Sri Pratti Narayana Rao stands immortalized in “Sai Literature” by translating the English version of the divine “Sri Sai Satcharitra” (the English version is a translation by Sri Gunaji from the original Marathi version of Sri Sai Satcharitra by Sri Hemadpanth) into Telugu. The first edition of this Telugu masterpiece by Late Shri Pratti Narayana Rao Garu got released on 19th May 1953. In fact, this is the first book on Sri Sai Baba in the Telugu language which stands as an uneclipsed Sun in the galaxy of Sai literature.
As mentioned by himself in the foreword to Sai Satcharitra – “Like a sparrow is drawn with string tied to its leg, so too Lord Sai dragged me from west coast to east coast.” These words are indeed true.
Sri Pratti Narayana Rao was born at Icchapuram of the Srikakulam district (in Andhra Pradesh) in a Vysya family. His parents were Sri Pratti Kaamayya and Smt. Pratti Ramaratnam. He was their second son. He had a brother and a sister.
Pratti Narayana Rao got married to Smt. Kameshwaramma on 15th May 1924. He later shifted to Vizianagaram where he ran a tutorial college and was taking tuitions. Pratti Narayana Rao and Smt. Kameshwaramma had one eldest daughter Smt. Chandramathy, and two sons namely Shri Satyanarayana and Shri Krishna Rao.
Pratti Narayana Rao left home leaving behind his eldest daughter Smt. Chandramathy who was just 10 years old at that time. From the moment Pratti Narayana Rao left home, his wife Smt. Kameshwaramma became bedridden. Ever since then, Smt. Chandramathy took care of her ailing mother and her younger brothers Satyanarayana and Krishna Rao at their grandfather's house. Smt. Chandramathy also went to work to support the family and educate her younger siblings. Smt. Kameshwaramma, wife of Pratti Narayana Rao, passed away in 1967.
During later days, it was found that Pratti Narayana Rao was in Shirdi which he made his permanent residence. Some excerpts of Sri Pratti Narayana Rao’s stay at Shirdi were available from Sri Sivanesan Swamiji who had met him at Shirdi in the early 1950s. For a month and a half, both used to meet at Chavadi and discuss about Sri Sai Baba for long durations.
It was noted by Sri Sivanesan Swamiji that Sri Pratti Narayana Rao used to translate the divine Satcharitra by sitting in the holy womb of Chavadi. There were days when Sri Pratti Narayana Rao used to translate more than a chapter and hence he was able to complete the entire book by the benign grace of Sri Sai in a short span of just 40 days.
After finishing the translation, Sri Pratti Narayana Rao followed the doctrine laid by Hemadpanth as “Naama Yajna” and in order to purify himself, did Sai Naama Japa for three crore times and got the Telugu version printed.
Later, he personally did Parayana of the same at Kashi, Kolhapur, Kurnool, Mahurgadh, Kuruvapur, Gangapur, Humnabad, Akkalkot, Shirdi, Somanath, Srisailam, Ujjain, Mahabaleshwar, Pareli, Dhakini, Rameshwaram, Aundh, Tryambakeshwar, Ghrushneshwar (Ellora), Junagadh, Bhadrachalam, Dwaraka, Pandharpur, Vemapalli, Puri, Tirupati, Sri Rangam and Tiruvananthapuram.
The first print of Telugu Sai Satcharitra was released on 19th May 1953. Sri Pratti Narayana Rao was also instrumental in doing Sai Prachara in Andhra Pradesh through his discourses in Telugu.
The person who received the first copy of the Telugu Sai Satcharitra translated by Sri Prati Narayana Rao on 19th May 1953 from the hands of Sri Prati Narayana Rao was Mrs. Dukki Sai Leelamma Garu.
After Sri Pratti Narayana Rao attained Samadhi, his final rites were done on a grand scale (the place where he attained Samadhi is not known) by Sai devotees.