Foreword When the Post-graduate Course in Kannada was initiated in the University of Mysore, as a result of the untiring endeavors of Professor B. M. Srikantia, the honor of adorning the Chair, as the first Professor of Kannada went to Sri T. S. Venkannaiya. It was indeed a unique and auspicious moment. With the divine-like personality, he laid the foundation for a glorious tradition in the Department... Since then, the Department of Kannada has been striving its best to preserve the glory and magnanimity of its tradition, and the Institute of Kannada Studies has come into being in conformity with and in furtherance of those objectives.
This year marks a mile-stone in the annals of the activities of the Institute. The good fortune of celebrating the birth centenary of Professor T. S. Venkannaiya has come to our lot. It is thus a memorable event in the history of the Institute. Professor Venkannaiya was born on the 1st October 1885. The Institute naturally decided to observe his birth-centenary on the 1st October 1985 in a meaningful manner. It was decided to organize on this occasion a Symposium on the life, works and achievements of Professor T. S. Venkannaiya, in addition to bringing out his complete works in a single volume and getting a monograph each published in Kannada and English.
Preface Dr. Masti Venkatesha Iyengar hailed Professor T. S. Venkannaiya and Professor A. R. Krishna Sastri as the Ashvini Gods (the Twin Gods) of Kannada Literature. The Ashvini Gods were famed physicians of the immortals. Professor Venkannaiya and Professor Krishna Sastri, both of them students of Professor B. M. Srikantia, worked together for the rejuvenation of Kannada literature and encouraged talented pupils to become immortals of Kannada literature. Professor T. S. Venkannaiya and Professor A. R. Krishna Sastri shared the joys and sorrows of life together, laboured together for the advancement of Kannada language and literature, jointly edited the Prabuddha Karnataka-the premier quarterly journal of Karnataka, and adorned the chair of Kannada in the University of Mysore. B. M. Srikantia, T. S. Venkannaiya and A. R. Krishna Sastri, these three University teachers together formed the troika of the renaissance of Kannada literature during the early decades of the present century.
B. M. Srikantia has remarked in one of his speeches that "Guru is a big name; we are all of us salaried teachers." This statement we made, I believe, in utter modesty. All the three Professors B. M. Srikantia, T. S. Venkannaiya is. R. Krishna Sastri-were guru-s also in the rue sense of the word.
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