CP Brown (Charles Philip Brown - 10 Nov 1798 – 12 Dec 1884) was one of the foremost foreign dignitaries who dedicated his life for the advancement of Telugu language. He was a British official of the East India Company, and became an important scholarly figure in Telugu language literature. On the occasion of his 226th birth anniversary, Telugu people are remembering that great soul.
CP Brown was born in Culcutta (Present Kolkata) on 10th day of Nov in 1798 for a British couple Brown and Cowley. His father Rev David Brown was senator chaplain of the East India Company in Bengal. Senior Brown also worked as a multilingual scholar at Fort William College, Calcutta.
Although born in British family, he learned the Telugu language and dedicated his life to its development. For this, Telugu nation owes a great debt to the honourable Charles Philip Brown. He finished his school education in Culcutta, also learned Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Hindustani, Syriac and Greek languages. During his childhood, CP Brown used to help his father in sorting out and making copies of the domestic books.
CP Browne did not know about Telugu language until he arrived in Madras on August 4, 1817, in the civil service of the East India Company. After some time working with Telugu people, he got passionate to learn Telugu language. Brown studied literature under Kodanda Rama Panthulu of Velagapudi at Fort St. George's College, Madras (Presently Chennai).
Gradually the sweetness of Telugu language attracted him. In 1820, he posted second Assistant to the Principal Collector, Cuddapah (Present Kadapa) by the British rulers. As always, learning Telugu is exciting for Brown. In addition to that, in order to perform those job responsibilities properly, one should master the Telugu language. The employees who worked before them…held the post through translators. But realizing the risk of doing injustice to the original in the translation, Brown was willing and showed interest to study the Telugu language thoroughly.
The difficulties he faced in learning the Telugu language made him a Telugu language researcher. He worked in places like Machilipatnam, Guntur, Chittoor, Thirunalveli on various job responsibilities and employment and returned to Kadapa for the second time in 1826. He bought a 15 acre garden and a bungalow in Erramukkapalle, near Kadapa and settled down. By visiting many places of each region in Andhra Pradesh, Brown fully understood the dialects of the Telugu language. Keeping all this in mind, Brown brought out the first dictionary in Telugu. Even today all our scholars take this as standard dictionary. Also, he published a grammar book.
During his literature journey, CP Brown learned about Vemana, who was a great poet, combines language, emotion, pace, intensity, anti-superstition in his verse. At that time Brown collected up to 2500 poems written by Vemana. He selected and edited 693 of the best poems, translated them into English and published them in 1829 under the title 'Verses of Vemana'. After that he collected all the Bharata, Bhagavata, Ramayana maha kavyas. Also, he collected Tala patrass of histories, Folktales, and Shatakas. He hired scholars and scribes with his own money for making corrections and correct copies of tala patras. During his working days as a district collector in Kadapa, he researched and edited many Telugu books in his own bungalow. Now, that bungalow was converted into 'Brown College'. Even after the century, Telugu people always remember CP Brown. Among the other local scholars who contributed to the writings of the Brown were Juluri Appaiah, Vathyam Advaita Brahmaiah, Mannem Kanakaiah, Garimella Venkaiah, Varanasi Veeraswamy and Tirupati Tatacharyu.
CP Brown took the help of local scholars of that time and solved many ancient texts and poems in Telugu in a way that everyone could understand easily. He nurtured many scholars for this. Significantly, he managed all this with his own money. He also helps poor people financially. Due to his religious views and the cost of publishing books, Brown suffered financially.
After knowing the activity of Brown, Britishers removed him from the job in 1834. Then he moved to England. Again, sometime later, he came to India in 1837 as a Persian translator for one of foreign company. After being released from his duties in India in 1854, and left for London. In 1865 he became Professor of Telugu at London University. From there he continued communication by the written correspondence in Telugu with language lovers and literary people of Andhra Pradesh, India. Brown works some time Bible translation project into the Telugu language. CP Brown abstains from marriage because of a religious vow. This great man died at Westbourne Grove on 12th December 1884 at the age of 86. His death was physical; he will always live in the hearts of Telugu people as he dedicated his life in the service of the Telugu language.
