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Icons of Bhārat
The freedom fighters, scientists, poets, saints, kings, artists, and champions who shaped Bhārat — from the heroes of the epics to the father of the nation. Meet the people who made the story of Bhārat.
47 icons in Poets & Writers
Poets & Writers
47 iconsBanabhatta
बाणभट्ट
Banabhatta was the greatest master of Sanskrit prose — the court poet of Emperor Harshavardhana whose Kadambari and Harshacharita are the supreme achievements of the Sanskrit novel and biography. His style, ornate and musical, has been the model of Sanskrit prose for thirteen centuries.
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
बंकिम चंद्र चट्टोपाध्याय
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was the father of the novel of Bhārat — the writer whose Anandamath gave Bhārat its national song, Vande Mataram, and whose novels of Bengal's past awakened the nation's self-respect. His historical romances and his prose made Bengali — and through it Bhārat — a modern literary language.
Bharatendu Harishchandra
भारतेन्दु हरिश्चन्द्र
Bharatendu Harishchandra is the father of modern Hindi — the writer and editor who, in a short life of thirty-five years, transformed the Hindi language from a dialect into the vehicle of a national literature. He wrote poetry, drama, essays, and journalism, and his Bharatendu era gave birth to the Hindi renaissance of the modern age.
Bhartrihari
भर्तृहरि
Bhartrihari is one of the greatest poets of the Sanskrit tradition — the author of the Satakatraya, three centuries of verses on wisdom, love, and renunciation that are among the most quoted works of Indian literature. His poetry, at once worldly and spiritual, has been the companion of every generation of the learned of Bhārat for fifteen hundred years.
Bhushana
भूषण
Bhushan was one of the greatest poets of the Hindi tradition — the poet of Shivaji's court who sang the glory of the warrior-king in verses that are among the most famous in the language. His Shivabhavani and his other heroic poems made him the poet of Maratha glory and of the self-assertion of Bhārat.
D.V. Gundappa
ಡಿ.ವಿ. ಗುಂಡಪ್ಪ
D.V. Gundappa, known to all of Karnataka as DVG, was one of the most beloved writers and journalists of the state — a man of the pen who served Kannada literature, journalism, and public life for seven decades. His Manku Thimmana Kagga, a book of poems on life's wisdom, is among the most loved books of the Kannada language.
F.G. Halakatti
ಫ.ಗು. ಹಳಕಟ್ಟಿ
F.G. Halakatti was the great collector and preserver of the Vachanas — the sacred poetry of Basaveshwara and the sharanas of the twelfth century. His lifetime of travel, collection, and editing saved thousands of the Vachanas from loss and made the literature of the Veerashaiva tradition available to the world.
Gopalakrishna Adiga
ಗೋಪಾಲಕೃಷ್ಣ ಅಡಿಗ
Gopalakrishna Adiga was the pioneer of modern Kannada poetry — the leader of the Navya, the modernist movement that transformed Kannada literature in the mid-twentieth century. His poems, complex and powerful, brought the anxieties and the insights of the modern age to the language, and his influence shaped a whole generation of Kannada writers.
Govinda Pai
ಗೋವಿಂದ ಪೈ
Govinda Pai was one of the most remarkable scholars and poets of modern Karnataka — a man who combined the gifts of the poet and the researcher in equal measure. His verse in Kannada and his pioneering historical research, which proved the ancient age of the Tulu land and the life of its people, made him a unique figure in the literature of the state.
Harihara
ಹರಿಹರ
Harihara was a great poet of the Kannada language — the master of the ragale, the verse form of the people, whom he raised to the height of classical art. His Girijakalyana, telling the marriage of Shiva and Parvati, is one of the masterpieces of the classical Kannada tradition.
Janna
ಜನ್ನ
Janna was one of the greatest poets of the golden age of Kannada literature — the court poet of the Hoysala kings who was honoured with the title Kavichakravarti, 'the emperor of poets'. His Yashodhara Charite, a tale of love and renunciation, is one of the masterpieces of the language.
