NIDUDAVOLU VENKATARAO: POET, LITERARY HISTORIAN, MOVING ENCYCLOPEDIA.
(3 January 1903 - 15 October 1982)
Vidyaratna, Kalaprapoorna Nidudavolu Venkatarao was a poet, scholar, and a literary historian with unusual
flair. His contemporaries called him jangama vijnana sarvaswamu, a moving encyclopedia because of his
extensive knowledge of classics in several languages and exceptional retention ability, because of which he
was able to quote extempore from any text anytime.
Venkatarao was born on 3 January 1903 in Vizianagaram. He was the fourth child and the first son, and as
such, he was raised fondly by his parents, Sundaram Pantulu and Jogamma.
The Nidudavolu lineage was known for rich scholarly tradition. His father, Sundaram Pantulu was a staunch
follower of Saivite traditions, avid reader, and collector of classics in Telugu and Sanskrit. Later the collection
was donated to Madras University, which was the beginning of the famous Madras Oriental Library. His
mother Jogamma was eloquent storyteller. Anytime someone asked about something, she would go into a
torrential narration.
Early childhood.
Early in life, Venkatarao had the ideal atmosphere to become well versed in Telugu and Sanskrit classics. He
never read a book just to claim he had read it, and never forgot what he had read. Additionally, he had the
extraordinary capability to remember whatever he had read, which was useful in his scholastic pursuits.
“There is no book he had not read, and no book he had not read totally immersed in it. He is the global lamp
that could show what is available in what corner (in literature),” commented Tirumala Ramachandra (as
quoted by Nistala. Pariseelana. 10). His zeal to gather information and record it for posterity set new
standards in Telugu literature.
Even in his childhood days, Venkatarao used to compose poetry and sing in an enchanting voice at meetings
and literary gatherings. In his later years, he continued to go to meetings, recite the invocation and read his
poems. And he never finished the invocation with just one verse but two—one in Sanskrit and one in Telugu.
His language skills in English and other Indian languages were remarkable. His English was equally
appreciated by the elite in his time.
Venkatarao attended high school and Intermediate (two-year, pre-degree course) in Visakhapatnam. Later he
attended Maharaja College in Vizianagaram and obtained his Bachelor’s degree in 1925. Due to financial
reasons, he could not pursue studies and joined the Imperial Bank (now State Bank of India) as clerk in 1926,
which he held until 1939. He was married while he was in Kakinada and the couple had five sons and two
daughters. His first son, Sundareswara Rao followed his father in scholastic pursuits became a well-respected
scholar. Venkatarao’s wife passed away in 1949. Venkatarao left his job at the Imperial bank in 1940 and
went to Madras to obtain his master’s degree. In 1942, he returned to Kakinada where he worked as Telugu
lecturer for one year and then and went back to Madras University where he started as junior lecturer at
Madras University and continued until retired as Head of the Telugu department in 1964. “I had to retire,
although I could work five more years,” said Venkatarao, which seems to imply he was forced to retire.
During this period however, Venkatarao surprised his audience with his scholarship, critical insights, and his
unequaled retention power. He was often referred to as ekasanthaagraahi, meaning he could remember
anything he had heard just once. At one time, it seems, a friend asked him about a word in vijayavilasam by
Chemakura Venkata kavi, and Venkatarao, standing under a tree, recited the entire text. C.S. Rao, writer,
actor and movie director said his was computer brain, not without merit. ( letter dated 5 January 1985, as
quoted by Dr. Nistala.).
Dr. Nistala Venkata Rao studied the works of Nidudavolu Venkatarao for his M.Phil. and later Ph.D. He
discussed the monumental work of Nidudavolu Venkatarao and the massive contribution to Telugu literature
in great detail in his book, Nidudavolu Venkatarao – pariseelana [Nidudavolu Venkatarao – A Study].
