SRIKANTAIAH T.N., 1906-1966
T. N. Srikantaiah (ತೀರ್ಥಪುರ
ನಂಜುಂಡಯ್ಯ ಶ್ರೀಕಂಠಯ್ಯ) (Ti.en. shrIkaNTayya) or Tee.Nam.Sri. as he was popularly known among his admiring students,
continues to be one of the most influential personalities who have shaped the traditions
of Kannada literary criticism, literary theory and the modalities of teaching
literature. He has achieved all this, as much by his writings as by his
teaching practices in the
Srikantaiah was born in Teerthapura a
small village in Tumakur district. T.N.S. obtained
his B.A. degree from the
Srikantaiah developed an abiding interest in linguistics and it
was honed in the company of eminent linguists such as Suneethikumara
Chatarjee, T.Burrow and M.B.Emeneau. He had the opportunity to visit the
Linguistics, poetics,
literary criticism, textual criticism and prosody were his major areas of
study. He has contributed handsomely to all these academic fields. His
erudition in Sanskrit, Kannada and English has resulted in some translations of
outstanding merit.
T.N.S. was a poet and
essayist of rare merit. Olume (Love) (1932) is
accepted as the first collection of love poems in Kannada. Bidi
Muttu (biDi muttu) (1970) is a collection of short poems translated
from Sanskrit and Prakrit. Nantaru
(nanTaru) is a collection of delightful essays which
launched him as essayist of genuine merit. Rakshasana
Mudrike is a translation of the Sanskrit play by Vishakhadatta.
Textual Criticism is an area
which did not receive continued patronage from T.N.S. However the quality of
the work produced by him is undisputed. The works edited by him are as follows:
1.
Nambiyannana Ragale by Harihara,
1946
(NambiyaNNana
ragaLe)
2.
Gadayuddha Sangraha(Abridged version)
by Ranna, 1949
(gadAyuddha sangraha)
nambiyannana ragale was
edited and published for the first time by T.N.S. He used five manuscripts and
took diligent care in arriving at the appropriate decision in finding the
original form in a plethora of variants. He was at the cutting edge of an
evolving discipline and the final text is full of various diacritical marks and
numbers in evidence of his meticulous labor. However he could not write a
detailed introduction to this work.
Gadayuddha
Sangraha is an abridged version of the epic by Ranna. But the abridged versions published during that
period are outcomes of great scholarship and diligent care. T.N.S. has examined
all the manuscripts used by earlier editors as also many other sources that
were not used till then. Its hard to contend his conclusions. The notes
provided at the end of the text are exhaustive and very useful. These two
editions are held in high esteem by the scholastic community.
Srikantaiah was a capable literary critic. Kavyasameekshe,
(kAvyasamIkSe) (1947) Samalokana
(samAlOkana) (1958) and Kavyanubhava
(kAvyAnuBava) (1970) contain his contributions to
this genre. His criticism was based on some principles of Sanskrit poetics. He
was essentially an aesthetic critic paying scant attention to the cultural
dimensions of the text. However his critical essays on Kumaravyasa,
Shakuntala, Akkamahadevi, and Kerege haara are counted among
the best in the genre. Samalokana contains
competent book reviews of many contemporary classics. More importantly, T.N.S.
and his pedagogy have created a generation of critics which has had an abiding
influence on the evolution of literary criticism in
Linguistics and prosody
fascinated T.N.S. no ends and he has published a number of articles and notes
in these areas. He has quite a few publications to his credit in English also.
His article on the prosodic patterns of modern Kannada poetry and his brilliant
introduction to English Geetagalu a collection of
poems translated from English by his mentor B.M.Srikantaiah
are of seminal importance. Kannada Madhyma Vyakarana (kannaDa
maDhyama vyAkaraNa) (1939)
is a grammar text meant for secondary schools. It is a classic example of lucid
writing with captivating illustrations. In addition to these he has published
many articles on various topics related to grammar, linguistics and prosody.
Samagra
Gadya (Collected prose) and its sequel published
recently contain a number of articles hitherto unpublished in book form.
A separate mention must be
made of Bharathiya Kavyameemase
(Indian Poetics) (1953) which has served as a foundational text in Kannada
academic studies for more than fifty years. It is an explicatory and
interpretive account of the basic tenets of Sanskrit poetics. It gives both a
historical overview and a conceptual discussion of the aesthetic principles
involved. The illustrations are generally chosen from the literary works of
ancient and modern Kannada. Indirectly he was forging tools and methods to be
used in Kannada literary criticism in the succeeding generations. He was
apparently unconcerned either about the macro situations confronted by Kannada
poets or about criticism of a text in its entirety. Consequently he could not
have a meaningful dialogue with the literary tradition of Kannada.
The services of T.N.S. to
Kannada literature and culture were not amply rewarded during his lifetime
possibly due to his premature demise. He was posthumously awarded PampaPrashasti for his Bharateeya
Kavyameemamse (1988), the highest literary award
given by the Government of Karnataka. Sreekantha Teertha, a felicitation volume was brought out in 1976.
References: 1. Tee.Nam.shri. by De.Javaregowda 1970.
2. Kamat's
Potpourri: Kannada Scholar TiNamShri
3. Indian Poetics by T.N.Srikantaiah, translated from Kannada by N. Balasubrahmanya, 2006,
4. Samagra Gadya,
(Collected Prose) published by Kannada Book Authority, 2007,