Background
Varma was born to a Dalit, Mala caste family in the princely Hyderabad State to Madare Venkaiah and Madare Ragmamba.
Varma was born to a Dalit, Mala caste family in the princely Hyderabad State to Madare Venkaiah and Madare Ragmamba.
He fought against untouchability in the Hyderabad State. Inspired by Jyotirao Phule, he raised his voice against discrimination by upper caste. He formed a group called ‘Jagan Mitra Mandali’ involved of Harijans and Malas, and started telling stories by ‘Hari Katha’ (popular folklore).
In the year 1910 Bhagya Reddy Varma started to educate dalit children from his own expenses.
In a short span of time he able to run, 25 centers with 2000 students. The purpose of this event is to resolve the internal issues in Dalit community.
He insisted the panchayat court system to be rebuilt. Bhagya Reddy also campaigned on many social issues like Child Marriage, Black Magic, Women Education, Alcohol Consumption et cetera
His work was spread to neighboring states Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andhra, from their as well people joined voices and followed the revolution.
In 1930 in an historical speech he announced to take the dalit issues to the British notice in the upcoming All India Round Table Conference at Lucknow in the same year. He supposes to send BR Ambedkar to lead the group. Nizam Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII praised Bhagya Reddy for his social work, and recognized it with an award.
Later, the Nizam appointed him as chief advisor to his government.
Bhagya Reddys Verma’s dream was to bring progress in dalit families, for which he struggled, fought and starved till his last breath. In his mark, Bhagya Memorial Girls High School at Esamia Bazar, Koti, Hyderabad, Telangana which he started in 1913 is still functioning.
In modern days also the upper communities have never bothered to recognize his work and failed to tell about his gracious history to the coming generations. Jagan Mitra Mandali
In 1906, he started Jagan Mitra Mandali to educate dalits through popular folklore.
Devadasi Movement
Bhagyareddy had launched a movement against devadasi pratha, forcing the Nizam to declare it a crime.
During the Telangana Movement in 2009, the students of Telangana region renamed the G. M. C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium as Bhagya Reddy Varma Stadium.
