Viveka Prabha (Kannada Magazine) featuring extract from Dr. S. Srikanta Sastri's "Bharathiya Samskruthi"

 

To read the full extract in Viveka Prabha, Click Here. 

B. H. Sridhar on S. Srikanta Sastri

 To read the full excerpt, Click Here. 

V. Seetharamaiah - a brief biographical sketch

Venkataramaiah Seetharamaiah (Vi. Si.) was born on 2nd of October, 1899 in Budhigere, Devanahalli. He was second of four children. His parents – Venkataramaiah and Doddavenkamma were a devout couple, who came from a lineage of priestly class of Smartha Brahmins. Vi. Si. spent his first six years growing up in the care of his grandmother and his mother’s younger sister at Budhigere. His father, a priest used to work more often in Bangalore. Unfortunately, Vi. Si. lost his father when he was just eight years old.

He was then sent to Bangalore for further schooling in 1906. He joined the Municipal school in Chamarajpet, Bangalore where he got a double promotion. He was then sent to Anglo-vernacular school. Some of his notable classmates in school were K. V. Iyer, T. P. Kailasam and C. S. Venkatachar. Among his favourite teachers were the likes of Pandit Jayarama Venkatacharya and Doddabele Narayana Sastry. During these school years (1906 – 1916), he had the rare privilege of listening to Rt. Hon. V. S. Srinivas Sastri’s lectures, who eloquence in English and large turban captured Vi. Si’s imagination at a young age.

 

Vi. Si. loved watching Cricket matches. While he loved playing Cricket as well, his frail constitution meant he could not keep it up for too long. Residing in Chamarajpet, Vi. Si. attended concerts of famous musicians of the time like Veena Sheshanna, Bidaram Krishnappa and Mysuru Vasudevachar. His favourite artists of the time included the likes of M. Venkatappa and A. V. Varadachar. This was in addition to his keen interest in attending Vedic recitals, Poetry recitals, Gamaka recitals and a few literary meets locally. He completed his Intermediate (S. S. L. C.) in 1916.

 

After schooling, many of his seniors routinely went to either Madras or Pune Universities for higher education. Vi. Si. sadly could afford neither. Fortunately for him, around this time, University of Mysore came into existence. Mysore was close by! He sat for the entrance examination to gain admission to University of Mysore. This exam was held at Bangalore Collegiate High School. One of the valuers of these answer scripts – J. Tate while correcting Vi. Si.’s English paper is said to have remarked thus: “Not bad, pull the young fellow’s nose and ask him to write simpler English & keep his sentences shorter” (This was high praise indeed!).

To read the full biography, Click Here. 

"Sources of Karnataka History - Vol I" - (KANNADA TRANSLATION)

  


"Sources of Karnataka History - Vol I" - (KANNADA TRANSLATION)

Translation done by Dr H. S. Gopal Rao

For more details, Click Here. 

'Karnataka Bhashabhyudaya' by S. Srikanta Sastri (Aug, 1926)

Page 1 of 3

To read the full article, Click Here.

Pandit Venkatakrishna Sharma - a brief biography

Pt. Venkatakrishna Sharma

Venkata Krishna Sharma alias Bellur Puttanayya or Pandit B. S. Venkatakrishna Sharma was born on 3rd of October, 1927 in Bellur village in the south of Karnataka. His date of birth according to official government records is 7 May 1929. His father was Sanjeevayya Dixit who was a teacher at the local school. Venkatakrishna Sharma was the eldest child.  The Dixit family traces its history in and around Bellur village to at least 125 years. They were essentially a family of Vedic scholars. Bellur village located in Nagamangala taluk, Mandya district is roughly 110 kms from Bangalore city. It was also called Rajatapura once upon a time and has been famous for the Adhi Madhavarayaswamy temple built there by the Hoysala dynasty. It is believed that, at one point of time, there were about sixty brahmin families in the village, engaging themselves mainly in the priestly activities of the temple in addition to offering vedic rituals for various festivals and religious functions of the villagers. The senior Dixit couple – Krishna Dixit and Kaveramma had twelve children – six boys and six girls. The Dixit family had substantial lands in and around the village which sufficed their monetary needs for a long time. These are some of Venkatakrishna Sharma’s siblings – Hiriyannayya, Madhava Sharma, Sreenivasa Dixit, Ramaswamy Dixit, Aswathnarayana Dixit, Bhagirathi, Kaveramma, Lakshmi Devi, Nagalakshmi. Venkatakrishna Sharma attended the local government school and these are few of the teachers there whom he remembered with fondness - Padmarajayya, Lakshmana Gowda, Lakshmi Narasimhayya, Narasimhayya. Among other topics he was also taught Agriculture and Irrigation at this government school!

