Devanoora Mahadeva is an Indian writer and intellectual who writes in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

language. The Government of India conferred upon him the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is confe ...

award, the fourth highest civilian award. Known among literary circles to be a rebel, Mahadeva rejected the

Nrupatunga Award The Nrupatunga Award is an award for excellence in Kannada literature in the Indian state of Karnataka. The award was instituted by the Kannada Sahitya Parishat and is sponsored by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). Instit ...

(carrying a purse of Rs 5,01,000) in 2010. Devanura's rejection of the award was based on his dissatisfaction that despite being the official language of the state, Kannada is yet to be made the primary language of instruction in schools and colleges. He wants Kannada to be made the medium of learning at least up to the college level. Mahadeva is 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 ...

ee for his novel ''Kusuma Baale''. In the 1990s he rejected the government's offer to nominate him to

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, wikisource:Constitution of India/Part V#Article 80, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legisl ...

(the upper house of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

) under the writer's quota. In 2022, he published a book on the

RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many di ...

that gained popularity and critical acclaim both for its content and its innovative open publishing model.

Personal life

Mahadeva was born in 1948 in Devanuru village in Nanjanagudu Taluk,

Mysore district Mysore district, officially Mysuru district is an administrative district located in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Mysore division. Chamarajanagar District was carved out of the or ...

of the

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...

state, India, He worked at CIIL in Mysore.

Literary contributions

*''Dyavanooru'' (ದ್ಯಾವನೂರು) *''Odalaala'' (ಒಡಲಾಳ) *''Kusuma Baale'' (ಕುಸುಮಬಾಲೆ) *''Edege Bidda Akshara'' (ಎದೆಗೆ ಬಿದ್ದ ಅಕ್ಷರ) *''Devanura Mahadeva Avara Krithigalu'' (ದೇವನೂರ ಮಹಾದೇವ ಅವರ ಎಲ್ಲ ಕಥೆ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳು) *RSS: Aaala mattu agala (ಆರ್ ಎಸ್ ಎಸ್: ಆಳ ಮತ್ತು ಅಗಲ)

Awards and recognitions

Devanooru's awards and accolades include: * Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award. *

Kendra Sahitya Akademi 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 ...

for the novel ''Kusumabale'' *

in 2011 * ''Yara japthigu sigada navilugalu'' (ಯಾರ ಜಪ್ತಿಗೂ ಸಿಗದ ನವಿಲುಗಳು). Collection of articles on Devanoora Mahadeva`s works and vision edited by Dr. P Chandrika.

References

External links

# English translation of his book RSS: Aaala mattu agala from

the Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahadeva, Devanur 1948 births Living people Kannada-language writers Bandaya writers Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Kannada Magic realism writers

Personal life

Literary contributions

Awards and recognitions

See also

References

External links