The above is a photo of Digumarthi Venkatramayya Pantulu garu of Berhampur and his eight daughters and wife Smt.Vemulakonda Rajayalakhmamma ( Amma Kanna) and son.
standing- Lalitamba, Amma Kanna(Rajya Lakshmi)
Chairs - ViswanathaRao,Tulasamma,Sundaramma,DigumarthyVenkatrmayya,Lakshmi Narasamma,Subbamma.
Sitting on the floor - Sivakanta,Bhramaramba,Vijayalakshmi.

After reading about Sailaja's article 'Sri Rama' many of you - especially the younger generation may be wondering who Sri. Digumarthi Vemkatrmayya Pantulu garu is and what his significance is in our family. So, I want to present my impression about him as told to me by my maternal grand mother, Smt. Undurthy Mahalakshmi Bai, wife of Undurthy Reddy Pantulu garu of Visakhapatnam.

Most of our relatives whom we know are in one way or the other related through the eight daughters of Digumarthi Venkatramayya Pantulu garu of Berhampur, his son and his brothers. Venkata Ramayya pantulu garu was a very successful lawyer and managed his large family very well. As most of them were daughters, always one or two of them were at his place for deliveries or would come visiting with their children during school holidays or for some function etc., and hence all the cousins would play together as the house was huge and Berhampur was a very small place in those days. Also, some of them used to stay at their tatagaru’s house as they pursued their studies in Berhampur and one or two of the daughters were widows and so they stayed with their father.

Rajyalakshmamma (Vemulakonda) was also known as Ammakanna. My grandmother Lakshmi Bai used to tell me many things about her. It seems she was a very patient lady. She would get up early in the morning and first she would go and see the new born grandchild in the 'puriti gadi' ( a separate room where the new born child and its mother used to be put till the tenth day after delivery) and play with them for a while and then she would have her bath and put on her ‘madi battalu’ ( the clothes in which she would do the cooking) and enter the kitchen and supervise the cooking. It seems there would be a common menu for everybody and special dishes for the persons who eat only certain kind of items. She would remember everyone’s preferences and see that all the dishes were prepared.
Considering the number of people in the house it must have been quite a task!

devi
Vizag