AVS Sarma’s “Lines of Devotion (Songs of Saint Thyagaraja)”, 1954.
About the author (written by his son, Dr. Akkaraju Sarma)
“My father, Dr. A.V.S. Sarma, was the pioneer researcher on “Infantile Hepatic Cirrhosis” that was presented in part as the thesis for his D.C.H. He was the first U.K. Trained Indian Physician in Pediatrics in 1939. He could not take more advanced exams in U.K., as the second world war just broke out ….. He wrote to Madras Medical College Journals and many Medical Journals. In 1949, he presented a key paper, “A New Approach to Diseases and Therapeutic Possibilities” in NYC at the Fifth International Conference in Pediatrics (1949). In a brief, key point being, that a Zygote as it evolves develops different body tissues and diseases are linked to the source of tissue in the zygote. How right he was!
Besides being outstanding in Medicine, he was a consummate scholar in Telugu and English. Talking of his writings! How he touch typed these great writings on an old Smith Corona Manual Portable, after a busy medical week (6.5 days week, Sunday evening off) that included as attending physician in Madras Medical Service is amazing and commendable.
My father often mentioned that only other person that had written on Saint Thyagaraja Kritis in English is another physician, Dr.C. Narayana Rao. There are however many Telugu (major) and Tamil writings on Saint Thyagaraja’s compositions and life. The verses (of Dr AVS Sarma) are in English Iambic pentameter. Beyond this, my father had translated Potana’s Bhagavatham and it has been published by TTD in Tirupati in 1957.
My father, Dr. A.V.S. Sarma, died prematurely (1909-’58). The Telugu-English languages and their inter-phases lost a profound scholar that would have contributed much more. His footprints in academics, both in Telugu and Medicine (his major publications) are timeless.
Dr. Akkaraju Sarma is married to Smt. Akkaraju Kameswari and lives in Pennsylvania, USA and sometimes in his family home in Chennai, India. He may be contacted at: 215-914-0236 home; 215-530-7438 cell; akkaraju1@gmail.com.