A brief note is in order here. Since the names of the two authors—the subject of this article and the
researcher are the same and even the initial letter in their surnames is the same, I decided to refer to the
researcher, Dr. Nistala Venkata Rao as Nistala, and Nidudavolu Venkatarao as Venkatarao. And, Nistala’s
book as pariseelana. Also I retained the spellings of the words in English as given in the original texts by
Venkatarao.
Further, my surname is also Nidadavolu. Venkatarao garu and my father were first cousins (children of two
brothers). There is however a small difference, a variation in spelling the surnames. Venkatarao garu always
spelled his surname as Nidudavolu (with ‘u’ in the second syllable) whereas in my family it has always been
Nidadavolu. In this article, I kept the spelling Venkatarao had used for his name.
Employment.
During his job at the Imperial bank, he was invited to work in a dictionary project, which brought his retention
skills to light. As the story goes, the Pithapuram Raja Suryarao Bahaddur was reading the kumarasabhavam
kavya and needed a scholar knowledgeable in Saivite literature. Somebody suggested Venkatarao’s name
and the Pithapuram Raja sent for him. Eventually, that led Venkatarao to become compiler of a dictionary to
be named after the Raja as suryarayandhra nighantuvu. Their friendship turned out to be a blessing for
Venkatarao.
Speaking of his job at the bank, Venkatarao quipped, “I have moved from numbers to letters (literature) where
as the people at the universities have shifted from letters to numbers [money]. (pariseelana. Venkatarao in
his response to the felicitation by Andhra Vijnana Samiti, Tyagaraja College, Chennai. 255.).
In 1939, Venkatarao went to Madras, obtained his master’s degree, and returned to Kakinada to work as a
lecturer in Kakinada College for a year, 1941-42. In the following year, he applied for junior lecturer’s position
at Madras University, and got the job on a recommendation from the Pithapuram Raja. In 1947, Venkatarao
became senior lecturer and in 1959 and later reader. Later he became the head of the Telugu department
and retired in 1964. Venkatarao stated that he could work for five more years but they made him retire.
(pariseelana. 257.).
Literary activities.
While working as bank clerk, he undertook to write an elaborate preface and annotations for the hitherto
unknown book, tripurantakodaharanam, and published it in 1935. The book won the Telugu Bhasha Samiti
award. In his preface, Venkatarao had mentioned that he was instrumental in reviving the two-hundred year-
old udaaharana genre and introducing it to the Telugu people. After he moved to Madras, he wrote its
complete, udaaharana vanjmayacharitra [History of udaaharana literature]. Several reputable scholars like
Viswanatha Satyanarayana wrote verses in udaaharana style after Venkatarao brought the genre to light.
From the very little I have understood, the udaaharana poetry is a genre of poetry, written in praise of god,
using all the seven grammatical cases. Since all verbs in Dravidian languages include case markings, it is
only appropriate that all the case markings be included in praising the lord, Viswanatha Satyanarayana
observed. By reviving the two-hundred year-old literary form, and discussing the genre elaborately in his
book, udaaharana vanjmayam, [Udaharana literature], Venkatarao rendered a notable service to Telugu
literature in 1954.
While Venkatarao was junior lecturer in Madras university, during 1944-1949, he undertook to write the
Telugu kavula charitra [Lives of Telugu poets], dating from the earliest times to 1500 A.D. In his preface (the
author provided the preface in English also in addition to the Telugu version), Mr. Venkatarao stated that the
social conditions and the lives of the ordinary peoples had been recorded distinctively in the Saivite literature
but not in the Hindu texts as had been hitherto claimed. Possibly, for the same reason, Mr. Venkatarao
pursued his scholarly work in Saivite literature and produced two more works, which won significant place in
the history of Telugu literature. His major contribution in this volume is recognizing authors of inscriptions as
poets. Nistala commented that up until then, the authors of inscriptions were not taken into account in the
annals of literary history. Venkatarao was the first literary historian to give them their due place in the history
of Telugu literature (pariseelana. 69) and thus laid path to a new trend.
