Cinare, the monarch among Telugu poets and king among Telugu film lyricists, will be cremated with full State honours in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Cinare, whose real name was C Narayana Reddy, died of heart attack in a city hospital on Monday drowning the worlds of literature and films in grief. He was 85.
Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu were among the hundreds of prominent personalities who visited his residence to pay tributes to the doyen of Telugu literature.
Paying tributes to Cinare, KCR announced that his last rites will be performed at Jubilee Hills crematorium with full State honours.
The last rites will be performed after his grand children arrive from the USA. The State Government has announced special bus service for the people coming from the districts for the funeral.
“The State Government will build an auditorium and a memorial in his honour. We will also install his statues on the Tankbund in Hyderabad and at his birth place in Hanumajipet in Sricilla district,” he told the media.
Chandrababu Naidu who specially flew in from Vijaywada to pay his respects termed Cinare’s death as irreplaceable loss to Telugu language and literature. He recalled his long association with the legendary film actor.
Cinare was an embodiment of the composite culture of Hyderabad as he had the rare combination of mastery over Urdu and Telugu.
He had his entire education from primary school to graduation in Osmania University in Urdu language but did his post graduation and PhD in Telugu literature placing him in a unique position of bringing the influence of poetry and literature of one language into another. Starting as a Telugu lecturer in Secunderabad College of Arts, he went on to become a professor in Osmania University and taught at the famous Nizam college.
Such was his command over Telugu language and literature that he left a vast treasure of more 3,500 Telugu film songs and a collection of 80 books of poetry, ballads, plays, essays and travelogues.
His song Telugu Jaati Manadi became an anthem of sort for Telugu people calling for the unity of Telugus.
Such was the love for the land and culture that he named all his four daughters after four Indian rivers Ganga, Jamuna, Saraswati and Krishnaveni, who ironically settled in the USA.
Cinare was the most honoured and recognised poet of Telugu language. He was awarded country’s highest literary award Gnanapeeth in 1988 for his opus Viswambhara. He also received several other prominent awards including Padmashri, Padmabhushan, and Sahitya Academy award. In the recognition of his service and contribution to literature Cinare was nominated to Rajya Sabha in 1997. He also served as the vice chancellor of Telugu University and BR Ambedkar Open University.
Though he belonged to Telangana, his mastery over Telugu language had surpassed the poets and writers of Andhra. This was recognised by Andhra literatures by installing his statue on the Visakhapatanam beach.