T. N. Srikantaiah
Theerthapura Nanjundaiah Srikantaiah commonly known as 'Thee. Nam. Shree, was a Kannada poet, essayist, editor, translator, linguist and teacher. He was awarded the Pampa Prashasthi for his work on the history and tradition of Indian poetics spanning two millennia titled Bharathiya Kavyamimamse. T. N. Srikantaiah was instrumental in preparing and publishing the Kannada version of Constitution of India in 1952. He is credited with the use of the vernacular equivalent of Rashtrapathi for the English 'President', a usage which is still in vogue. Srikantaiah was responsible for guiding the doctoral theses of Kannada litterateurs like S. Anantanarayan and M. Chidananda Murthy. An active participant in the Kannada Dictionary Project, Srikantaiah later laid the foundations for the Post Graduate Department at Manasa Gangotri campus at University of Mysore.
Early years
Srikantaiah was born in Theerthapura village in Tumkur district to parents Shanbog Nanjundaiah and Baluvaneeralina Bhagirathamma. He had his preliminary schooling at the local government school. Srikantaiah assumed the pen name of Bharathi Dasa under which he wrote articles for the School Folk magazine. His mother Baluvaneeralina Bhagirathamma died when he was nine years of age.Education
Srikantaiah began his studies in his native village of Theerthapura in 1916 and attended middle school in Chikkanayakanalli, which was not far from his village. Three years hence he was admitted to the Govt. Collegiate High School at Tumkur. By 1926, T. N. Srikantaiah had completed his B.A. in Kannada. Nalwadi Krishna Raja Wodeyar had awarded him six gold medals at the convocation. As the M. A. qualification was not yet available in Kannada, Srikantaiah pursued his M.A. in English and secured first rank for the university. While studying for his M. A., Srikantaiah had also cleared his civil service exams by 1928. This qualification along with a M. A. degree helped him secure an employment at the Revenue offices in Srirangapatna. by 1930, B. M. Srikantaiah had founded the M. A. course in Kannada and T. N. Srikantaiah took the course. He passed his M.A. in Kannada in 1931 and was awarded three gold medals. About two decades hence, by 1955, Srikantaiah was granted the Rockefeller Scholarship which enabled him to visit the United States for a year to do research at Michigan University, Pennsylvania.Academician
T. N. Srikantaiah began his teaching career at Maharaja College, Mysore. B. M. Srikantaiah and T. S. Venkannayya persuaded T. N. Srikantaiah to join the Kannada department at the college. By 1943, T. N. Srikantaiah was promoted as associate professor at Central College, Bangalore. Till 1950, Srikantaiah was associated with Kannada Dictionary project along with A. R. Krishnasastry. For two years between 1948 – 50, Srikantaiah was associated with Mysore Samvidhana Parishat. From 1950 – 52, Srikantaiah taught at colleges in Kolar and Davangere districts of Karnataka. Dharwad Karnataka University had just founded the Kannada department in 1952 and invited T. N. Srikantaiah to be its first Kannada professor. While at Dharwad, Srikantaiah was in close correspondence with his peers at Deccan College, Pune. For eight months between 1955 – 56, Srikantaiah did research at the Michigan University, Pennsylvania before returning to University of Mysore in 1957.Works
T. N. Srikantaiah's first published work was a collection of his poems in Kannada titled Olume. A collection of thirteen essays came out in 1963 under the title of Nantaru. T. N. Srikantaiah's first foray into translation was a Kannada translation of select passages from Amara Shataka titled Bidi Muthu which was published in 1970. Srikantaiah, at the behest of T. S. Venkannayya wrote Rakshasana Mudrike, which was a Kannada version of the popular Sanskrit play Mudrarakshasa authored originally by Vishakadatta in 3rd century B. C. Srikantaiah's work on Kannada grammar titled Kannada Madhyama Vyakarana was first published in 1939 and was a standard text book on grammar.Bharatiya Kavya Mimamse
His critically acclaimed work Bharatiya Kavya Mimamse was about Indian poetics across millennia. It was a detailed analysis of the relationship between 11th century Alankara poetry and various Indian prose & poetic styles. T. N. Srikantaiah's book delved deep into the tradition of Kavyalankara and related classical texts and asserts that Rasa-Dhvani principles are an integral part of this comparison between different streams of poetry. This seminal work was brought forth under the guidance of M. Hiriyanna and B. M. Srikantaiah at Mysore. Bharathiya Kavya Mimamse became the second work to receive the prestigious Pampa Prashasthi in Karnataka.Editorial works
Hennu Makkala PadagaluHariharakaviya Nambiyannana Ragale- ''Gadāyuddha Saṅgrahaṃ: Kāvyabhāga Mattu Tippaṇigalu''
Collected works
PampaKāvya samīkṣeSamalokanaKavyanubhavaImagination in Indian Poetics and other literary studiesNantaruTī. Naṃ. Śrī. śēṣa-viśēṣaTī. Naṃ. Śrī samagra gadya- ''Affricates in Kannada speech and other linguistic papers''
Translations
Bidi Muthu- ''Rakshasana Mudrike''
Poetry
Olume- ''Indian Poetics''
Grammar
- ''Kannada Madhyama Vyakarana''
Guide for Doctoral Theses
- S. Anantanarayan's Hosagannadada Sahityada Mele Paschatya Kavyada Prabhava
- M. Chidanandamurthy's Kannada Shasanagala Samskruthika Adhyayana
- M. R. Ranganatha's ''Morphophonemic Analysis of the Kannada Language – Relative Frequency of Phonemes and Morphemes in Kannada''