SHANKARA BHAT D.N., b.1935
Darbe, Narayana Bhat, Shankara
Bhat is one of the most renowned linguists in the country. He has made seminal
contributions to the study of Kannada language and culture. His ideas are
original and they are supported by valid empirical data and analytical
methodology. He is determined to minimize the accumulated influence of Sanskrit
on Kannada and bring Kannada back in to its pristine state. This is not merely
an academic stand. He is motivated by an intense desire to make academic
Kannada more accessible to common people who are overawed by a preponderance of
Sanskrit.
Shankara Bhat comes from a
traditional Sanskrit back ground and he has a master’s degree in that language.
However, his exposure to modern linguistics gave him a proper perspective to
look at these things in a scholarly and objective manner. He has worked in many
prestigious Universities in
Shankara Bhat’s pre-occupation
with the Dravidian languages received a boost because he hails from the coastal
Karnataka which is a melting pot of many languages such as Kannada, Tulu,
Konkani, Havyaka, Maleyalam, Koraga and a host of other tribal languages. It
may be noticed that Bhat’s initial work was in the description and evolution of
the cognate languages of Kannada. His publications in Kannada started with a series
of articles about the language in a popular weekly called ‘Sudhaa’. This was
followed by a historical survey of Kannada titled ‘Kannada Bhasheya Sankshipta
Charitre’. His ‘Kannada Vakyagalu’ an erudite treatise on the syntax of Kannada
language did not receive adequate recognition even from the scholastic
community, because language studies in Karnataka during that period had not yet
taken roots. This lukewarm response resulted in a relative silence by Mr. Bhat
for a number of decades. Of course, he was busy with academic research in the
national and international scenario.
A decade and a half after the
publication of ‘Kannada Bhasheya Kalpitha Charitre’ have seen a watershed in
his writings about Kannada language and society. Fortunately, he was very well
received by the scholars of the generation next to his own. His pioneering and
single handed efforts in establishing the Dravidian antecedents of Kannada have
been pathbreaking. His contention that Kannada Grammar as it is conceived and
taught right from the beginning is based on wrong precepts borrowed from
Sanskrit, Latin and English has found many followers. He feels that the undue
importance given to Sanskrtized pedagogy has kept the marginalized sections
away from the main stream. This concern for the native speakers of the language
provides the ideological basis of his research. He has the erudition, the tools
and the methodology required for a proper academic perusal of his ideas. Many
of his publications have analyzed the situation both in the macro-perspective
and the micro-realities. He is deeply concerned about the changes that are to
be introduced at the level of grammar, pedagogy, graphology and cultural
analysis. Of course, his ideas have met with stiff resistance from scholars who
have a traditional orientation. However it is to be believed that the future
developments social dynamics and linguistic studies will vindicate his point of
view. Some of his important publications in English and Kannada are enumerated
here:
Books:
English:
1. ‘Pronouns’, Published by
2. ‘The prominence of tense, aspect, and mood’,
published by John Benjamins Publishing
Company, 1999
3. ‘The adjectival category: criteria for
differentiation and identification’, Published
by John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1994
4. ‘Descriptive analysis of Tulu’,
Published by Deccan College Post-
Graduate and Research Institute, 1967.
5. ‘An outline grammar of Havyaka’,
Published by Deccan College
Postgraduate and Research Institute, 1971
6. ‘The Koraga Language’, 1971, published by
Deccan College Postgraduate
and research Institute.
7. ‘Grammatical relations: The evidences against
their necessity and universality’, 1991, Routledge, London and New York.
8. ‘The Sixth Sense’, 1982, Trivandrum.
9. ‘Sound Change’, 1972, Bhasha Prakashana,
Poona.
Kannada:
a. ‘Kannaḍa
bhāṣeya saṅkṣipta caritre’, Published by Bhāṣā
Prakāśana, 1969
b. ‘Kannaḍa
vākyagaḷu: āntarika racane mattu arthavyavasthe’,
Published by Gītā
Buk Haus, 1978
c. ‘Bhāṣeya
bagege nīvēnu balliri?’ Published by Bhāṣā
Prakāśana, 1970
d. ‘Kannaḍa
bhāṣeya kalpita caritre’, Published by Prasārāṅga, Kannaḍa Viśvavidyālaya, 1995
e. ‘Kannaḍada
sarvanāmagaḷu’, Published by Bhāṣā
Prakāśana, 2003
f.
‘Kannaḍa
śabda racane’, Published by Kannaḍa Saṅgha, Kraisṭ Kālej, 1999
g. ‘Nijakkū haḷegannaḍa
vyākaraṇa entahadu?’, Published by Bhāṣā
Prakāśana, 2005
h. ‘Kannaḍa
padagaḷa oḷaracane’, Published by Bhāṣāprakāśana,
2002
i.
‘Kannadakke beku kannadaddee Vyakarana, 2000,
Bhasha Prakashana, Mysore.
j.
‘Kannada
Vyakarana parampare’, Kannada University, Hampi.
k. ‘Kannada Barahavannu Saripadisna’,
2005, Bhasha Prakashana, Mysore.
l.
‘Kannadanudi
nadedu banda Dari’, 2008
Shankara
Bhat D.N. has received many awards for his academic excellence. They include
the Rajyotsava award by the Government of Karnataka, (2007) and the Karnataka
Sahitya Academy Award for his contribution to Kannada language.