| Birth Name: | Korada Ramakrishnayya |
| Birth Date: | 1891 10, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Amalapuram, India |
| Death Place: | Tirupati, India |
| Education: | M.A. |
| Alma Mater: | Nobel College, Machilipatnam, Madras University |
| Occupation: | Telugu faculty at Noble College, Machilipatnam, Maharaja College, Vizayanagarm, Madras University, and Oriental Research Institute, Tirupati |
| Notable Works: | Sandhi, Desi, Dravidian Cognates, Andhra Bharata Kavita Vimarshanamu |
| Relatives: | Korada Ramachandra Sastri, Korada Mahadeva Sastri |
| Spouse: | Annapurna |
| Native Name: | కోరాడ రామకృష్ణయ్య |
Korada Ramakrishnayya (2 October 1891 – 28 March 1962) was a Dravidian philologist and litterateur.[1] He was the first Telugu scholar to publish research works on comparative Dravidian linguistics. He published the first literary criticism based on modern methods 'Andhra Bharata Kavita Vimarshanamu'.[2] [3]
Ramakrishnayya authored works of fundamental importance and extended the borders of research in Telugu literary criticism, history of the Telugu language,[4] [5] philological interpretation of Telugu grammar,[6] cognate Dravidian vocabulary,[7] comparative Dravidian grammar,[8] and comparative Dravidian prosody.[9]
Korada Ramakrishnayya was born on 2 October 1891 in Amalapuram, East Godavari district, at his grandmother's house. His parents were Sitamma and Lakshmimanohara.
He completed his early education and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from Noble College, Machilipatnam in 1915. After his graduation, he worked as a lecturer at the same college. Later, he pursued his Master of Arts (M.A.) at Presidency College, Madras, and completed his degree in 1921.
After completing his B.A., Ramakrishnayya worked as a lecturer at Noble College, Machilipatnam. He then taught Telugu and Sanskrit at Maharajah's College in Vizianagaram. After earning his M.A., he served for 12 years (1915–1927) at Maharajah's College. In 1927, he joined Madras University as the Head of the Department of Telugu. He retired in 1950. Following his retirement, he worked for six years at the Tirupati TTD in the Department of Oriental Research.
Korada Ramakrishnayya was among the first to show that Southern Indian languages share a common metrical tradition in poetry. He established high standards in linguistic research and was recognized for his scientific approach to language studies. He was also a pioneer in applying historical knowledge of words to illuminate social history, and he contributed significantly to the promotion of democracy and public discourse through his works.
Telugu literary criticismHistory of Telugu languagePhilological interpretation of Telugu grammarCognate Dravidian vocabularyComparative Dravidian grammarComparative Dravidian prosodyCritical editions and translations