Kalidasa
कालिदास
Kalidasa is the greatest poet and dramatist of Sanskrit — the author of Shakuntala, the Meghaduta, and the Kumarasambhava, works that made him the ornament of the Gupta golden age. Called the 'cuckoo of poets' and the Shakespeare of Bhārat, he remains the supreme master of the language of the gods.
Kasturi Srinivasan
கஸ்தூரி ஸ்ரீனிவாசன்
Kasturi Srinivasan was one of the greatest editors of Indian journalism — the editor of The Hindu who guided the great newspaper of the South for a quarter of a century and carried it through the freedom struggle and the early years of independence. His integrity and his courage made him one of the most respected journalists of the age.
Khasa Subba Rao
ಖಾಸಾ ಸುಬ್ಬರಾವ್
Khasa Subba Rao was a journalist and patriot of the Kannada land — a writer who served the press and the national movement for decades and helped build the modern journalism of Karnataka. His life, told in the Bharata Bharati series, is the story of the pen in the service of the people.
Kumaran Asan
കുമാരൻ ആശാൻ
Kumaran Asan was one of the three great poets of modern Malayalam and the voice of the downtrodden — a poet and social reformer whose verses carried the message of compassion and equality to the people of Kerala. His poems, including the famous Veena Poovu, 'the fallen flower', are among the supreme achievements of the language.
Kuvempu
ಕುವೆಂಪು
Kuvempu is the Rashtrakavi — the national poet — of Karnataka, and one of the greatest writers of the modern age. His epic Sri Ramayana Darshanam, his philosophy of the universal vision, and his hymn Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate, the state anthem of Karnataka, made him the most honoured literary figure of the Kannada land.
M. Shivaram
ಎಂ. ಶಿವರಾಂ
M. Shivaram was one of the most beloved writers of modern Kannada — a doctor by profession and a writer by passion, whose novels and stories brought the warmth of the home and the compassion of the healer to the language. His popular fiction and his essays made him a household name in Karnataka.
M.S. Puttanna
ಎಂ.ಎಸ್. ಪುಟ್ಟಣ್ಣ
M.S. Puttanna was the pioneer of the Kannada novel — the writer of Maddidunnu Maharaya, generally regarded as the first novel of the language, and of a body of humorous and social fiction that delighted the readers of the late nineteenth century. He was also a respected public servant, an officer of honesty and integrity.
M.V. Govindaswamy
ಎಂ.ವಿ. ಗೋವಿಂದಸ್ವಾಮಿ
M.V. Govindaswamy was one of the most influential literary critics of modern Kannada — a professor of Kannada at the University of Mysore whose criticism shaped the development of the language's modern literature. His essays and reviews set the standards by which the writers of his generation were judged.
Masti Venkatesha Iyengar
ಮಾಸ್ತಿ ವೆಂಕಟೇಶ ಅಯ್ಯಂಗಾರ್
Masti Venkatesha Iyengar was the master of the short story in Kannada — the writer who raised the form to the highest art and whose stories of the life of Karnataka are among the treasures of the language. He was also the first winner of the Jnanpith Award in Kannada, honoured for a lifetime of achievement.
Muddana
ಮುದ್ದಣ
Muddana was a born poet of Karnataka — Nandalike Lakshminaranappa, who wrote under the pen name Muddana and composed some of the most beautiful poetry in the Kannada language before dying at the age of thirty-one. His Ramashvamedha and his devotional songs made him one of the most loved poets of the land.
Na. Kasturi
நா. கஸ்தூரி
N. Kasturi was one of the greatest editors of Indian journalism — the long-time editor of The Hindu, whom the profession honoured as the dean of Indian editors. Under his hand the great newspaper maintained the standards of integrity and independence that made it one of the world's most respected.
Navaratna Rama Rao
ನವರತ್ನ ರಾಮರಾವ್
Navaratna Rama Rao was one of the greatest journalists of Karnataka — the founder of the newspaper Jaya Karnataka and a writer who served the Kannada language and the national movement for half a century. His editorials and his writings shaped the public life of the state, and his name is honoured in the history of Kannada journalism.
