Well known Kannada scholar, G. Venkatasubbaiah and a very popular Kannada lexicographer passed away in Bengaluru on Monday April 19 at the age of 107.
He was known for his Kannada dictionaries which he compiled in a span of 60 years. The eight volumes of the Kannada dictionary is about 10,000 pages long. Prof G Venkatasubbiah along with other experts developed it on par with the Oxford dictionary.
Born in in the year 1913 in Mandya district, Venkatasubbaiah is known for his knowledge of Kannada, English and Sanskrit words. He has penned over 60 books and is a recipient of Padma Shri award in the year 2017 and the Kendra Sahitya Akademi’s literary honour ‘Basha Sanman’ for south zone. He had presided over the 77th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana held in Bengaluru in 2011.
His love for the language has led him to create works which cover various forms of Kannada literature, including grammar, poetry, translation and essays.
After completing his post-graduation in Kannada, he started his career as a teacher at a municipal school in Mandya. Later, he went on to teach at a high school in Davanagere and at Maharaja’s College in Mysuru before switching over to Vijaya College in Bengaluru. He took up the task of working on Kannada-to-Kannada dictionary as its chief editor after retiring from Vijaya College in 1973.
Venkatasubbaiah is remembered for his work on Kannada dictionary science titled Kannada Nighantu Shastra Parichaya, which was brought out to coincide with the centenary celebration of the first Kannada dictionary authored by the German Indologist Reverend Ferdinand Kittel in 1894. He served as the vice-president of the Lexicographical Association of India for 17 years.
His monumental literary works got him various other awards like Pampa Award, Karnataka Rajyotsava Award and the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi Award.
Prof G. Venkatasubbaiah being felicitation by Lal Krishna Advani at Bangalore in 2012
Image courtesy Rkkrupa from Wikimedia commons.
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