Ande Sri—born Ande Yellaiah on 18 July 1961 in Rebarthi village near Jangaon — rose from an orphaned, once-illiterate shepherd to become one of the defining poetic voices of the Telangana movement.
With no formal schooling, he worked as a shepherd and daily-wage labourer before beginning to compose verses and folk songs as a young herder.
Admirers later hailed him as Praja Kavi (people’s poet) and Prakruthi Kavi (nature poet) for earthy language rooted in rural life and the struggles of the poor.
Over the decades he is credited with thousands of songs and some 3,000 poems, entirely self-taught, and received an honorary doctorate from Kakatiya University for his contribution to Telugu letters.
His name is inseparable from “Jaya Jaya He Telangana, Janani Jaya Kethanam”, the anthem he began crafting in the early 2000s — long before statehood — refining a multi-stanza ode to Telangana’s history, culture and landscape.
During the statehood agitation the song was taken up by students, cultural bodies and schools as a de facto movement anthem.
After state formation in 2014 the piece retained iconic status without formal notification until February 2024, when the Revanth Reddy cabinet adopted it as the official state song.
On 2 June 2024, Telangana’s 10th Formation Day, the anthem was unveiled in its official orchestration at Secunderabad’s Parade Grounds, cementing Ande Sri’s work at the heart of the state’s identity.
Beyond the anthem, he left a substantial mark on cinema and popular music.
He wrote “Maayamai Pothunnadamma Manishannavadu” for Erra Samudram — later added to Andhra Pradesh university syllabi, a rare honour shared only with “Maa Telugu Talliki” and “Telugu Jathi Manadi” — and won the 2006 Nandi Award for Best Lyricist for Ganga. Popular numbers such as “Palle Neeku Vandanamulammo”, “Gala Gala Gajjalabandi” and “Komma Chekkite Bommarā” blended folk rhythms with social themes.
Honours accumulated: an honorary doctorate from Kakatiya University; international recognition as “World Poet” from the Academy of Universal Global Peace; and major literary awards including the Dasarathi Sahitya Puraskar (2015), Ravuri Bharadwaja Literary Award (2015), Suddala Hanuman–Janakamma National Award (2022) and Dasarathi Krishnamacharya Literary Award (2024).
In 2025, the state government awarded him a ₹1-crore cash prize at Formation Day celebrations. That year he also chaired the expert committee selecting poet N. Rama Devi for the Kaloji Narayana Rao Literary Award, underscoring his standing within Telangana’s cultural institutions.
In later years he remained a vivid presence at public events, speaking emotionally about Telangana’s journey and insisting that his poetry sprang from the pain and aspirations of ordinary people.
On the night of 10 November 2025 he suffered serious health complications at his Hyderabad home and died at Gandhi Hospital, aged 64.
Chief minister A. Revanth Reddy called his death an “irreparable loss”, noting that “Jaya Jaya He Telangana” had become “the voice of millions” during the separate-state movement.
Ande Sri’s life is often cited as a parable of social mobility through art: a Dalit orphan and former shepherd who wrote the song that represents an Indian state, with lyrics that entered both university curricula and popular memory.
By fusing folk idiom, political commitment and cultural pride, he gave the movement its soundtrack and the new state an anthem rooted not in elite circles but in the lived experience of its villages.
With his passing, Telangana lost not only the writer of its state song but one of the clearest poetic voices of its struggle and identity.
