I am a descendant of the great rishi Bharadwaja, son of Brhaspati and Mamata, brother of Dirghatamas, student of Valmiki and Gauthama, who was raised by the Maruts (sons of Siva) and adopted by Bharata, the son of Sakunthala and the grand-son of Viswamitra. I am also the direct descendant of Viswamitra on my mother’s and paternal grandmother’s side.
These Telugu Brahmin Families have contributed to my gene pool:
The Kandulas, Yadavillis, Mukkavillis, Somayajulus, Nanduris, Nunnas, Pendyalas.
This story of my ancestry is as my grandmother (Bhaskaramma) told me in 1979. The words are as I wrote them in 1979.
Sometime in the late 19th century was a born a young boy in the Yadavilli family. He was a boy of extraordinary brilliance. He was adopted by Kandula Laksmikantham and his wife Saraswathi (Somayajula by birth) who were childless. Saraswathi’s niece Somayajula Venkata Subbamma was given in marriage to their adopted son Kandula Seetramayya. Subbamma’s father was S.Seshayya. Her mother had died when she was but a child and her stepmother was of the Vishnubhatla family. Subbamma had an elder sister whom she described as very beautiful. She was very fond of her younger stepsister too. Her father had two brothers VenkataSubbayya and Lingayya and 3 sisters, Saraswathi (Kandula, Gudur Mamma (Maladi family) and one married into the Challa family.
Kandula Sitaramayya
Kandula Seetaramayya’s brother, Yadavilli Kishtayya was a poet. His two sisters were married to Jammalamadaka Bhushayyagaru and Dasiga Chenlu respectively. Seetaramayya’s real father was a Ghanaapaati. He was a brahmin who could recite the Vedas back to front. Kandula Seetaramayya was my great grandfather and his wife was my Thathamma (great grandmother). Kandula Seetaramayya secured a medal in an open exam (matriculation) and became a lawyer. He had four children – Lakshmikantham, Kameswari, Lakshminarasamma and Nagabhushanam. Seetaramayya died when his youngest son Nagabhushanam, my grandfather (Thathagaru), was just a baby.
From then began Thathamma’s trial of endurance. (She was widowed at 25 and lived till she was 97). She was young. On her fell the uphill task of raising 4 children. She didn’t know anything of the legal affairs or of her husband’s work. She, with her children, went to live in Bundar (Machilipatnam). The Kandulas had a house in Bundar. The ilavelpu or family deity of that house was Kameswari Devi. It was cutomary to name the eldest daughter of every Kandula after Her. This tradition was changed in my generation. Only the first of the 4 eldest Kandula daughters (Papakka) was named Kameswari. The next one was named Bala Tripura Sundari (another name of the same Goddess)., followed by Sujatha and then myself Sarada.
The Bundar house along with the Kameswari Deity as the Ilavelpu was inherited by Kandula Seetapathi from his maternal grandmother (ammamma). Kandula Seetapathi was Seetaramayya’s grandfather (through adoption) and Laksmikantham’s father (real). Seetapathi’s mother had two sisters and they had a son each. All three boys got houses from their grandmother next to each other. Seetapathi was an only child and he died young. His son was also an only child.
Kandula Lakshmikantham and his baby son died very soon. His wife Saraswathi was fair of face, but thus unlucky. Her mother-in-law, (Seetapathi’s wife) forced her to adopt a small baby boy Yadavilli Seetramayya who was neither healthy nor handsome at that time. She refused to accept him for a long time and her mother-in-law took care of the baby. In time Saraswathi learnt to love him and married him to her niece Somayajula Venkata Subbamma. Seetaramayya was brilliant and industrious and he soon established himself as a lawyer in Tenali.
Subbamma was 7 when she married him and was a widow by 25. She faced difficulties with utmost courage and perseverance and brought up her children. Her eldest son Lakshmikantham was very brilliant and hardworking and was a man of great honour. He helped his widowed mother and grandmother with the education and bringing up of his brothers and sisters. He married Koochibatla Sundaramma. They had many children who passed away young., so they called in some Muslim Fakirs who converted their children to Muslims. (I learnt later that this was a one day affair where the boys were given Muslim names for a day.) The 3 surviving children were Suryanarayana, Purnachandra Rao and Seeta Rama Sastry. K.Lakshmikantham was the apple of his grandmother’s eye and she wouldn’t eat unless he did. His grandmother wouldn’t eat unless she saw the sun and this taxed her very much on cloudy days, in her old age. So Lakshmikantham’s son was named Suryanarayana was named after the Sun God and now his grandmother could eat even on cloudy days. Lakshmikantham fell ill shortly after the death of his wife when Seeta Rama Sastry was a few months old. His brother Nagabhushanam loved his brother and respected him like a father. So he took great care of him when he was ill. When Lakshmikatham died a few months later, his brother cared for his children with help from his mother and his wife. Lakshmikantham was called Devudu Mastaru or Godly Teacher.
Kandula Seetha Rama Sastry with Mukkavilli Bhaskaramma and Kandula Nagabhushanam
Kandula Nagabhushanam married Mukkavilli Bhaskaramma, the daughter of an English Professor, Mukkavilli Suryanarayana and the descendant of long line of Sanskrit Gurus of a Gurupeetham. Her mother was Pendyala Annapurna. She was a sensitive and supportive wife.
Mukkavilli Suryanarayana and Pendyala Annapurna
They had three children Kameswari, Kanakasundari and Varaha Narasimha Sarma (my father). Sarma married Nanduri Vijayalakshmi (my mother). Her parents were Nanduri Ramanujachari and Nunna Rajyalakshmi. They had two daughters, Satya Sarada (me) and Lakshmi Naga Padma (my sister).