Venkatarao contributed to Telugu literature immensely by reviving and reinterpreting and providing extensive
commentaries on books in Saivaite literature. His major works in this area included editing panditaraadhya
charitra by Mallikarjuna Panditaradhya, editing and providing elaborate annotations and commentary to
Basava puranam, and sivatatthava saaram by Manchana. The amount of information he had given in each of
these classics set new record in the field of Telugu literature.
In his preface to his own work, Southern School of Telugu Literature, Venkatarao stated that investigation of
this subject itself was new at that point. Venkatarao identified for the first that Telugu literature flourished in
the 17th and 18th centuries under the non-Telugu speaking Nayaka rulers in the South states of Tanjore,
Madhurai, Pudukkotai, and Salem and also under Maratta rulers. It was even more interesting since even the
people in these states did not speak Telugu. The rulers were obviously fascinated by the sweetness of the
language and encouraged poets to write in Telugu. Venkatarao wrote his preface in English to this volume
probably to facilitate reading at least the preface by the non-Telugu speaking readers. Not only literature but
language also flourished during this period, he added. Some critics had commented on the non-standard
usage of the language and said those poets were not knowledgeable in grammar (laakshanikulu).
Venkatarao on the other hand, called it natural development of the language, and commended those poets
for their originality and usage of the native idiom. He also discusses the relationship between other south
Indian languages such as Kannada, Malayalam, and Tamil and Telugu, and goes to prove that congenial
atmosphere between the people in the South during this period.
Another significant work was his history of Telugu poets, Southern School of Telugu Literature. Previously,
Manavalli Ramakrishna kavi and Chaganti Seshayya had produced two books on the same subject. However,
unlike other historians, Venkatarao included several writers other historians had not taken note of. Among
them, the poets who had composed inscriptions were acknowledged as poets for the first time. Additionally,
Venkatarao went to great length to find all the data for each author—his times, works, different versions of
each work, in different languages if any, the origins of the text, and the textual variations, etc.
His work on prose literature, Andhra vacana vanjmayam originated from his lectures on prose literature.
Sivalenka Sambhuprasad, editor of Bharati monthly, and other friends encouraged Venkatarao to develop his
lectures as a book. Sambhuprasad promised to publish it under Andhra granthamala, (an organ of Bharati)
banner. In this book, Venkatarao, as was his wont, had covered all the extant literature in the form of prose
starting from early times to the most recent novels, short stories in the weekly and monthly magazines, radio
speeches, etc.
On short stories and modern prose literature:
Regarding the short stories in Telugu, Venkatarao wrote: “In Sanskrit literature, stories have a special place.
Everybody is familiar with the opening line in Maha Bharata, ‘that story-teller said to such sages as Saunaka.’
Pancatantra stories belong to Bharatadesam [India]. … All these stories were originally in Sanskrit. There is
one special feature here. In Sanskrit, these texts are in the poetic form. There is no equivalent in Sanskrit for
the Telugu word vacanam [prose]. They all are in the form of slokas. ... thus, the stories in the early days
were translations from Sanskrit in the form of poetry (e.g. Harsha charitra, pancatantram, kadambari) and
viewed as kavya literature. In Telugu literature, until the advent of modern period, the short story remained
poetic in nature,” he said. (Andhra vacanavanjmayamu 127-8).
To give an example of the extent of data he would include, I was surprised to see an explanation as to how
the word komma [branch] came to mean “woman”. He said the word referred to a game women used to play in
which one woman would attempt to touch other women with a branch and others would try to dodge it.
Eventually, the word came to be used as equivalent to woman.
Commenting on modern prose literature, Venkatarao said that women ranked first among writers of fiction in
modern times. He named Pulugurta Lakshmi Narasamamba as the first woman writer of fiction. Her novel,
yogiswari, was published in 1927 by Andhra Pracharini Granthamala. In this period, Kovvali Lakshmi
Narasimha Rao (known as Kovvali) made history by producing a record one thousand novels. “I had the
honor of writing preface to his one thousandth novel,” said Venkatarao.
