List of people from Karnataka

This is a list of famous and renowned people from Karnataka, India. In order to be included, a person of influence needs only to have been born in Karnataka. This article can be expanded to accommodate newly-surfacing information.

Arts and entertainment

Cinema

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Ashalu harit Abhishek Varman Ambareesh Ananth Nag Aishwarya rai Anushka Shetty Arjun Sarja Arthi Atul Kulkarni A. T. Raghu B. Saroja Devi B. C. Patil B. S. Ranga B. V. Karanth Bala Balakrishna Bharathi Bhavana Chandulal Jain Chetan Kumar Comedy Time Ganesh Darshan Tugudeep Daisy Bopanna Deepika Padukone Devaraj Dwarakesh Ganesh Hegde G. V. Iyer Geetha	Girish Karnad Girish Kasaravalli Gulshan Devaiah Guru Dutt Hansika Motwani Harshika Poonacha Isha Koppikar Jaggesh Jayant Kaikini Kalpana Kalyan Kumar Kashinath komal kumar (actor) Lakshmi Rai Leelavathi Lokesh M. S. Sathyu Shivkant harit Manjula Master Manjunath Master Vishwas Milind Gadagkar Mohan Nagathihalli Chandrashekar Narasimharaju Nidhi Subbaiah Nishan K. P. Nanaiah Pandari Bai Pattabhirama Reddy(Settler) Pradeep Uppoor Prakash Rai Prabhu Deva(Settler)	Prema Puneeth Rajkumar Puttana Kanagal Radhika Pandit Raghavendra Rajkumar Rajanikanth Rajesh Krishnan(Settler) Rajkumar Raju Sundaram(Settler) Rakshita Ramesh Arvind Ramya Ravichandran(Settler) Rockline Venkatesh Rohit Shetty Roopa Iyer(Settler) Sakshi Shivanand Sanchita Shetty shivkant harit Sandeep Chowta Shamita Shetty Shankar Nag Shashi Kumar Shivarajkumar	Shilpa Shetty Sneha Ullal Soundarya Srimurali Srinath Sudha Rani Suman Nagarkar Suman Ranganathan Sunil Shetty Sunil Kumar Desai Sudeep T. S. Nagabharana Tara Tiger Prabhakar Umashri Upendra Vajramuni Vaishali Desai Vasundhara Das Vishnuvardhan Yashwant Sardeshpande

Theatre

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Arundhati Nag B. V. Karanth Chandrashekhar Kambara Chindodi Leela	Girish Karnad Gubbi Veeranna K. V. Subbanna Kalpana Lokesh	Mukhyamantri Chandru Prasanna Shankar Nag Shivananda	Umashree Vajramuni Yashwant Sardeshpande

Ancient Architecture & Sculpture

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• Amarashilpi Jakanachari
• Gundan Anivaritachari
• Ruvari Malithamma

Modern Art, Contemporary Art - Painting, Sculpture, Puppetry, New Media Art & Art Criticism

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Dattatreya Aralikatte K.K. Raghava	Surekha Yusuf Arakkal S. G. Vasudev

Music

Classical Music - Carnatic

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Gopala Dasa Harikesanallur Muthayya Bhagavathar Jagannatha Dasa Kadri Gopalnath Jyotsna Srikanth Kanakadasa Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Dr.Mysore Manjunath Mysore Sadasiva Rao Mysore V. Ramarathnam Mysore Vasudevacharya Mysore Nagaraj N. Ravikiran	Purandaradasa R. K. Srikanthan R.R. Keshavamurthy Sripadaraya T. Chowdiah Vadiraja Vijaya Dasa Vyasatirtha Doraiswamy Iyengar Veene Sheshanna	Vittal Ramamurthy Ghatam Udupa K. V. Krishna Prasad B. Shankar Rao Anoor Anantha Krishna Sharma M. S. Sheela