P.V. Acharya
ಪಾ.ವೆಂ. ಆಚಾರ್ಯ
P.V. Acharya was one of the most respected novelists of modern Kannada — a writer whose fiction carried the concerns of the people of Karnataka with depth and honesty. His novels, marked by their social conscience and their mastery of the language, made him a major voice of the modern literature of the state.
Padmacharan
ପଦ୍ମଚରଣ
Padmacharan Patnaik was the national poet of Odisha — the writer who gave voice to the Utkala movement, the great struggle for a united Odisha and for the recognition of the Odia language. His poem Utkala Bhramara and his patriotic verse made him the most beloved poet of the Odia people.
Pampa
ಪಂಪ
Pampa is the Adi Kavi — the first poet — of Kannada, the father of the language's classical poetry. His Vikramarjuna Vijaya, a retelling of the Mahabharata in Kannada, written in the tenth century, is one of the supreme achievements of Indian literature, and his Bhairava and Jinendra Puranas established the tradition that his successors carried for a thousand years.
Panje Mangesh Rao
ಪಂಜೆ ಮಂಗೇಶ ರಾವ್
Panje Mangesh Rao was one of the most loved poets of the Karnataka coast — a teacher and writer whose poems for children and whose songs of the sea and the land made him a household name. His Nanjanagudu Rathotsava, a celebration of the coast's life, and his children's verses are treasures of the Kannada language.
Pothana
పోతన
Bammera Pothana is one of the greatest poets of the Telugu language — the devotee whose Andhra Mahabhagavatam, his Telugu rendering of the Bhagavata Purana, is a masterpiece of devotion and poetry. He refused the patronage of kings, declaring that his verses were for the Lord alone, and his songs of Krishna's childhood are the treasure of every Telugu home.
Premchand
प्रेमचंद
Premchand is the greatest novelist of Hindi and Urdu — the writer who gave the village a voice of Bhārat, who created the modern short story of Bhārat, and whose novels like Godaan and Nirmala are among the classics of world literature. His pen served the poor, the farmer, and the truth.
R.K. Narayan
आर.के. नारायण
R.K. Narayan was one of the greatest novelists of the modern world — the creator of Malgudi, the imaginary small town of South Bhārat in which he set his beloved novels and stories. His gentle humour, his deep humanity, and his simple style made him the most loved of the great Indian writers in English, and his Swami and Friends remains a classic of childhood.
Rabindranath Tagore
रवींद्रनाथ टैगोर
Rabindranath Tagore was a poet, painter, composer, and educator — the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote the national anthems of two countries, Bhārat and Bangladesh, and built a university on a riverbank where the world met the East.
Raja Rao
राजा राव
Raja Rao was one of the greatest Indian novelists in English — a writer who brought the philosophical depth of the tradition of Bhārat to the modern novel. His Kanthapura, the story of a South Indian village awakened by Gandhi, and The Serpent and the Rope, his great philosophical novel, are among the masterpieces of world literature.
Rallapalli Anantakrishna Sharma
ರಾಳ್ಳಪಲ್ಲಿ ಅನಂತಕೃಷ್ಣ ಶರ್ಮ
Rallapalli Anantakrishna Sharma was a scholar, poet, and musician of rare accomplishment — a man who combined deep learning in Sanskrit and Telugu with a mastery of music. His greatest service was the recovery and editing of the thousands of songs of Annamacharya, the great singer-saint of Tirupati, which he saved for posterity.
Sali Ramachandra Rao
ಸಾಲಿ ರಾಮಚಂದ್ರರಾವ್
Sali Ramachandra Rao was a teacher and writer of the border country of Andhra and Karnataka — a man who chose poverty and simplicity so that he could give his life to his students and to the Kannada language. His life, devoted to learning and to the nation, is a model of the selfless teacher.
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
शरत चंद्र चट्टोपाध्याय
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay is the most beloved novelist of Bengal — the writer whose novels about women, family, and the village moved millions of Bhārat and were translated into every language of Bhārat. His Devdas made him a legend, but his true greatness lies in his portraits of women like Srikanta, Parineeta, and the widow of society.
