Rao Bahadur Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu was a social reformer and writer from the Madras Presidency, British India. He is considered as the father of the Telugu Renaissance movement. He was one of the early social reformers who encouraged the education of women and the remarriage of widows.
He also fought against child marriage and the dowry system. He started a school in Dowlaiswaram in 1874.

He is often considered as the Raja Rammohan Roy of Andhra. He was also known by the title Gadya Tikkana, or ‘the Tikkana of Prose’.He also fought against child marriage and the dowry system. He is often considered as the Raja Rammohan Roy of Andhra. He was also known by the title Gadya Tikkana, or ‘the Tikkana of Prose’. Veeresalingam was a scholar in Telugu, Sanskrit, and Hindi. Considering literature as an instrument to fight against social evils, his writings also reflected the same.
Kandukuri Veeresalingam served as one of the members of the first Indian National Congress (INC) meeting in 1885.