To read the complete biography, Click Here. 

“Gommaṭa Rāya” by Dr S. Srikanta Sastri (1953)

The ancient sacred place of the Jainas in South India, sometimes called Jaina Badari, was the Kaṭavapra or Kalbappu giri, later called Sravana Belagola or Sramana Belagola and Sukla Tirtha in the Jaina scriptures. Even as early as the Mauryan age its fame had spread in Northern India and tradition asserts that the great emperor Chandragupta Maurya and his preceptor Bhadrabahu Srutakevali came and resided here for twelve years. Chandragupta is said to have passed away here and a cave at Sravanabelagola is named after him. Regarding the historicity of this episode, Fleet and others were skeptical. That the tradition is at least as old as the 7th century A. D. is proved by the Sravanabelagola inscriptions and literary works. Therefore there is nothing inherently improbable in the tradition and much stronger evidence must be produced before we can endorse Fleet’s opinion that it was Ekangadhara Bhadrabahu and Guptigupta of about the first century A. D. who were associated with Sravanabelagola.

Through the succeeding early centuries of the Christian Era, Kaṭavapra was the sacred Tirtha attracting Jaina Sadhus of different Sakhas and different parts of India. The inscriptions of about 700 A. D. mention the names of several saints who ended their days here. The surnames Kirti, Sena, Deva, Nandi which distinguish the four sakhas of Mula Samgha, Konda Kundanvaya were of already prevalent from the beginning of the seventh century.

To read the complete article, Click Here. 

H. S. K. (H. S. Krishnaswamy Iyengar)

H. S. K.

H. S.Krishnaswamy Iyengar (H. S. K.) was born on 26^th of August, 1920 in the village of Haleyuru near the popular tourist locale of Chunchanakatte in K. R. Nagar taluk, Mysore district.  His parents Haleyuru Srinivasa Iyengar and Alamelamma were devout & traditional in their ways.  Srinivasa Iyengar was a primary school teacher by profession. H. S. K. had his initial schooling in Siddapura school at Kempegowda Koppal before moving to Dalavayi and Banumaiah high schools at Mysore. His voracious reading habit seems to have blossomed forth during these formative years under his father’s tutelage. His early favourites were Galaganatha, Masti, Kuvempu and Rajaratnam. H. S. K. is credited for laying down foundations for the ‘Kannada Sangha’ at K. R. Nagar during these years. He was able to establish a supply of Kannada newspapers to his native village which he took it upon himself to distribute daily – his first real job!

Once, when Diwan Sir Mirza Ismail visited the village of Haleyuru to preside over a function, his eyes fell on a thin young lad whose very countenance radiated a calm confidence. The Diwan curious to learn the boy’s antecedents enquired further and learnt that he was the official reporter for ‘Tayinadu’! Impressed that such an established news house had for its representation such a young chap, he spoke at length with H. S. K. The witty conversation that ensued forth impressed the Diwan so much that he invited the boy to accompany him for the rest of his rural trip in his car! These being the years of Independence struggle in the country, H. S. K. did his small bit towards the Indian Independence Movement – an involvement he assiduously avoided ever alluding to in later life. 

To read the complete article, Click Here.