Shadaksharadeva
ಷಡಕ್ಷರದೇವ
Shadaksharadeva was a Kannada poet of the Veerashaiva tradition whose verse is devoted wholly to Shiva and the sharanas — the saints of the movement. His works, marked by their devotion and their insight into human nature, are treasured in the literary tradition of Karnataka.
Shanta Hubli
ಶಾಂತಾ ಹುಬ್ಳೀಕರ್
Shanta Hubli was a pioneering woman writer of modern Kannada — an author whose stories and novels brought the inner life of the women of Karnataka to the literature of the language. Her work, marked by its sensitivity and its honesty, made her a major voice of the modern age.
Shantakavi
ಶಾಂತಕವಿ
Shantakavi — Balacharya Sakkari — was a poet and playwright of Karnataka who gave his strength to the Kannada language and the nation. Known as Kannada's own 'dasayya', he devoted his life and his art to the service of the language, the land, and Bhārat, enduring hardship with saintly patience.
Shivaram Karanth
ಶಿವರಾಮ ಕಾರಂತ
Shivaram Karanth was the renaissance man of Karnataka — a novelist, scientist, artist, and environmentalist whose range has no equal in the modern literature of Bhārat. His novels, including Chomana Dudi, won him the Jnanpith Award, and his writings on science, his paintings, and his pioneering environmental work made him one of the most remarkable figures of the century.
Subhadra Kumari Chauhan
सुभद्रा कुमारी चौहान
Subhadra Kumari Chauhan was one of the most beloved poets of the Hindi language — the author of Jhansi ki Rani, the immortal poem on Rani Lakshmibai that every child of Bhārat knows. She was also a freedom fighter who joined the non-cooperation movement, went to prison, and served the nation with her life and her verse.
Subramania Bharati
சுப்பிரமணிய பாரதி
Subramania Bharati is the poet of Tamil freedom — the mahakavi whose verses of revolution, womanhood, and national unity inspired the Tamil land in the freedom struggle. He was a journalist, an exile, and a singer whose songs of 'Vande Mataram' and 'Jaya Bharati' still ring through Tamil Nadu.
T.P. Kailasam
ಟಿ.ಪಿ. ಕೈಲಾಸಂ
T.P. Kailasam was the father of modern Kannada drama — a playwright and humorist whose plays revolutionised the Kannada stage in the early twentieth century. He made the people of Karnataka laugh at themselves and their society, and his plays remain among the most performed and beloved of the language.
Tenali Ramakrishna
तेनाली रामकृष्ण
Tenali Ramakrishna — Tenali Rama — was the poet-jester of the court of Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara, the greatest figure of folk wit of Bhārat. His tales of outwitting the proud, exposing the greedy, and advising the king through laughter are told in every language of Bhārat, making him the eternal trickster-hero of the common people.
Thiruvalluvar
திருவள்ளுவர்
Thiruvalluvar is the greatest sage of Tamil literature — the author of the Tirukkural, a book of 1,330 couplets on virtue, wealth, and love that is one of the supreme ethical works of the world. Written two thousand years ago, the Kural is honoured as the Tamil Veda, and its wisdom is quoted in every home of the Tamil land.
Ulloor Parameswara Iyer
ഉള്ളൂർ പരമേശ്വര അയ്യർ
Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer was one of the three great poets of modern Malayalam — the kavithrayam, with Kumaran Asan and Vallathol — and the greatest scholar of Malayalam literature of his age. His poetry, his literary history, and his life of scholarship made him one of the pillars of the modern renaissance of Kerala.
Vallathol Narayana Menon
वल्लथोल नारायण मेनन
Vallathol Narayana Menon was one of the greatest poets of Malayalam — the mahakavi whose epics and lyrics transformed the language, and who devoted his later life to the revival of Kathakali, founding the Kerala Kalamandalam that keeps the great dance-drama alive. He was a poet of freedom, love, and Kerala's soul.
Vidyavathi Devi
विद्यावती देवी
Vidyavathi Devi is honoured in the Bharata Bharati tradition as a poetess of the devotional stream of Bhārat — one of the women whose verses of love and devotion enriched the classical literature of the land, and whose life of learning and worship is part of the tradition's celebration of the learned woman.
One land. Endless wonders.
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