On Pothana and his works:
In his preface to his own book, Pothana, Venkatarao discussed not only Pothana’s life and times, but also the
beauty of the Telugu language, the reasons it had become so popular even among the illiterate, and went on
to refute the popular myth that the Saivaites hated Lord Vishnu. He established with apt illustrations that the
Saivaites did not reject the existence of Vishnu but portrayed him in their literatures as a devotee of Siva
(Pothana. Avatarika, 1-27). In explaining the progression in Pothana’s life, he said, For many, Pothana was a
riddle as he [Pothana] followed the Viramaheswara tradition, supported devotion to Lord Vishnu
[vishnubhakti] and, in the end, achieved non-dualism [advaitasiddhi] for himself. Venkatarao argued that this
confusion was a reflection of the social conditions of his time and partly due to its misrepresentation in
literature.
While commenting that Pothana’s Bhagavatam was the most popular classic yet among the scholars as well
as the illiterate, he said that there was not a single Telugu person who would not know at least a few poems
from Bhagavatam. In support of his observation, he recounted the following story: In a small village, one day
the Bhagavatar [narrator] failed to show up on the stage. Then one villager from the audience stood and
recited a poem from the Bhagavatam, mispronouncing the words, which changed the meaning. The original
text read, “The Manu was the fourth among the kings [manavaadhiswara]”. The text as recited by the villager
read, “The man had a tongue that weighed one manugu.” After that, another villager stood and recited the
next line, “Even Kundina king in Vidarbha would have a tongue weighing one manugu”, apparently, continuing
the story from the preceding line. The correct line would be “in Vidarbha, there was a combatant named
Kundina.”
This narrative captured my attention particularly because of the way it was narrated by Venkatarao. Despite
his reputation for being highly critical of errors, in this narration, Venkatarao appeared to be tolerant of
mispronunciations and misuse of words [Pothana .Preface. 3].
His prefaces:
Venkatarao’s prefaces earned him the reputation that “he lives in the town of prefaces” [mee kaapuram
peethikaapuram], commented a contemporary scholar and friend, Ganti Suryanarayana Sastry (Nistala.
Pariseelana. 242.). His scrupulous attention to detail, his ardor to cover the topic from all angles was evident
in his prefaces to any book he had written. Just to give one example, his book, sivatatthavasaaramu was 104
pages and Venkatarao’s preface to the book was 91 pages. In his preface, he had discussed the author’s
time, social conditions, the main features of Saivite literature, grammar, and prosody in detail.
In his preface to Basava puranam by Palkuriki Somanatha and his preface to and meticulous editing of
panditaraadhya charitra, Venkatarao showed as much his love of Saivite literature as his scholarship in
editing and writing information-packed commentaries. Venkatarao undertook the story of Southern School in
Telugu Literature as a research project. In his preface, he stated that, “The subject itself is a new field of
investigation. The literature, which developed in the southern parts where Tamil is the spoken language. .. …
It is a peculiar phenomenon that even the Maratha rulers of Tanjore have patronised [sic.] Telugu, which was
neither their own language nor that of the people who were under his sway.” (The original in English. Preface,
p.1.)
His innovations:
One of his innovations was to introduce the inscriptions as literature in this volume on Southern School.
Secondly, he quotes the features peculiar to South Andhra Literature as 1. Royal poets and non-Brahmin
poets flourished greatly; 2. Female poets obtained special place in literature; 3. dwipada and yakshagaana
performances thrived; 4. Prose literature developed systematically; 5. Lyrics comprised of music and literary
qualities received an impetus; 6. Flaunting of unfettered, promiscuous expression in prabhandas; 7. santvana
kavya rachana [Appeasing the incensed heroine], 8. nayakaabhyudaya rachana [Heroic in praise of kings]; 9.
udaaharana and historical writings; and, 10. Literatures of scientific disciplines.
