Abhisarika
Sex Information for
all
- in TELUGU (an Indian Language)
Sex-Science Monthly
RAMSHA & SIRISHA -
and
ABHISARIKA
In 1949 - hardly 2 years from
Indian Independence - a monthly magazine was born that would thrive for the
next 6+ decades - to disseminate the science of sex to masses. Named "Abhisarika"
(the heroine who goes forth in the dead of the night to meet her lover,
undeterred by the darkness and the nocturnal creatures), the magazine took
its birth in Tenali, a politically, socially and culturally happening town
of the then undivided state of Madras, presently in Guntur District of
Andhra Pradesh.
Today, in 2009, in its Diamond Jubilee year, Abhisarika has the proud
distinction of being the India's longest-lived sexology magazine for the
common man - the completion of 60 glorious years of service to the Telugu
readers of India and abroad.
A
magazine that would discuss unexciting or even boring science of sex with
unattractive diagrams of sex anatomy is almost out of place at a time when
sex was a strong taboo, but for the daring ventures of personalities like
Alapati Ravindranath, Dhanikonda Hanumantha Rao, Ramsha among others.
Alapati was probably the first in Andhra Pradesh to start a magazine to
impart scientific knowledge about the unspoken life in the bedroom. 'Rerani'
(night queen) as it was named, was published in 1949 by Alapati and edited
by luminaries like Dhanikonda Hanumantha Rao, who later (in 1949 itself)
started his own magazine Abhisarika along similar lines.
Rerani and Abhisarika have both stayed away from lewd and obscene writings and stuck to scientific aspects of sex, based on the information available to the editors of that time. While Rerani was discontinued after some years, change of guard in 1960 helped Abhisarika thrive to live into the 21st century.
Ramsha, who wrote free-lance to Abhisarika earlier, ably assisted by wife Siriesha, took over the reins of Abhisarika in 1960 and continued the mission started by their predecessor. Soon the names Ramsha & Siriesha became inseparable from Abhisarika.
Ramsha was a truly versatile personality - a
poet, writer, playwright and literary critic, well versed with English,
Sanskrit and Telugu literature, and an eloquent speaker and an imposing
personality. With his worldly wisd
om,
rich experience and exposure to diverse social milieu, Ramsha had met
instant success with Abhisarika. Ramsha and Siriesha together made a
wonderful team in dispelling sexual myths and misconceptions in the
community and in helping thousands and thousands of anxious and anguished
individuals and couples - young and old - to overcome their sexual and
marital difficulties.
In the days when resources - leave alone formal training - in Sexology was almost non-existent in India, the works of Havelock Ellis, Marie Stopes, Edwin Hirsch, David Cauldwell, John Money, David Reuben, AP Pillay, and especially the Sexology magazine published from New York helped build the knowledge base of the Ramsha-Siriesha team. This was in addition to the rich Indian treatises of erotica, like the Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana, Rati Rahasya of Kokkoka, Ananga Ranga of Kalyanamalla, Panchasayaka of Jyothitisa, Rati Ratna Pradeepika of Proudhadevaraya, Nagara Sarvaswam of the Budhist monk Padmasri.. among a host of others.
Ramsha & Siriesha have written more than 40 books in various matters of sex ranging from masturbation to sexual aspects of infertility to manuals for sexual pleasure and marital harmony. The question and answer column in Abhisarika called Adagandi Chebutaanu ('You ask, We answer!') introduced in the 1960s was the forerunner of all the sex help columns found today in every Telugu magazine. Sometimes special supplements were printed to accommodate the huge number of questions that poured in. The couple worked full time to write for the magazine, answer queries over phone and counsel in person - almost always free of fee.
Ramsha's incisive editorials carried immense popularity. Through the editorials he gave calls for numerous social / statutory changes such as legalization of abortion, increasing the marriageable age for boys and girls as means of population control, women's rights and the like.
Though,
at one point of time, Ramsha's firm opinions about certain aspects of
sexuality (ex: masturbation) contradicted the contemporary thinking, by and
large the contribution of Ramsha and Siriesha to the society was
immeasurable. They took sex-help and sex information to the door step of the
common man. As remarked by a reader - "Abhisarika, true to its name, went in
search of its readers and educated them".
Through the early part the 3 decades of journey of sex-educating the masses, Ramsha had to face intimidation, criticism, humiliation and virtual ostracizing by his contemporaries, but undeterred by adversity, he relentlessly continued his pursuit.
Siriesha died of a heart ailment in 1982 at a young age of 47 years. Ramsha passed away in 1990 at 67 in a car accident.