Shivaram Karanth

Shivaram Karanth : 1902 - 1997

Born at Kota in Dakshina Kannada district. He had his primary education in Kundapur and his college education at the Government College, Mangalore.

The vastness and variety of Karanth's life and works defy any definition. Novels, short stories, plays, encyclopaedias, translations, satires, travelogues, essays, biographies, critiques, works on folklore, art and sculpture, philosophy and science… no sphere of knowledge and no form of literature was alien to his creativity. Indeed, none else could have deserved sobriquets such as "Mobile Encyclopaedia" and "Bhargava of the Coast" more richly than Karanth.

Honours and awards:
1. "Bhargava of the Coast"
2. "Mobile Encyclopaedia"
3. Jnanpith award in 1977 for his "Mookajjiya Kanasu"(Mookajji's dreams)
4. Central and State Sahitya Academy awards.
5. Swedish Academy Award for services to folkdance.
6. As President of the thirty seventh Karnataka Literary conference held at Mysore in 1955
7. Honorary doctorates of Mysore and Karnataka universities.
8. He returned his Padmabhushan honor in protest against the Emergency, imposed by Indira Gandhi.

Works:
1. Mookajjiya Kanasu
2. "Marali Mannige"
3. Bettada Jeeva"
4. Maimanagala Suliyalli
5. Alida Mele