Venkatarao added that not only literature but language also flourished during this period. “Some believe that
some of these writings included grammatically incorrect words and those writers were not laakshinikulu
[grammarians]. In reality, the language in these works has presented itself as dynamic and capable of normal
metamorphosis the same way as in the period of Saivite poets. Additionally, the language reflected the
subtleties, nuance, and the usage prevalent in those times.”
His contribution to Saivaite literature:
Venkatarao’s major contributions in Saivaite literature were his exhaustive preface to Basava puranam by
Palkuriki Somanatha, and his preface and extensive commentaries to Panditaradhya charitra. In both the
volumes, he discussed at length the Saivaite philosophy, their authorship, textual variations, usage of words,
and so on.
Criticisms and comments on works by other contemporary writers: Venkatarao was passionate about his work
as a scholar. In that, he would not hesitate to comment on others’ work, sometimes, harshly, much to the
chagrin of those writers. At times, the others did not take the comments too well and retorted in the same
tone. One of the stories caught my attention was an episode involving Venkatarao’s comments on samagra
Andhra sahityam by Arudra. Personally, I have great regard for both Venkatarao and Arudra.
Nistala mentioned that Venkatarao criticized samagra Andhra sahityam [Comprehensive History of Telugu
Literature] by Arudra, but did not give the exact comment. He however added that, “samagra Andhra sahityam
has been written in simple language for general readers with average knowledge. The author [Arudra] was
originally a poet, who later became involved his research. Therefore, it is natural for errors to seep in.
Venkatarao was a great scholar from the start. … It would have been better if he (Venkatarao) had given
constructive criticism and encouraged the author [Arudra].”
Nistala continued to add that Arudra happened to visit Venkatarao at his home, and Venkatarao said,
addressing him [Arudra] as nayanaa affectionately, “I am finicky [maadi chadastam]. We say things but young
people like you must continue to render service to literature.” (pariseelana. 48). Nevertheless, there was no
mention of Venkatarao and his enormous service to Telugu literature in Samagra Andhra Sahityam by
Arudra, which is hard to explain.
On his criticism:
Venkatarao was harsh in his criticism of others’ works. Dr. Nistala also gave a few other examples of
Venkatarao’s abrasive comments and thereby his alienation from his contemporary writers, especially
younger generation writers. For instance, Venkatarao, while working on his book, dakshinandhra vanjmayam,
criticized radhikasvantanam by S. V. Joga Rao and even forwarded his comments to the Vice Chancellor.
Joga Rao, in retaliation, called Venkatarao’s Telugu kavula charitra [History of Telugu Poets] as akhanda
deepaaraadhana kavulu charitra [History of poets like the eternal lamps], referring to a ritual of keeping a
lamp lit incessantly. Probably, Joga Rao implied the work was ritualistic rather than scholarly. Additionally, he
questioned Venkatarao’s reputation as a scholar and called his work, daskhinadhra sahiyam, nothing but a
“catalogue scholarship”. Venkatarao was equally abrasive of scholarly articles as well in his criticism. His
comments on Korlapati Srirama Murthy provoked Srirama Murthy into remarking that Venkatarao “was not
qualified to be Head of the Telugu department.”
Probably Viswanatha Satyanarayana put it aptly when he said at a meeting that, “God gave him [Venkatarao]
infinite scholarship but not pleasurable speech.” Sundareswara Rao, Venkatarao’s son, was quoted as saying
that his father, “stayed so converged on literature as his ultimate goal that he alienated himself from society
with his argumentative language in his criticisms.” (pariseelana. 47).
As Nistala pointed out, Venkatarao did not show the same kind of sophistication in his comments as writing
the original prefaces. His comments were not to be dismissed as biased though. Several of his comments had
been very useful in revising the texts at the time of reprint, Nistala said.
Venkatarao had written thousands of articles, numerous valuable forewords, and delivered hundreds of
speeches both on the air and in person, according to Dr. Nistala.
