KRISHNABHATTA SEDIYAPU (1902-1996)

Sediyapu Krishnabhatta (sEDiyApu kriSNaBaTTa) (¸ÉÃrAiÀiÁ¥ÀÄ PÀȵÀÚ¨sÀlÖ) was a great scholar and creative writer trained in the school of traditional scholarship associated with coastal Karnataka. His erudition was based on a thorough knowledge of Kannada and Sanskrit and a working knowledge of English. His contributions in the fields of grammar, prosody, poetics and criticism are invaluable and path breaking. They have not yet received the attention that they richly deserve. He was influenced by the Gandhian ideology and relinquished a career in teaching and started practicing ayurveda for his livlihood. His was a life devoted to a pursuit of ideas and their application. Some of his importans. Some of his important books are as follows:

1. ‘PÀ£ÀßqÀ ¤WÀAlÄ’-(kannaDa niGaNTu)-Dictionary, 1951

2.‘PÀ£ÀßqÀ bÀAzÀ¸ÀÄì’ (kannada Candassu)- Prosody, 1988

3. ‘bÀÀAzÉÆÃUÀw’ (CandOgati) - Prosody, 1985

4. ‘PÉ®ªÀÅ zÉñÀ£ÁªÀÄUÀ¼ÀÄ’ (Kelavu dEshanAmagaLu) - Linguistics: Place names, 1975

5. ‘vÀxÀåzÀ±Àð£À’ (tathyadarshana)-Research, 1991

6. ‘PÀ£ÀßqÀ ªÀtðUÀ¼ÀÄ’ (kannada varNagaLu)-Linguistics, 1955

7. ‘«ZÁgÀ¥Àæ¥ÀAZÀ’ (vicAraprapancha) - Collection of Articles, 1994

8. ‘UÀªÀÄPÀ¸ÀªÀiÁ¸À’ (gamakasamAsa)-Grammar, 1991

9. ‘¥À¼ÀªÉÄUÀ¼ÀÄ’ (paLamegLu) – Short Stories, 1947

10. ‘ZÀAzÀæRAqÀ ªÀÄvÀÄÛ EvÀgÀ ¸ÀtÚ PÁªÀåUÀ¼ÀÄ’ (CandraKanDa mattu itara saNNa kAvyagaLu)-Poetry, 1969.

11. PÀ£ÀßqÀ VÃwPÉAiÀÄ ®PÀët ªÀÄvÀÄÛ zsÁn (kannada gItikey lakSaNa mattu dhATi), 1977

12. Discovery of Facts (A Translation of ‘Tathyadarshana’)

A few words about some of these books are not out of place. ‘Tathyadarshana’ delves deep in to the concepts of Arya, Jathi, (jAti) Varna (Varna ) and Linga (linga) and tries to find their original meaning and evolution. “Kannada Chandassu’ explicates the prosodic forms that are indigenous to Kannada. His book on ‘Geetike’ looks at one such form in an elaborate manner. ‘Chandogati’ is an attempt to analyze and explain the concepts of Kannada prosody based on the idea of ‘movement’ (gati) This is the first serious attempt of probing deep in to some of the basic concepts related to prosody. ‘Gamaka samAsa’ is a particular way compounding words which is prevalent in Sanskrit and there is an on going debate about the propriety of having it Kannada. Krishnabhatta has put forward some cogent points supporting its retention. ‘kelavu ‘dEshanAmagaLu’ is an important study of the names of the kingdoms tuLu, cEra, konkaNa, pAnDi and pAnDya. ‘kannaDa varNagaLu’ delineates the Kannada alphabets. ‘VicAra prapancha’ is a compendium of articles on various topics starting from an insightful explication of a well known poem of Pampa (nettamanADI bhAnumati) up to an original introduction to Modern Kannada Poetry. In between one finds interesting pieces such as a look in to the etymology of the word ‘iDli’. (A very popular South Indian snack) Some other articles highlight the Kannada-Kannada lexicon brought by Kannda Sahiyaparishat. The focus of a few other articles is on “Yakshgana’ the folk theatre that thrives in the coastal Karnataka. Krishnbhatta is suffused with traditional knowledge but has an out look which is essentially modern. ‘Ishvara Sankalpa athavA daivaleele’ is a short auto-biographical account by Krishnabhatta. ‘Sediyapi Nenapugalu’ is a collection of his reminiscences collected by the noted writer Vaidehi. His story ‘nAgarabetta’ is an extremely good study about the colonial period.

He was awarded ‘Pampa Prashasti’ in 1994 for his ‘Vicharaprapancha’. ‘Shatanjali’ (2002) is a felicitation volume brought out in his honor.