Chandrashekar Patil (18 June 193910 January 2022), popularly known as Champa, was an Indian poet, playwright and public intellectual writing in

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 ...

. Patil was a recipient of the

Karnataka Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry The Karnataka Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry is an annual award given by the Karnataka Sahitya Academy recognizing the best poetry of the year written in Kannada language and published in India. Winners See also * List of poetry award ...

in 1989 and the Karnataka state government's

Pampa Award The Pampa Award (or Pampa Prashasti) is a literary award in the Indian state of Karnataka. The award was established in 1987 by the government of Karnataka. It is the highest literary honor conferred by the Department of Kannada and Culture, Go ...

in 2009. Patil had served as the president of the

Kannada Sahitya Parishat Kannada Saahithya Parishath (; ) is an Indian non-profit organisation that promotes the Kannada language and its literature. Its headquarters are in the city of Bengaluru in the state of Karnataka, India. It strives to promote Kannada language ...

, a Kannada language literary organization.

Life and career

Champa was the editor of the literary journal ''Sankramana'' started with two of his friends Siddalinga Pattanashetti and Giraddi Govindaraj in 1964. He was known for leading many social and literary movements such as

Gokak agitation The Gokak agitation () was a successful language rights agitation in the 1980s that fought for the first-language status of the Kannada language in the South Indian state of Karnataka. It was named after the committee headed by Vinayaka Kri ...

, Bandaya movement, anti-

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

agitation, agitation for the implementation of

Mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative c ...

report, Farmer's movement amongst others. After retiring as professor of English from

Karnatak University Karnatak University (KUD) is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Dharwad, Karnataka, India. KUD was officially established in 1950 through the Karnatak University Act, 1949, passed by the legislature of t ...

, Patil served as the President of

and as the Chairman of Kannada Development Authority. Patil was a recipient of the

in 1989 and the Karnataka state government's Pampa Award in 2009. In addition to Kannada language, Patil also wrote in English. An anthology of his poems titled, ''At the other end,'' was published in 1983. The anthology included both poems written originally in English and his own poems translated from Kannada. Patil was a proponent of Kannada language as a medium of instruction in the state's government schools and had spoken out in 2019 against the then state government's move to introduce English as the medium of instruction in the state's government schools. Earlier, in 2015, protesting the assassination of his friend and Vachana scholar M. M. Kalburgi, he returned his

, the highest literary honour of the

government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as GoK or GoKA, formerly known as Government of Mysore (1956–1974), is a democratically elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka ...

. Patil died in Bangalore on 10 January 2022, at the age of 83.

Works

Poetry

Source(s): * ''Banuli'' (1960) * ''Madhyabindu'' * ''19 Kavanagalu'' * ''Gandhi smarane'' * ''Hoovu Hennu Taare'' * ''Shalmala Nanna Shalmala'' * ''Ardha Satyada Hudugi'' (1989;

) * Gundammana Gazhalagal

Plays

Source(s): *''Kodegalu'' * ''Appa'' (1969) * ''Gurtinavaru'' (1971) * ''Tingara Buddanna'' (1971) * ''Kattala Ratri'' * ''Gokarnada Goudasani'' (1974) * ''Nalakaviya Mastabhisheka'' (1979) * ''Jagadamebeya Beedinataka''

Essays

Source(s): * Nanna Haadina Halla * Anarogyave Bhagya * Champadakiya * Nanu Kandante Nanage Kandashtu * Aksharalokada Aakritigalu * Champa Nota * Champa Column * Nanna Guru Gokak * Kritikendritha * Nitya Varthamana * Kannada Kannada Barri Namma Sangada

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patil, Chandrashekhar 1939 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Indian male writers 20th-century Indian poets Kannada poets Kannada dramatists and playwrights Bandaya writers Academic staff of Karnatak University Alumni of the University of Leeds Poets from Karnataka Kannada-language writers Indian male dramatists and playwrights Dramatists and playwrights from Karnataka People from Haveri district