Adya Rangacharya (26 September 1904 – 17 October 1984), known as R.V. Jagirdar till 1948, later popularly known by his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Sriranga, was an Indian

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 ...

writer, actor and scholar, and a member of the ''Adya Jahagirdar family''. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship in 1967 and the

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 literature in 1971 for ''Kalidasa'', a literary criticism in Kannada. Rangacharya has been honoured with the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

third highest Indian civilian award for his contributions to the literature and education in 1972 by the

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Life

Adya Rangacharya birth name was R. V. Jagirdar and was born in Agarkhed, Bijapur district. He has his education at

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and

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Universities. His writings made him a trend-setter among Kannada and Indian writers. His works include twelve novels and a number of scholarly books on the theatre, on Sanskrit drama and the Bhagavadgita; but it was as a dramatist that he made his mark (47 full-length and 68 one-act plays). WorldCat author listing
/ref> He is known for his English translation of the classic work on Indian classical theatre, the Natyasastra Rangacharya, Adya (1904-84), in ''The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre'
Oxford Reference Online
/ref>

Works

Rangacharya's works include twelve novels and a number of scholarly books on the Theatre, on

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 ...

drama and the

Bhagavadgita The Bhagavad Gita (; ), often referred to as the Gita (), is a Hindu texts, Hindu scripture, dated to the second or first century BCE, which forms part of the Hindu epic, epic poem Mahabharata. The Gita is a synthesis of various strands of Ind ...

. He also wrote 71 plays and acted in 47. Besides a translation of Natyasastra, his other works in English include Drama in

Sanskrit Literature Sanskrit literature is a broad term for all literature composed in Sanskrit. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as some ...

, Indian Theatre, Introduction to Bharata’s Natyasastra, and Introduction to the Comparative Philosophy and

Indo-Aryan Languages The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east ...

. He use the pseudonym Sriranga when writing most of his plays and literary work. His works in English are: *Bharata, Muni, and Śrīraṅga. '' The Nāṭyaśāstra: English Translation with Critical Notes.'' New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1996. *Drama in Sanskrit Literature, and Introduction to the Comparative Philosophy and Indo-Aryan Languages. *Rangacharya, Adya. ''Introduction to Bharata's Nātya-Śāstra.'' Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1966. WorldCat
/ref> *Rangacharya, Adya. ''The Indian Theatre.'' New Delhi: National Book Trust, India, 1971. *Śrīraṅga, . Drama in Sanskrit Literature. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1967 (2nd ed.) *Śrīraṅga, .'' The Quest for Wisdom, Thoughts on the Bhagawadgita.'' Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1993. (translation of two Kannada works ''Gītagāmbhīrya'' and ''Gītādarpaṇa'' Among his works translated into English are *Rangacharya, Adya, (transl. by G S. Amur).''Listen Janamejaya and Other Plays.'' New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 2005. *Śrīraṅga, (transl. by Shashi Deshpande) ''Opening Scene: Early Memoirs of a Dramatist and a Play.'' New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2006. *Rangacharya, Adya, (transl. by Usha Desai). ''Shadows in the Dark: Four Plays.'' Bangalore, India: Unisun Publications, 2007. *Sriranga, .'' These Tombs Alone Remain: A Novel'' Bangalore: Shriranga Saraswat Prakashana, 1959.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rangacharya, Adya 1904 births 1984 deaths 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Indian male actors Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Kannada Kannada dramatists and playwrights Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education Indian male dramatists and playwrights Dramatists and playwrights from Karnataka Male actors from Karnataka Male actors in Kannada theatre Kannada-language writers Indian male stage actors Novelists from Karnataka Writers from Karnataka 20th-century Indian male writers 20th-century Indian historians People from Bijapur district, Karnataka Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award