Ambale Ramakrishna Krishnashastry (1890–1968) was an Indian writer,

researcher Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

in the

Kannada language Kannada () is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, an ...

. Krishnashastry has remained popular four decades after his death through his work ''Vachana Bharata'', and his narration of the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

epic

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

in the Kannada.

Early life

Krishnashastry was born on 12 February 1890, in Ambale,

Kingdom of Mysore The Kingdom of Mysore was a geopolitical realm in southern India founded in around 1399 in the vicinity of the modern-day city of Mysore and prevailed until 1950. The territorial boundaries and the form of government transmuted substantially ...

(in present-day

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

, India), into a

Smarta The ''Smarta'' tradition (, ) is a movement in Hinduism that developed and expanded with the Puranas genre of literature. It reflects a synthesis of four philosophical strands, namely Uttara Mīmāṃsā, Advaita Vedanta, Advaita, Yoga (philo ...

Hoysala Karnataka Brahmin family. His parents were Ramakrishna Shastry, grammarian and principal of Sanskrit school in

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

and Shankaramma, a homemaker; she died of disease when he was ten. Due to poverty, he was compelled to study

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

for his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree (1914) though he wanted to pursue a career as a

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

. His career started as a clerk in the ''

Attara Kacheri Attara Kacheri (, formerly the Old Public Offices Building) in Bangalore, India, is the seat of the principal Bench (law), bench of the Karnataka High Court, the highest judicial authority in the state of Karnataka. It is a Neoclassical archite ...

'' (secretariat) in Mysore. He worked as a

tutor Tutoring is private academic help, usually provided by an expert teacher; someone with deep knowledge or defined expertise in a particular subject or set of subjects. A tutor, formally also called an academic tutor, is a person who provides assis ...

and a

at Oriental Library (later renamed the Oriental Research Institute) at

before enrolling for his

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree at the

Madras University The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

. He later served as a professor in Kannada and researcher at the

Mysore University The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV and the premiership of Sir M. Visvesvaraya. The university is recognised by t ...

until his retirement. Krishnashastry married at the age of sixteen to Venkatalakshamma who was only ten at that time. Krishnashastry was called as Kannada Senani by writer and folklorist H. M. Nayak). He was the first to start a Karnataka association at the

Central College, Bangalore Central College Bengaluru (1858) is one of the oldest colleges in India. This college was originally affiliated to University of Mysore in Mysore State. Rev. John Garrett was the founder and first principal of the Central High School, which w ...

. Later, similar associations spread throughout Karnataka. Some of Krishnashastry's notable disciples include

Kuvempu Kuppalli Venkatappa Puttappa (29 December 1904 – 11 November 1994), popularly known by his pen name Kuvempu, was an Indian poet, playwright, novelist and critic. He is widely regarded as the greatest Kannada poet of the 20th century. He wa ...

, T. N. Srikantaiah, M. V. Seetharamiah, S. Srikanta Sastri and G. P. Rajarathnam.

Literary works

Prof KrishnaShastry was a polyglot. Apart from his mother tongue Kannada, he could speak fluently in

and English. He was also proficient in

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

, Bengali (self taught), Hindi, and German. He had a good working knowledge of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and this helped him to work and translate some of the great works from those languages to

. Krishnashastry brought out many of nuances of great

plays of

Kālidāsa Kālidāsa (, "Servant of Kali (god), Kali"; 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on Hindu Puranas and philosophy. ...

Bhavabhuti Bhavabhūti (born Śrīkaṇṭha Nīlakaṇṭha; Devanagari: भवभूति; -) was a classical Sanskrit scholar, poet, and playwright of eighth-century India. He is considered a key successor to Kalidasa and is often regarded as matching ...

and Bhasa during his translations to Kannada. Krishnashastry's biography of Bankim Chandra Chattarjee, a noted

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

earned him a Central

Sahitya Academy award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

. Krishnashastri wrote numerous other

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

and novels including ''Vachana bharata'', ''Nirmalabharati'' and ''Kathaamruta''. ''Vachanabharata'' and ''Nirmalabharati'' are an abridged versions of the Hindu epic

. ''Kathaamruta'' is a collection of stories from

Kathasaritsagara The ''Kathāsaritsāgara'' ("Ocean of the Streams of Stories") (Devanagari: कथासरित्सागर) is a famous 11th-century collection of Indian legends and folk tales as retold in Sanskrit by the Shaivite Somadeva from Kashmir. ' ...

, huge anthology of hundreds of fables, parables and other stories in

. ''Kathaamruta'' has a well written introduction to

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

and

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

cultural traditions. In 1918, Krishnashastry started ''Prabuddha Karnataka'', a Kannada language newspaper and worked as its

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

Awards and honors

* D. Lit of

Writings

Novels

* ''Vachana bharata'' * ''Nirmalabharati''

Biographies

* ''Sri

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Ramakrishna (18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886——— —), also called Ramakrishna Paramahansa (; ; ), born Ramakrishna Chattopadhay,M's original Bengali diary page 661, Saturday, 13 February 1886''More About Ramakrishna'' by Swami Prab ...

charitre'' * '' Bannkim Chandra''

Short story collections

* ''Shreepatiya Kategalu'' * ''Kathaamrutha - Kannada translation of

Plays

* ''Samskruta Nataka'' * ''Harischandrakavya Sangraha''

Other

* ''Alankara ( kannada handbook on Alankara shastra - 1927, Mysore university)'' * ''Bhasa Kavi ( A critique on Sanskrit playwright Bhasa - Central college Karnataka Sangha - 1922)'' * ''Sarvajnana Kavi'' * ''Bhashanagalu Mattu Lekhanagalu ( Speeches and Writings )'' * ''Nagamahashaya (Author: Sarat Chandra Chakravarty) translated from Bengali to Kannada - 1937''

References

External links

A. R. Krishnashastry - A Biography

Complete works of Prof. A R Krishnasastri
* A.R.KrishnaShastry, Kathaamrita (1952) (Kannada: ಕಥಾಮೃತ), Geetha Book House, K.R. Circle, Mysore 570 001, India * A.R. Krishna Shastri - A monograph in Kannada by T.V. Venkatachala Sastry, Sahitya Akademi, Year 2000,
Alaṅkāra-śāstra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krishnashastry, A. R 1890 births 1968 deaths People from Chikmagalur district Kannada-language writers Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Kannada 20th-century Indian translators 20th-century Indian novelists Writers from Karnataka 20th-century Indian biographers