VENKANNAIAH T.S., (1885-1939)
Taluku Subbanna Venkannaiah (ತಳುಕು
ಸುಬ್ಬಣ್ಣ ವೆಂಕಣ್ಣಯ್ಯ) is one of the most revered names in the renaissance
of modern Kannada that took place in the early decades of the twentieth century.
He was a native of Taluku village in Challakere talluk of Chitradurga district located
in central Karnataka. He obtained his B.A. degree in 1909 and M.A. in Kannada in
1914 both at
Venkannaiah and A.R.Krishnashastry were singularly
responsible for the publication of ‘Prabuddha Karnataka’ a periodical which played
a crucial role in the making of modern Kannada literature particularly in the princely
State of Mysore. He was actively involved in the development of the Central College
Karnataka Sangha at
Venkannaiah was well acquainted with Telugu, English,
Bengali and Tamil in addition to Kannada and Sanskrit. Pracheena Sahitya’ is a collection
of seminal articles by Ravindranatha Tagore which was translated from the original
Bengali by T.S.V.. Many ideas propounded there have had a lasting influence on the
making of modern Kannada literature. Along with A.R.K., he was the translator of
a biography of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, published by Ramakrishna Ashrama. He
has translated a part of ‘Ramakrishna Leela Prasanga’ from Bengali.
T.S.V. was an expert in the editing of ancient texts.
He has edited the following texts based on meager resources that were available:
1. ‘Basavarajadevara
Ragale’,
by Harihara, 1938
2. ‘Karnataka
Kadamabri Sangraha’, by Nagavarma-1, 1933
3. ‘Siddarama
Chariteya Sangraha’ by Raghavanka, (1941) (Posthumous)
(With D.L.Narasimhachar)
4. ‘Harishchandra
Kavya Sangraha’, by Raghavanka (1931)
(With A.R.Krishna
Shastry)
This work was carried out very diligently even though
very few manuscripts were available. For instance ‘Karnataka Kadambari’ had a single
manuscript and a printed edition by B.Mallappa based on that very manuscript. T.S.V.
went to the original Sanskrit where ever necessary and could produce a dependable
edition. Similarly ‘Basavarajadevara Ragale’ had two manuscripts (one palm leaf
and another paper) to begin with and the editor could secure one more at the time
of a subsequent reprint. The other two works had four and five manuscripts respectively.
Even though three of these works are abridges versions lot of scholarship has gone
in to them. Each one of them is accompanied by detailed introduction, information
about the poet and his times, scholarly criticism and such.
Venkannaiah played a crucial role in the publications
of revised editions of ‘Pampa Bharata’ and ‘Kumara Vysaa Bharatha’. He was instrumental
in the publication of ‘Kumara Vysa Prashasti’ a volume commemorating that great
poet.
He has contributed the sections on ‘Old Kannada Grammar’
and ‘History of Kannada Language’ in ‘Kannada Kaipidi’ a classic text book published
by the
‘Savi Nenapu’ is the commemoration volume published
to honour T.S.V. under the editorship of Kuvempu.