Brief Biographical Sketch of T. N. Srikantaiah

Theerthapura Nanjundaiah Srikantaiah (Kan: Ti. Nam. Sri) was born on 26 November, 1906 in Theerthapura village, Tumkur district. His father was Shanbog Nanjundaiah and mother Baluvaneeralina Bhagirathamma. He lost his mother at the tender age of 9 and was raised by his aunts on either side of the family. These women tried to fill the void left behind by his mother. This probably contributed to his affectionate demeanour and caring attitude towards womenfolk all through his life. This trait comes to the fore in many of his later works such as ‘Hennu Makkala Padagalu’, Essays on ‘Attimabbe’, ‘Keregehara’ and ‘Mahadeviyakkana Kelavu Vachanagalu’.

​

Early years
T. N. Srikantaiah had his schooling at Theerthapura, where he passed his lower secondary exam in 1916. His middle school education was completed at Chikkanayakanahalli after which he joined the Tumkur Government Collegiate High School in 1919 for his High School education. 

​

In his home town, a gentleman by name Bhyrappa had established a small circulating library at his house. He was affiliated to the Agricultural Training School. In this circulating library, Srikantaiah stumbled across periodicals like ‘Krishnasukti’, ‘Sadboha Chandrika’, ‘Madhuravani’ and some translations by Bindiganaville Venkatachar & Galaganatha. Srikantaiah had memorised many passages of Kalidasa’s ‘Raghuvamsha’ in his Sanskrit classes.
 
Much to his father’s displeasure, he had chosen Kannada as his second language. However, most of his early contributions to the school magazine were essentially in Kannada. He was an avid contributor to the school newspaper ‘School Folk’. Among his earliest articles was an English article titled ‘My Mother’. This article was well received by his teachers and peers. Another moving piece in memory of his childhood friend who had succumbed to the plague was titled ‘Mitramilapam’. Among his first poems, ‘Shokageethe’ in Kannada was an early testament towards his grasp of metre and scale.  

To read the full biography, Click here.

​

Biography of N. S. Subba Rao

N. S. Subba Rao was born on 14 March 1885 at Srirangapatnam. His father Nanjanagud Subba Raya was a lawyer by profession. N. S. Subba Rao’s elder brother N. Narasimha Murthy (M. A., B. L.) was also well versed in law and worked in the British Resident – Mr. Fraser’s office at Mysore. Subba Rao also had a younger sister by the name of Kaveramma. 

Early years and Education
He had his schooling at Srirangapatnam. Completing his matriculation exam in 1897, Subba Rao joined Central College, Bangalore for his F. A. course where he was nurtured well by Prof. J. C. Tate who is believed to have counted him one among his favourite students! N. S. Subba Rao with a letter of recommendation from J. C. Tate proceeded to Madras Christian College to pursue his B. A. degree. Here, he came under the influence of Rev. William Skinner and Rev. Earle Monteith MacPhail, who were senior members of the faculty. He was conferred a Gold Medal in 1904 for securing highest marks in the B. A. exam – the award being Benjamin Jowett’s “Dialogues of Plato” volume, something which he treasured till the end. Following his commendable performance in the B. A. exam, he was able to secure from the Mysore Government the prestigious ‘Damodar Das educational scholarship’ which helped him on his way to England for further studies. 

Education in England
Armed with a scholarship, he was able to gain admission into St. John’s College, Cambridge to pursue a M. A. degree in Economics. Here, he additionally learnt Latin and French. At Cambridge, Subba Rao came under the tutelage of Alfred Marshall and came in contact with Maynard Keynes. At the end of four years, Subba Rao completed his Tripos exam (M. A. Cantab.) in addition to securing a Bar at Law qualification. His essay titled ‘‘Political and Economic conditions of Ancient India, as described in the Jatakas’’ earned him the prestigious ‘Le Bas’ award in 1909.

To read the full biography, Click Here. 

'The Original Home of Jainism' by Dr. S. Srikanta Sastri

It has become customary to take granted the statements of certain historians that Jainism like Buddhism represents a reaction to the sacrificial cult of Vedic Aryans and in the case of Jainism many scholars are reluctant to take back the history of the faith before Parsva in about the 9th century B. C. Magadha which happened to be outside the pale of the Vedic sacrificial cults in the earliest times happened to be the birthplace of both Jainism and Buddhism and hence many have thought that these religions were perhaps of non-Aryan origin. Another theory is that there was at first a wave of non-Vedic but Aryan peoples who had spread all over Hindustan and that later on a new branch of the same Aryans but with Vedic cults, came and established themselves, driving out the earlier non-Vedic Aryans into Magadha, where Jainism and Buddhism arose. The Indus Civilization of C, 3000 – 2500 B. C. with its cults of nudity and yoga, the worship of the bull and other symbols has resemblances to Jainism and therefore the Indus Civilisation is supposed to be of non-Aryan or non-Vedic Aryan origin. The Protagonists of the non-Aryan theory are many and some of them call the civilisation definitely Dravidian.

I have shown in my “Proto-Indic Religion” that the so called non-Aryan characteristics are really those of Atharva-Veda civilization and that the Vedas themselves provide ample proofs of the worship of the Mother Goddess, the Bull, Serpent, Yoga etc. Therefore the Indus Civilization is post – Vedic and an admixture of many Tantric practices. It is impossible to assign a Dravidian origin to the Jaina and Buddhist religions as the Tirthankaras and Buddhas are clearly designated as Kshatriyas and Aryas.

​

To read full article, click here.