Channappa D. Uttangi, was born October 28, 1881 in Uttangi what is now the Karnataka State in South India. He died in 1962 at the age of 82.
Channappa Uttangi began his Theological studies at the age of twenty at the Basel Seminary. Upon completing his studies Uttangi joined Basel Mission as an Evangelist in 1908. Uttangi's first published work was from a sermon preached at a Hindu gathering Bethlehem's appeal to Benares (today Varanasi). Varanasi is known as a symbolic place for Hindu culture and learning.
Uttangi's was awarded by the Kannada Sahitya Sammelana for his ground breaking work on the Kannada poet Sarvajna. For 25 years Uttangi researched this 16th century Kannada poet.
The poems of Sarvajna were spread out among the villages. To study these poems Uttangi developed a skill of reading and interpreting the ancient manuscripts preserved on palm leaves. Uttangi would go to the villages stay with the people and collect information on the poems of Sarvajna.
In all Uttangi collected 2000 Poems and classified them in a systematic manor.
A statue of Channappa Uttangi was unveiled at his native village in Hadagali taluk by the former Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh in July 2004.
Contents |
(booklist from Reverend Channappa Uttangi: Life and Work of an Inter-Faith Pioneer by S. R. Gunjal, 2007)
Books on Christianity
Bethlehem’s Request to Banares (1921)
Narayan Waman Tilak (1927) Narayan Wamanrao Tilak
The Essence of Sadhu Sundar Singh’s Spiritual Experience: Part I (1939)
The Essence of Sadhu Sundar Singh’s Spiritual Experience: Part II (1953)
Mrityunjaya (An account of the Last Days of Jesus Christ) (1963)
Books on Lingayatism
Vachanas of Sarvajna (1924)
Basaveshwara and the Advancement of Karnataka (1923)
Basaveshwara and the Uplift of Untouchables (1933)
Vachanas of Miligeya Marayaa and Queen Mahadevi (ed with Prof. S. S Bhusanurmath, 1950)
The Historicity of Anubhava Mantapa (1951)
The collection of Siddharmas’s Literary Works (1955)
Vachana of Adayya (1957)
Lingayatism and Christianity (1969)
Anubhava Mantapa: The heart of Virashaivism (1932)
Books on Hinduism
Well-Wisher of the Hindu Society (Eradication of Casteisim and National Integration) (1921)
Yellamma: A Goddess of South India (1995)
A Complete Concordance to the Bhagvad Gita (Unpublished)
Reverend Channappa Uttangi: Life and Work of an Inter-Faith Pioneer by S. R. Gunjal, Translated from Kannada into English by M. Panchappa, Published by Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society, Bangalore 2007
A Channappa Uttangi Reader : Selected Writings of Rev.Daniel Channappa Uttangi (1881–1962) Translated from Kannada. Edited by Arun Kumar Wesley.2007 (forthcoming from, Institute for the Study of Religion and Society (CISRS) The book contains in English translation of selected writings of Rev. Uttangi. The book contains four of his writings including his Atma Charithre(autobiography), Bethlehem beckons Banaras, Lingayatism and Christianity and Virasaivism and Untouchability.