MALLAPPA B., 1835-1907

B. Mallappa (bi. mallappa) (ಬಿ. ಮಲ್ಲಪ್ಪ) was a scholar and he was one of the pioneers in combining traditional scholarship and western education. He was a renowned grammarian, teacher, translator and a polyglot.

Mallappa was born in Begur village located in Gundlupete talluk of Chamarajanagara district. However, he had his education in Mysore and he acquired a thorough knowledge of Sanskrit, English, Persian and Kannada. He was appointed as a translator in the palace of Mysore. He worked as the Principal of the ‘BAshOjjIvini pAThashAlA’ at Mysore since its inception and served there for a long time. He rendered valuable help to scholars such as F.Kittel and B.L.Rice in their endeavours related to Kannada.

He has edited three important Kannada classics with whatever material was available at that point of time. Particularly, ‘Karnataka Kadamabari’ by Nagavarma posed a great challenge because he had to edit the text with a single manuscript. ‘Rajashekharavilasam’ by Shadakshari is another classic edited by him. ‘Shabdadarsha’ (shabdAdarsha) (ಶಬ್ದಾದರ್ಶ) a Kannada grammar written by Mallappa was very popular during those days, so much so he was referred to as ‘vyAkaraNada mallappa’ by his admirers. Some details of the books edited by B. Mallappa are as follows.

1. ‘Karnataka Kadamabari’, (Nagavrama-1) 1892, published by Govt. Branch Press, Mysore.

2. ‘Rajashekharavilasam’, (Shadaksharadeva) 1866, published by Bengaluru Krishnraja Mudraksharashale, Bangalore. This book is printed in Telugu script.

1. ‘Kavyavalokana’ (Nagavarma-2) (Only the chapter on ‘arthAlankAra’s), 1884. This edition has appropriate glossaries and commentaries written by Sri Mallappa.

Home / Scholars