Literature – Nammawalls

Kuvempu

admin — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 12:36:55 +0000

Kuppalli Venkatappa Puttappa (29 December 1904 – 11 November 1994), popularly known by his pen name Kuvempu, was an Indian poet, playwright, novelist and critic. He is widely regarded as the greatest Kannada poet of the 20th century. He was the first Kannada writer to receive the Jnanpith Award.

Kuvempu studied at Mysuru University in the 1920s, taught there for nearly three decades and served as its vice-chancellor from 1956 to 1960. He initiated education in Kannada as the language medium. For his contributions to Kannada Literature, the Government of Karnataka decorated him with the honorific Rashtrakavi (“National Poet“) in 1964 and Karnataka Ratna (“The Gem of Karnataka”) in 1992. He was conferred the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 1988. He penned the Karnataka State Anthem Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate.

Shakuntala Devi

admin — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 13:08:21 +0000

Shakuntala Devi (4 November 1929 – 21 April 2013) was an Indian mental calculator, astrologer, and writer, popularly known as the “Human Computer”. Her talent earned her a place in the 1982 edition of The Guinness Book of World Records. However, the certificate for the record was given posthumously on 30 July 2020, despite Devi achieving her world record on 18 June 1980 at Imperial College, London. Devi was a precocious child and she demonstrated her arithmetic abilities at the University of Mysore without any formal education.

Devi strove to simplify numerical calculations for students.^[1] She wrote a number of books in her later years, including novels as well as texts about mathematics, puzzles, and astrology. She wrote the book The World of Homosexuals, which is considered the first study of homosexuality in India.^[2]^[3] She saw homosexuality in a positive light and is considered a pioneer in the field.^[2]

Ratnatraya Pampa, Ranna & Ponna

admin — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 01:07:35 +0000

Pampa (c. 10th century), called by the honorific Ādikavi (“First Poet”) was a Kannada-language Jain poet whose works reflected his philosophical beliefs.^[1] He was a court poet of Vemulavada Chalukya king Arikesari II, who was a feudatory of the Rashtrakuta Emperor Krishna III. Pampa is best known for his epics Vikramārjuna Vijaya or Pampa Bharata, and the Ādi purāṇa, both written in the champu style around c. 939. These works served as the model for all future champu works in Kannada.

Ranna (Kannada : ರನ್ನ ) was one of the earliest and arguably one of the greatest poets of the Kannada language. His style of writing is often compared to that of Adikavi Pampa who wrote in the early 10th century. Together, Ranna, Adikavi Pampa and Sri Ponna are called “Three gems of ancient Kannada literature“.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Ponna (c. 945) was a noted Kannada poet in the court of Rashtrakuta Emperor Krishna III (r. 939–968 CE). The emperor honoured Ponna with the title “emperor among poets” (Kavichakravarthi) for his domination of the Kannada literary circles of the time, and the title “imperial poet of two languages” (Ubhayakavi Chakravarti) for his command over Sanskrit as well.^[1]^[2]^[3] Ponna is often considered one among the “three gems of Kannada literature” (Ratnatraya, lit meaning “three gems”; Adikavi Pampa and Ranna being the other two) for ushering it in full panoply.^[2]^[4]^[5] According to the scholar R. Narasimhacharya, Ponna is known to have claimed superiority over all the poets of the time.^[1] According to scholars Nilakanta Shastri and E.P. Rice, Ponna belonged to Vengi Vishaya in Kammanadu, Punganur, Andhra Pradesh, but later migrated to Manyakheta (in present-day Kalaburagi district, Karnataka), the Rashtrakuta capital, after his conversion to Jainism.^[6]^[4]

S.L. Bhyrappa

admin — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 11:57:19 +0000

Santeshivara Lingannaiah Bhyrappa (born 20 August 1931) is an Indian novelist, philosopher and screenwriter who writes in Kannada. His work is popular in the state of Karnataka and he is widely regarded as one of modern India’s popular novelists.[2] His novels are unique in terms of theme, structure, and characterization.[3] He has been among the top-selling authors in the Kannada language and his books have been translated into Hindi and Marathi which have also been bestsellers.[4]

Kumaravyasa

admin — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 13:51:26 +0000

Narayanappa (Kannada: ನಾರಾಯಣಪ್ಪ), known by his pen name Kumara Vyasa (Kannada: ಕುಮಾರವ್ಯಾಸ), was an influential and classical Vaishnava poet of early 15th century in the Kannada language. His pen name is a tribute to his magnum opus, a rendering of the Mahabharata in Kannada.^[1] Kumara Vyasa literally means “Little Vyasa” or “Son of Vyasa” (Vyasa is the title of Krishna Dwaipayana, the author of Mahabharata). He was the contemporary and archrival of the famous Veerashaiva poet laureate Chamarasa who wrote the seminal work Prabhulingaleele covering the lives of Allama Prabhu and other Shiva Sharanas, circa 1435. Both poets worked in the court of Deva Raya II.^[2]

Gopalkrishna Adiga & Shivaram Karanth

admin — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 13:40:32 +0000

Mogeri Gopalakrishna Adiga (18.2.1918–14.11.1992) was a modern Kannada poet. He is known by some commentators as the “pioneer of New style” poetry.^[1]

He was born in the coastal village of Mogeri, Udupi district, in Karnataka State. After primary education in Mogeri and Baindooru, he went to high school in Kundapur.^[2] As editor of Saakshi magazine he helped bring Kannada literature to the masses.^[3]

Adiga’s grandson is Manu Raju, Senior Political reporter for CNN.^[4] Another grandson, Sharat Raju, is a film director in the US.