Classical Music - Hindustani

Basavaraja Rajaguru (Vocal) Bhimsen Joshi (Vocal) Pandit S. Ballesh (Vocal and Shehnai) Ganapati Bhat (Vocal) Gangubai Hangal (Vocal) Gururao Deshpande (Vocal) Jayateerth Mevundi (Vocal)	Kumar Gandharva (Vocal) Lalith J. Rao (Vocal) Madhava Gudi (Vocal) Mallikarjun Mansur (Vocal) Milind Chittal (Vocal) Nachiketa Sharma (Vocal) Nagaraja Rao Havaldar (Vocal) Pravin Godkhindi (Bansuri) Puttaraja Gawai (Vocal) Rajeev Taranath (Sarod)	Sanjeev Chimmalgi (Vocal) Sangeetha Katti(Vocal) Sawai Gandharva (Vocal) Shobha Gurtu (Vocal) Smita Bellur (Vocal) Taranath Ram Rao Hattiangadi (Tabla) Pandit Venkatesh Kumar (Vocal) Vinayak Torvi (Vocal) Keshav Ginde (Flute) Madhav Gudi (Vocal) Panchakshari Gawai (Vocal)

Modern musicians

Biddu Appaiah, renowned Music Composer known for the songs in albums such as in Carl Douglas' Kung Fu Fighting, in Nazia Hassan's Disco Deewane and in Alisha Chinai's album Made in India and in Feroz Khan's movie Qurbani. C. Ashwath, Sugama Sangeetha. Balappa Hukkeri, Folklore. G.V. Atri, Bhavageete. Ganesh Hegde, Choreography.	Mysore Ananthaswamy, Bhavageete. P. Kalinga Rao, Bhavageete. Pandit Narasimhalu Vadavati Pandit S. Ballesh, (Shehnai and Vocal) Mysore Manjunath Pravin Godkhindi, Flute. Shimoga Subbanna, Sugama Sangeetha.

Film Music

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Anoop Seelin Arjun B. V. Karanth C. Ashwath G. K. Venkatesh G. V. Iyer(Settler) Gurukiran Pandit S. Ballesh, (Playback Singer, Music Director, Shehnai) Hamsalekha Jayant Kaikini Mano Murthy	Rajan-Nagendra Ravichandran Sadhu Kokila Sagar S Sandeep Chowta Shankar Ganesh V. Harikrishna V. Manohar Vijaya Bhaskar Raghu Dixit

Film Singers

• Nanditha
• Rajkumar
• Rajesh Krishnan
• Vijay Prakash
• Chetan Sosca

Dance

• Maya Rao (1928-2014) Kathak Guru and founder Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography (NIKC), Bangalore

Fashion

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• Deepika Padukone
• Prasad Bidapa

Great Kings and Nobles

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Aliya Rama Raya Abbakka Rani Amoghavarsha I Basaveshwara Bijjala II Bukka Raya I Butuga II Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar Chamundaraya Chand Bibi Devaraya I Deva Raya II Dhruva Dharavarsha Durvinita Govinda III Hyder Ali	Harihara I Ibrahim Adil Shah II Indra III Jayachamaraja Wodeyar Kempe Gowda Krishna III Krishnadeva Raya Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV Madakari Nayaka Mayuravarma Pulakesi II	Rani Chennamma of Keladi Rani Chennamma of Kittur Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya Sangolli Rayanna, army chief of the Kingdom of Kittur who fought against the British Tailapa II Tippu Sultan Veera Ballala II Veera Ballala III Vikramaditya II Vikramaditya VI Vishnuvardhana

Industrialists

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A. B. Shetty, Founder, Vijaya Bank. Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, Founder, Canara Bank. Arun Pudur, Founder and Group President, Celframe Corporation. G. R. Gopinath, Founder, Deccan Aviation. B. R. Shetty, NMC Group. Gururaj Deshpande, Tejas Networks, Sycamore Networks. K. V. Kamath, Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon India Ltd. N. R. Narayana Murthy, Infosys Technologies, Ltd. N S Narendra, founder of FirePro Nandan Nilekani, Infosys Technologies, Ltd. Phaneesh Murthy, iGATE Global Solutions, Ltd. R. N. Shetty, Murdeshwar Group. T. M. A. Pai, Co-founder, Syndicate Bank. V. G. Siddhartha, Cafe Coffee Day. Vaman Srinivas Kudva, Co-founder, Syndicate Bank. Vijay Mallya, UB Group Vijay Sankeshwar, Vijayanand Group. Vittal Mallya, UB Group Yogesh Mota, Velkumar Group Pradeep Kar, Microland. Ashok Kheny, NICE Thumbay Moideen - Founder President - THUMBAY Group & Founder President - Board of Governors, Gulf Medical University Raviraj Gowda, Founder & CEO of Unishopy.com

