Pingali Lakshmi Kantham has been given the appellations of ‘bahumukha pragyashaali’ and ‘yuga purushudu’. A litterateur par excellence, he was a poet, scholar, grammarian, translator, theatre personality, and a much-loved teacher. His contribution to the Telugu literary field is unparalleled and it would not be incorrect to say that without him, Telugu literary studies would not have progressed as they did after him. His was a multi-faceted personality that contributed to several different areas of study and creativity. Apart from being a scholar and a creative writer, he gave a shape and a direction to Telugu literary studies drawing up syllabuses in both Andhra University and Sri Venkateswara University. He was an able administrator and commanded the admiration and respect of his colleagues and students. Upon his death in 1972, The Hindu ran an article titled ‘Where Pingali taught, it was a temple’.

Lakshmi Kantham was born on 10 January 1894 at Artamuru, the home town of his mother. His childhood was spent in the village of Chiturpu in Krishna District in Andhra Pradesh. His father was a much respected ‘elder’ in the village. His early education up to standard V was in the local street school in Chiturpu. He showed all signs of his superior intellect at that tender age. By the time he was through with the school at the age of 10, he was able to recite several hundreds of verses and sing many songs. He went to Repalle for two years to study Standards VI and VII, since education was available only till Standard V in Chiturpu. He then went to Machilipatnam, better known in those days as Bandar, to study from Standard VIII (called third form in those days). He impressed Chellapilla Venkata Sastry who was a renowned poet and a teacher in the Hindu High School which Lakshmi Kantham attended. He then stayed with his guru attending school and learning from his master in the gurukula style. But his education was interrupted abruptly due to the untimely demise of his father. He returned home and the family which was in straightened circumstances moved in with his mother’s family in Artamuru. After a gap of about a year, he returned to Bandar to try to finish his schooling but lack of finances prevented him from continuing his education immediately. In these times, he often survived on pakodis bought from a local mithai shop and drank water from the municipal tap. In due course, a kindly soul directed him to a benefactor who contributed to his education, as a result of which he managed to finish his schooling.

Although desirous of studying further, due to paucity of funds, he took up employment as a bench clerk in a sub-court in Vijayawada, then known as Bezawada. He worked there for two and a half years; he also got married during this period to Lakshmi Narasamma.

He returned to Bandar and completed Intermediate and B.A in Noble College, once again with the help of benefactors. In 1919, he was appointed as Telugu Pandit in Noble High School. Even as he taught there, he took classes in Noble College and Noble High School. He lived in Bandar till 1927 during which time he made a name for himself as a teacher, poet and translator. He struck up a friendship with Katuri Venkateswara Rao with whom he started writing joint poetry. Their first joint publication of poetry was Tolakari in 1923. They later wrote Soundara Nandamu a poetic work considered to be a classic in modern times.

In 1927 he moved to Madras to take up a research fellowship under the stewardship of Korada Ramakrishna in Oriental Manuscripts Library. A difficult decision at that time, since the position was for only two and a half years, but in the long run, became life-changing. The primary purpose of the fellowship was to research the Andhra Mahabharata. Lakshmi Kantham used his time in Madras to become an authority on the Mahabharata for which he conducted research in Tanjavur Saraswati Mahal library as well.  He also utilized this time to prepare for the M.A degree of Madras University. At the time, M.A degree was awarded in Languages. Universities were not teaching institutions and candidates had to prepare for examinations on their own. The language students had to choose two out of five languages for the degree. Lakshmi Kantham chose Sanskrit and Telugu. Ranking was done for students of all languages and he stood first among all and won the gold medal. He also completed M.A Honours degree by submitting a dissertation on the sources of Pingali Suranna’s Prabhavati Pradyumnam. Madras University published this work as a monograph. At the end of his fellowship, Laksmi Kantham stayed back in Madras and translated British History by L.G. Brandon into Telugu. 

Lakshmi Kantham was appointed as Lecturer and Head of the Telugu Department of Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, in 1931. The appointment was made in the context of Andhra University introducing B.A. Honours and M.A. in Telugu. The task of drawing up a syllabus and course outlines with reading materials fell to Lakshmi Kantham. The structure he presented was followed by many generations. Lakshmi Kantham was Head of the Telugu department from the time he joined Andhra University till he retired in 1949. He was made Reader in 1944. He contributed to several aspects of University life.

Post-retirement, he took up writing again. Madhurapanditarajam and Gowthama Vyasaalu occupied his time. In 1954 he was appointed a member of the executive committee of Central Sahitya Akademi when it was first established. The Chair of the committee was Jawaharlal Nehru and the deputy Chair was Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Lakshmi Kantham represented Telugu, and the other South Indian members were Masti Venkatesha Iyengar for Kannada and K.M. Panikkar for Malayalam. During this time, Lakshmi Kantham used to visit Madras to attend the Senate meetings of Madras University of which he was a member. On one of these visits he was offered the position of literary advisor in All India Radio, Bezawada. He served All India Radio from 1954 to 1961 once again giving a special direction to the programmes there, also making all types of literary works suitable for radio. The talks he gave during his tenure there were published later as Naa radio prasangaalu.

In 1961, Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati invited him to Head the Telugu Department as a Professor. He worked in this University for four years till 1965. His students of this time have written many articles on his qualities as a teacher. Many of his students went on to become renowned scholars and rose to high positions. In 1968, he was made a member of Andhra Pradesh Telugu Academy in Hyderabad. After he lost his wife in 1969 he continued to live in Tiruapti. His final honours came in 1970. Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy made him a special member. Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati, in recognition of his extraordinary and pioneering contributions to literary studies, conferred on him an honorary D.Litt. In 1971 when his health deteriorated, he moved to Hyderabad, and passed away on his birthday on 10th January 1972.