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.