Gora(GoparajuRamachandra Rao)

Gora (1902 – 1975) was born into a Telugu Brahmin family in India. He wrote in his autobiography, We Become Atheists, that he grew up "conventionally orthodox and superstitions." He pursued a botany degree, eventually earning his Master's in botany at Presidency College in Madras. He married Saraswathi in 1922 when she was only 10.

Gora devoted his life to propagating atheism. In 1940, he and his wife Saraswathi Gora co-founded the Atheist centre, in Mudunuru village in the Krishna dsitrict. On the eve of Independence in 1947, they moved the center to Vijayawada.

Throughout the 1940s he worked in the Indian Independence movement, and after Gandhi's assassination retained his links with leaders of the Gandhianmovement, especially VinobaBhave.The wedding of his eldest daughter Manorama with Arjun Rao was performed in the presence of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1960.

Gora wrote many books, such as Atheism Questions and Answers, An Atheist Around the World, An Atheist with Gandhi, The Need of Atheism, and Positive Atheism. From 1949 on, he wrote a column on atheism, and began publishing The Atheist, a monthly, in 1969. Gora's atheism dictated his campaign to abolish the caste system with its "untouchables," and the idea of "karma" or divine fate. Gora named Vasavya MahilaMandali in 1969. Gora died in 1975.

In 2002 the postal department of Government of India released a postage stamp of 5 rupee denomination commomerating Gora's birth centenary.