| A.R. Krishnashastry | |
|---|---|
© Kamat's Potpourri |
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| Born | Ambale Ramakrishna Krishnasastry 1890 Ambale, Chikmagalur district, Karnataka |
| Died | 1968 (aged 77–78) Chikmagalur, Karnataka |
| Occupation | Writer, Professor, Journalist |
| Nationality | India |
| Genres | Fiction, Mythological |
| Literary movement | Navodaya |
Ambale Ramakrishna Krishnasastry (1890–1968) was a prominent writer, researcher and translator in Kannada language. Prof Krishnashastry is even more popular today after four decades of his death and has become a household name through his masterpiece Vachana Bharata, recital of Mahabharata in Kannada language.
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Krishnashastry lost his mother Shankaramma because of plague when he was only ten. His father Ramakrishna Shastry who was a distinguished grammarian and principal of Sanskrit Pathashala of Mysore, did not remarry as was the usual practice but brought up his children with great difficulty instead. Prof A.R. Krishnashastry was compelled to study Kannada and Sanskrit for his Bachelors of Arts degree (1914) although he wanted to pursue his career as a scientist because of the poverty. His career started as a clerk in Athara Kacheri in Mysore. He worked as a tutor and researcher at Oriental Library(later renamed as Oriental Research Instititute), Mysore before appearing for Master of Arts degree at Madras University. Finally he became professor of Kannada and served as a professor and researcher in Mysore University till his retirement. Prof Krishnashatry married at a young age of sixteen to Venkatalakshamma who was only 10 at that time.
Prof. Krishnashastry was a master in many Indian languages including Sanskrit, Kannada, Bengali, Pali, Hindi besides English and German which helped him to work in all these languages and translate some of the great works from those languages to Kannada. Prof. Krishnashastry brought out many of the unknown naunces of great Sanskrit plays of Kālidāsa, Bhavabhooti and Bhasa. Biography of Bankim Chandra Chattarjee, great Bengali novelist, written by Prof. Krishnashastry brought him Sahitya Academy award. Prof. Krishnashastri has written numerous other short stories and novels.
But what Prof. Krishnashastry is well known for is through his great novels like Vachanabharata, Nirmalabharati and Kathamrita. Vachanabharata and Nirmalabharati are a masterly condensation of Mahabharata. Kathamrita is collection of stories from Kathasaritsagara, huge anthology of hundreds of fables, fairy-tales and stories in Sanskrit. Kathamrita has an exhaustive and well studied introduction of stories in Indian and western tradition.
Prof. Krishnashastri started Prabuddha Karnataka, the first Kannada news paper in 1918 and worked as the editor.