Kandukuri Virasalingam Pantulu (1848-1919) emerged in the Indian scenario as a social reformer and a feminist crusader. He belonged to the state of Andhra Pradesh. He was born on April 16, 1848, in Rajahmundry, the Telegu-speaking capital of Godavari District, located in the Madras Presidency of British India. He was the son of Subbarayudu and Punnamma. At the tender age of four , his father passed away. He was then adopted by his paternal uncle, Venkatatatnam, as his own son.

His was a traditional Brahmin family. He adhered to his tradition, by cultivating his inclination towards Indian classics. Afterwards, he embraced the gift of Western education, when he joined an English school. He was extolled for his analytical prowess, and scholarly attributes. He was crowned the best performer in school, not only for his academic brilliance, but was also for the gentleness of his conduct. A true erudite, he was well versed in English as well as Sanskrit.

The completion of schooling was followed by his appointment as a teacher in a government school. Later he became the headmaster of the Anglo-Vernacular School at Dhavaleswaram .

Child-marriage was abundant in Kandukuri Pantulu`s times. In 1861, he was married to Bapamma Rajyalakshmi. He was then only a 13 year old boy and she was eight. They were married in childhood, an age when they might have not understood the significance of the marital-bond. Nevertheless, the pair set the example of a perfect match, in adulthood. When Pantulu`s wife, Rajlakshmi, grew up, she aided her husband in his mission of life. She respected her husband`s liberal modernity and stood by him in dire straits.

The influential leader of the Brahmo Samaj ( a Samaj or community that aimed social reform), Atmuri Lakshmi Narasimha created a deep impact on him. His mind imbibed in the spirit of Renaissance ushered in by the reformist stalwarts, Raja Rammohun Roy, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and Keshub Chunder Sen . Pantulu comprehended the plight of the wretched Indian womanhood, being swept by the surge of woman`s emancipation movement. David Kopf notes, "The new social conscience and consciousness of Unitarianism was in Rammohun almost entirely directed to the miserable state of Hindu women. He found them uneducated and illiterate, deprived of property rights, married before puberty, imprisoned in purdah, and murdered at widowhood by a barbaric custom of immolation known as sati.

One has only to read Rammohun`s works on social reform to realize that most of it deals with one aspect or another of man`s inhumanity towards women in Bengal. The conclusion is that only by freeing women and by treating them as human beings could Indian society free itself from social stagnation." Inevitably, K.V. Pantulu voiced his mounting concern for the tormented feminity: "The denigration of women has ruined our society," .

Pantulu realized the urgency to redeem religion of its false superstitions and distorted practices. He sorted out that "purified religion", "social reform" and "vernacular education" should concertedly form the foundation of a world of Equality and Liberty. K.V. Pantulu became a member of the Brahmo Samaj and Prarthana Samaj to give him a concrete shape to his dreams. He cast the halo of Enlightenment on the deprived womanhood of Andhra Pradesh, by launching his own journal, Vikeka Vardhani , meaning, "Promoter of Conscience and Knowledge" .

His journal was outrightedly vocal about women`s elevation in status, exposure to the light of education and the pernicious effect of the social stigmas. His journal which spread its wings from Chennai, turned out to be so popular, that he established his own press at Rajahmundry. Initially he used to get it printed at Chennai but when the magazine picked up in popularity, he set his own press at Rajahmundry. He went ahead and dispatched another alarming magazine, called Satihitabobhini . It precisely focussed on the rights that women, deserve.

Kandukuri Virasalingam Pantulu established his first girl`s school in 1874 , to dissipate the mantra of women`s education. He subsequently, carved out the Rajahmundry Social Reform Association in 1878. At the beginning, the members of his group conducted an anti-nautch movement. They tried to prevent people from indulging in exploitation of the nautch or dancing girls, by hiring them for cheap delight in occassions.

However, later he focussed on the courageous as well as liberal initiative of widow-remarriage. He arranged for the phenemonal event of the first widow- remarriage in his zone on 11 December 1881. Pyda Ramakrishnayya of Kakinada furnished the financial strength required for it. It can be very well assumed, that both these modern mindsets executed this grave task amidst tremendous hostility from the then rigid, and conservative society. The battle for freedom continued, while more and more people joined Pantulu in his strife. His ceaseless combat was determined to erase abominable social curses like child marriages and Kanyasulkam (a kind of dowry given by the groom to the bride`s parents). A small community of remarried couples came into existence. In 1891 a Widow Remarriage Association appeared. It was noteworthy to learn that thirty brahmin households vowed to take part in this venture and preside ceremonial rituals linked with wedding. Gradually, a considerable portion of Rajahmundry population allied with Virasalingam.

Virasalingam retrieved female education from the stasis of social disinterestedness. He opened the first Theistic High School, the Hithakarini School at Rajahmundry in 1908. Simultaneously, he legally gifted all his property for the welfare of Rajahmundry Widows` Home and the school. He showed enough of practical wisdom, by entrusting the Hithakarini Samaj with the responsibility of looking after these two institutions. This educational enterprise expanded from Rajahmundry to Coconada (the recent Kakinara), Parlakimedi, Palakole, Narsapur, Vijaywada and Tenali.

Pantulu`s passion for the Telugu vernacular, introduced fantastic changes in the language-construct. He simplified the ornamentations in vocabulary , originating from the Sanskrit terminology. His simplifications made the language accessible for the common mass. He authored 100 books between 1869 and 1919. His Satyavathi Charitam, the first novel written in Telugu, had a social theme. His Rajasekhara Charitamu was based on the Victorian English novelist, Oliver Goldsmith`s The Vicar of Wakefied. Like Goldsmith, he treated literature as a weapon of battling against the evils in society.

The overbrimming enthusiasm for social-advancement, started by Kandukuri Virasalingam Pantulu, acquired a national character. It brought the educated Andhra people to the foray of social activities. Indeed , Pantulu was a national figure of fame and honour, since we witness him as one of the members of the first Indian National Congress meeting held in 1885. He had the calibre to lead the nation towards a bright future .