Muppala Ranganayakamma

Who is Muppala Ranganayakamma?

Muppalla Ranganayakamma mononymously known as Ranganayakamma is a leading Telugu Feminist-Marxist writer and critic.

Ranganayakamma was born in Bommidi village near Tadepalligudem in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. She passed SSLC examination in 1955. She could not continue her studies as her parents could not financially afford to send her to a far-off college.

Her marriage was a traditionally arranged one. Due to contradictions, she left the first marriage after 12 years and came to be known as Ranganayakamma. After she left the first marriage, she and Bapuji started living together without a formal/ civil marriage ceremony along with the children of the first marriage. Bapuji is 10 years younger to her and was not married before. He is her reader-admirer.

She has been writing since 1955. To date, she has written about 15 novels, 70 short stories and many essays. She published about 60 volumes in all. The main theme in her works is gender equality and the depiction of women's family life in India.

She came into contact with Marxism in 1973 and began to write from that perspective since then. She is best known for her work 'Ramayana Vishavruksham', meaning "Ramayana: The Poisonous Tree", published in 1974, criticizing the Hindu epic Ramayana from Marxist point of view. This book was a three volume series and is now available as a single volume with 746 pages in Royal size. This book is now available in English. After reading this book, a considerable number of readers turned into atheists/ Marxists.