A commemorative postage stamp on Kummara Molla (1440-1530), a Telugu poetess authored the Telugu-language Ramayana :

Issued by India

Issued on Apr 26, 2017

Issued for : Department of Posts is pleased to issue Commemorative Postage Stamp on Viswanatha Satyanarayana, Tarigonda Vengamamba & Aatukuri (Kummari) Molla.

Credits :
Stamp / First Day Cover / Brochure / Cancellation Cachet : Shri Brahm Prakash

Type : Stamp, Mint Condition

Colour : Multi Colour

Denomination : 500 Paise

Stamps Printed : 301590

Printing Process : Wet Offset

Printer : Security Printing Press, Hyderabad

Name : Atukuri Molla

Born on 1440 at Gopavaram, Kadapa district, Rayalaseema, Andhra Pradesh

Died on 1530

About : 

• Poetess Aatukuri Molla (Molla means Jasmine in Telugu) was born (13-03-1440) in village Gopavaram, Kaluvayi Mandalam of Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.
• For generations, Molla’s ancestors were Siva Bhaktas, devotees of Siva, (also known as Mallanna, in the Telugu lands). Molla was not schooled and tutored in the traditional way. Her literary talent is described as Sahaja Panditya, a gift from Srikantha Malleswara Swamy. Although from a family of traditional Siva bhaktas, Molla revered Sri Rama, one of Vishnu’s avataras (incarnation) in an equal measure.
• Molla’s Ramayana in Telugu is very popular among the masses because, it is in simple and beautiful language. Molla’s Ramayana contains a little over 870 poems and prose. She expanded those events in Rama’s life which concern ordinary people in their daily life, in their trials and tribulations; in their triumphs and failures; in their pleasures and pains. Molla was the first woman poet who wrote a Ramayana in Telugu. Molla’s literary merit was held by the scholars of that time as precious and as meritorious as that of the most learned and accomplished and decorated poets. A statue was raised for her in Kadapa town in A.P. There is a temple, dedicated to Molla in Guntur town of Andhra Pradesh. A movie was produced about her and her Ramayana. She passed away in 1530.
• Text : Based on the material received from proponent.

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