Vadrewu Panduranga Rao, better known as Ranga Rao (1936–2018), was a novelist and academic from the delta districts of Andhra Pradesh. He taught at Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University, for thirty-seven years and was an honorary lecturer at Sri Sathya Sai University, Andhra Pradesh.
His books include the novels Fowl-Filcher (1987), The Drunk Tantra (1994), and The River Is Three-Quarters Full (2001), and the short story collection An Indian Idyll and Other Stories (1989). He also translated Telugu stories in Classic Telugu Stories (1995) and That Man on the Road (2006). He published several works of literary criticism, notably a monograph on R. K. Narayan, published by the Sahitya Akademi in 2006 and R. K. Narayan the Novelist and His Art (2017). He also published books on the life and teachings of Sathya Sai Baba: Full Flame: Infinite Scenarios (autographed by Bhagavan, 2009); Bal Vikas for Lok Vikas (blessed by Bhagavan) 2010; and Full Flame: Unconditional Love (2015).
Ranga Rao passed away in March 2018; Those Women of the Coromandel is his last work.