G. Venkatasubbaiah

Ganjam Venkatasubbaiah
File:G Venkatasubbaiah.jpg
Born	(1913-08-23) 23 August 1913 Mysore, Mysore Kingdom
Pen name	G.V.
Occupation	Writer, researcher, teacher
Nationality	Indian
Period	20th Century
Subject	Lexicography

Ganjam Venkatasubbaiah (Kannada: ಗಂಜಂ ವೆಂಕಟಸುಬ್ಬಯ್ಯ) (born 23 August 1913) is a Kannada lexicographer who has compiled over 10 dictionaries, edited over 25 books and published several papers. He is regarded as the father of the modern Kannada dictionary.

Early life and education

Venkatasubbaiah was born on 23 August 1913. He was born and grew up in Mysore, Karnataka, India. He is the son of renowned Kannada and Sanskrit scholar Ganjam Thimmanniah. He was tutored under the likes of B. M. Srikantaiah and S. Srikanta Sastri among others at Maharaja's College where he secured his Masters of Arts degree in 1932, ranking first in the university. He took up the teaching profession and taught Kannada language at the Maharaja's College in Mysore and the Vijaya College in Bangalore. He served as Head of department of Kannada in Vijaya College when Prof. V.T. Srinivasan was the Principal of that college from 1951 to 1972.

Literary contributions

Venkatasubbaiah has compiled more than 10 dictionaries, including an eight-volume Kannada-Kannada Nighantu (Dictionary). This dictionary has also been translated to the Braille language by the Braille Transcription Centre of the Canara Bank Relief and Welfare Society. He has been writing the popular column, Igo Kannada for over a decade in the major Kannada daily, Prajavani. The articles published in Igo Kannada have been compiled into a book in four volumes. He has also authored a dictionary entitled Klishtapada Kosha (a dictionary of complex Kannada words) which was released to mark the Suvarna Karnataka (Silver Jubilee of the formation of Karnataka). It is the first of its kind in Kannada language which covers different language specifications such as derivation, punctuation, phoneme and morphological patterns of Kannada language as the language has evolved over the centuries.

He has served as the vice-president of the Lexicographical Association of India for 17 years. In 1998, he was appointed as an advisor to the multilingual dictionary project of the Institute of Asian Studies, Chennai, which comprises Japanese, Kannada, English and Tamil. He was also appointed as a consultative committee member in the Telugu lexicon project initiated by the Telugu Academy of the Government of Andhra Pradesh. He was the First President of Bidar District Ist Kannada Sahitya Sammelana held in the year 1974. He was honoured with the Presidency of 77th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana held at Bangalore on 2011.

Awards and recognitions

Venkatasubbaiah has been conferred numerous awards, important among which are:

• Kannada Sahitya Academy award
• Karnataka Rajyotsava award
• Nadoja award (honorary degree equivalent to the D.Litt degree)
• Masti Award (Government of Karnataka)
• President, Kannada Sahitya Parishat (1964–1969).
• Chairman, Kannada literary festival
• Alvas Nudisiri award (2007).
• Cited at the "First International Lexicographers Meeting" held at the Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu.
• Pampa Award (Government of Karnataka, 2014)

External links

• Collection of rare photographs of G. Venkatasubbaiah
• G. Venkatasubbaiah's recollections of his teacher S. Srikanta Sastri
• Online version of the Kannada-English Dictionary compiled by G Venkatasubbaiah