On prayogam [usage of words]
Venkatarao’s another contribution was in the field of usage of words known as prayogam in literature, which
the scholars in his day were not always receptive to. Venkatarao insisted that the usage of words by poets
should take precedence over grammar rules since it reflected the language of the general population and
thus deserved to be credited. This was consistent with the vyaavaharika bhashodyamam (Movement to
promote colloquial style in writing) and portrayed Venkatarao as a traditionalist nonetheless modernist. His
contribution to Telugu literature went beyond the pale of traditional scholarship and reached out to humanity.
Another example of his universal outlook was his enthusiasm to work on Christian literature much the same
way as on Saivite works and other Hindu texts.
Due to his erudition and nonconforming views, Venkatarao collected an impressive line of titles, some
conferred ceremoniously and others came through casual conversations. (Nistala. 75-77). The Vidyaratna
award was conferred on him by Andhra Saraswata Parishat, Narasaraopet (date was not given).
Andhra University conferred the prestigious Kalaprapoorna title on him in 1970. The title was created by Dr. C.
R. Reddy, Vice Chancellor, in 1927, to honor the scholars who had no formal doctoral degrees yet excelled in
scholarship acquired through traditional learning.
Acknowledgement of his scholarly works:
1n 1976, he became an honorary member on the Sahitya Akademi Advisory Board.
The title jangama vijnana sarvasvam [Walking Encyclopedia] was a descriptive phrase used with reference to
his scholarship. It seems the term was used in a speech at a small village called Pedapudi, in Tenali taluq,
and came to be used as a title in course of time. Notably, the word jangama refers to a section among
Saivaites and Venkatarao had been an authority on Saivaite traditions and literature.
Another such title fortuitously acquired by Venkatarao was prayoga mushika marjaala, drawing on the
imagery of a cat pouncing on the mice snuck in a corner. It was not clear who used the phrase or when but it
was an apt one for him because of his painstaking effort to find usage of words in the extant texts.
Viswanatha Satyanarayana had great respect for Venkatarao. After he had received the prestigious
Jnanapeeth award, he wrote a book, Andhra dhaatukriya manideepika [Dictionary grammatical cases]. In this
connection, Viswanatha Satyanarayana told Venkatarao that he had searched everywhere but could not find
the usage for the word manasainadi [rough translation would be ‘setting one’s heart on something’].
Venkatarao said he could show one hundred instances of it for him (Viswanatha). Satyanarayana asked him
to show them. Venkatarao quoted a line, nee chakkadanambu chuuda manasainadi nanda nandanaa [my
heart is set on watching your beauty], from a book of one hundred verses [satakam], entitled nanda nandana
satakamu. Satyanarayana was impressed with Venkatarao’s scholarship and in later years used to say that
Venkatarao was the only qualified person to compile a dictionary. On another occasion, Satyanarayana said
Venkatarao was parisodhana parameswarulu [The Almighty Siva in Research], which came to be used as one
of his titles. (pariseelana.75).
Dr. Nistala observed that Venkatarao’s service to Telugu literature is comparable to the service rendered by
Sir. C.P. Brown. Both were interested in reviving the literature ignored by other scholars in their day, both
devoted themselves to bracing the Saivite literature, both believed in altering the prevalent notion that Saivite
literature was not worthy of scholars’ attention. Both understood that the social conditions and the lives of the
ordinary people were reflected best in the Saivite literature. According to the two scholars, the Saivaites were
staunch believers in bringing literature to the ordinary people. Ironically, in some instances, both Venkatarao
and Brown adhered to the specifics equally.
His last years:
Venkatarao was a staunch devotee of Siva and Anjaneya. He started his day with a visit to the Anjaneya
temple and performed Siva puja every Monday. Possibly, his rigorous religious practices gave him the
discipline necessary to excel in his scholarly pursuits. Whatever he undertook, he completed with unusual
zest and flair and with extraordinary success.
Despite his complex scholarship, life had been a struggle for him financially. After his retirement in 1964, he
moved to Hyderabad, and was appointed professor at Osmania university, under a UGC project created for
retired professors. Venkatarao held the position from 1964-1968.
