpachesina aandhrabhashodhdhaarakudu C. P. Brown.” (C. P. Brown, the savior of Telugu Culture and Literature, rekindled the dying lamp of Telugu literature with his friendship and service.)

He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery (The General Cemetery of all Souls) in London.

Grave Number - 29517, Section - 98, Path side.

Awards and titles

• He is respected as Andhrabhashodhadara, saviour of Telugu.
• Andhra Pradesh State government has erected a statue in honor of him in Hyderabad and placed it along with statues of twenty other great Telugu people.
• A Library building was constructed at Cuddapah on the very site of Brown's Bungalow known in those days as Brown's College.

See also

• Vemana
• Tyāgarāja
• Arthur Cotton, another beloved western by Telugu people, a civil engineer.
• Tenali Ramakrishna
• Potana

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2], Excerpts from the 1906 edition of Linguistic Survey of India (Telugu).
3. ^ Trubner's American and Oriental literary record; Volumes 1-4; Nov. 2, 1866; Pages 359 - 360.
4. ^ [3]
5. ^ 2

External links

• C. P. Brown background
• C. P. Brown history from Vepachedu research foundation
• The restless British Pandit
• Brown's Digital Online dictionary hosted at Univ. of Chicago, 2nd edition 1903
• C P Brown Academy, Hyderabad
• Extended Brown's online dictionary
• Brown's online dictionary
• Brown's Verses of Vemana
• Cuddapah's pages on Charles Brown
• An article about Brown in Popular Telugu Magazine
• Rare picture of the legendary C.P.Brown, Reviver of the telugu literature.( Image now with TTD archieves )

Persondata
Name	Brown, Charles Philip
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 10, 1798
Place of birth	Calcutta
Date of death	December 12, 1884
Place of death	London