In 1974, the government of Andhra Pradesh and the Sahitya Akademi granted him one hundred rupees per
month each. The government of Andhra Pradesh raised their grant to five hundred rupees in 1982.
Referring to his financial conditions, Tirumala Ramachandra, a notable critic and scholar, said to Venkatarao
once, “had you continued in your job at the Imperial Bank, you would have earned three thousand a month.”
Venkatarao replied, “I know that one of my colleagues at the bank is making two thousand five hundred a
month now. However, if I had continued in the bank and pursued my scholarly activities, I would not have had
the same content as I am enjoying now by rendering service to literature.”
On October 15, 1982, he passed away at midnight on the Sivaratri day, which is a highly coveted form of
death in the Saivaite tradition.
In summary, the enormous contributions of Nidudavolu Venkatarao to Telugu literature in terms of rewriting
the literary history, acknowledging the hitherto little known or unknown poets, compiling dictionaries, reviving
the Saivaite classics and reinterpreting them put him in the rank and file of eminent scholars. His work in
udaaharana literature and acknowledging the composers of inscriptions [sasana kavulu] as notable poets is
considered remarkable.
Once again, I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to Dr. Nistala Venkatarao, whose work has been of
immense help in writing this article. For complete list of Nidudavolu Venkatarao’s works, please refer to Dr.
Nistala Venkata Rao’s book, nidudavolu venkatarao gari rachanalu: pariseelana, pages, 190-225.
Partial List of the works by Nidudavolu Venkatarao.
Cinnayasuri jeevitamu: Paravastu Chinnayasuri krutha Hindu dhramasastra sangrahamu sahitamugaa. 1962.
Dakshinadeseeyandhra vanjmayamu, The Southern School of Telugu Literature. (With preface in English)
1954
Kopparapu sodarakavula charitra. 1973.
Nannechodunu kavitaavaibhavamu: Nannechoduni padyaalaku ruchira vyakhyaanamu. 1976.
Potana. 1962.
Telugu kavula charitra. 1956.
Udaaharana vanjmaya charitra. 1968
Vijayanagara samsthaanamu: Andhra vanjmaya poshana. 1965.
Andhra vachana vanjmayamu. 1977.
Andhra vachana vanjmayamu: pracheena kalamu nundi 1900 A.D. varaku. 1954
Bhamaakalaapamu, edited by P. Jayamma. 1999
Prefaces and commentaries.
Sri Nachana Somanathuni hamsaadibakopakhyanamu (uttara harivamsamu, chaturtha aswaasamu.
Commentary by Nidudavolu Venkatarao. 1972.
Editions and revisions by Nidudavolu Venkatarao.
Sivatatthva saaramu by Mallikarjuna Panditaaraadhyulu. Edited with extensive annotations by Nidudavolu
Venkatarao, 1968.
Prabodha chandrodayamu by Nandi Mallaya. Edited by Nidudavolu Venkatarao, 1976.
Sabdaratnakaram by Bahujanapalli Sitaramacharyulu (1827-1891). Revised by Nidudavolu Venkatarao.
1969.
Collaborations.
Sakalanitisaaramu, by Madiki Singana. Edited by Nidudavolu Venkatarao and Ponangi Srirama Apparao.
1970.
Manavalli rachanalu. Edited by Nidudavolu Venkatarao and Ponangi Srirama Apparao. 1972.
Telugu Kannadamula samskrutika sambandhaalu, by Nidudavolu Venkatarao, et. Al. 1974.
Telugu, Kannada, Tamila, Malayala bhashalalo saati samethalu, compiled by Nidudavolu Venkatarao, et. al.,
1961.
On Nidudavolu Venkatarao and his works.
Nistala Venkata Rao. Nidudavolu Venkatarao: Pariseelana. 1984. Available on www.orchive.org. This book
has provided complete list of all the works and speeches in 35 pages and organized according to topics.