Health care

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• Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty, Cardiovascular Surgeon.
• Dr. M. C. Modi, Eye Surgeon.
• Dr. Sharan Patil, Orthopaedic Surgeon.
• Dr. Y. G. Parameshwara
• Dr. M M Joshi , eye Specialist

Science and technology

Science

• C. N. R. Rao, Chemistry.
• C. R. Rao, Statistics.
• M. C. Modi, Ophthalmology.
• Narayan Hosmane, Biochemistry, Cancer Research.
• Raja Ramanna, Physics.
• Roddam Narasimha, Aerospace, Atmospheric Sciences.
• U. R. Rao, Space Science.
• M.L. Kulkarni - pediatrician
• B. N. Suresh
• S. K. Shivkumar
• K. N. Shankara
• S. G. Balekundri
• Nandan Nilekani
• Sudha Murthy
• Vivek Kulkarni
• Narayan Hosmane
• Gururaj Deshpande

Mathematics

• Bhaskaracharya
• D. C. Pavate
• Mahaviracharya
• Shakuntala Devi

Technology

• Arun Netravali, Bell Lab.
• Kumar Malavalli, Co-founder, Brocade Communication Systems.
• Sir M. Visvesvaraya.

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Literature

Classical literateurs

Nripatunga Amoghavarsha Asaga Ranna - 10th-century poet and one of 3 gems of Kannada literature. Janna Adikavi Pampa Sri Ponna Shivakotiacharya Muddana - 19th-century poet and author of many works like Sri Ramashwamedha. Andayya - 13th-century writer. Gangadevi - 14th-century poet and author of Madhura Vijayam. Kumaravyasa Harihara Lakshmisha (Jaimeni Bharatha in Kannada)	Raghavanka Rudrabhatta Basavanna Akka Mahadevi Sarvajna Tirumalamba Purandaradasa Kanakadasa Shishunaala Sharif Saheba Trivikrama Panditacharya Narayana Panditacharya Kumudendu Muni - Author of Siribhoovalaya,a unique multi-lingual literary work Shishunala Sharif, the first Muslim poet in Kannada literature

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Modern literateurs

• A.N. Krishna Rao
• Anupama Niranjana
• B. G. L. Swamy
• B. M. Srikantaiah
• Beechi, a comedian from Bellary District
• Chandrashekhara Kambara
• Da. Ra. Bendre
• D. Javare Gowda
• Jayalakshmi Seethapura
• D. V. Gundappa
• G. P. Rajarathnam
• Girish Karnad
• Gopalakrishna Adiga
• Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar

• Ha Ma Nayak
• K. S. Narasimhaswamy
• K. S. Nissar Ahmed
• K. Anantharamu
• Kota Shivarama Karanth
• Kuvempu
• M. Govinda Pai
• Maasti Venkatesh Ayengar
• P. Lankesh
• Panchakshari Hiremath

• Poornachandra Tejaswi
• P. T. Narasimhachar
• R. C. Hiremath
• R. K. Narayan(Settler)
• Raja Rao
• S. Srikanta Sastri
• S. L. Bhyrappa
• S. R. Ramaswamy
• Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh
• Samsa
• Shashi Deshpande
• T. P. Kailasam
• T. R. Subba Rao
• T. N. Srikantaiah
• U. R. Ananthamurthy
• V. K. Gokak
• Yashwant Chittal
• G.T. Narayana Rao
• Ferdinand Kittel
• Dinakara Desai
• Narayanacharya
• Venkatesh Galaganath

Politicians

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K.C. Reddy, Former Chief Minister Kadidal Manjappa, Former Chief Minister Kengal Hanumanthaiah, Former Chief Minister Shantaveri Gopala Gowda, Socialist Leader, Former MLA, S. Nijalingappa, Former Chief Minister Devaraj Urs, Former Chief Minister Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya, Freedom Fighter Basappa Danappa Jatti, Former Vice-President Gudleppa Hallikeri, Freedom Fighter & Former Chairman of the Legislative Council. M.N. Jois,Freedom Fighter,Former M.L.C, Dy Speaker of Legislative Councile, Bantwal Vaikunta Baliga, Former Law Minister, & Former Speaker, Mysore State Gundu Rao, Former Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde, Former Chief Minister Sudheendra Kulkarni S.R.Kanti Neeraj Patil - Mayor of Lambeth district of London. S.R.Bommai, Former Chief Minister Veerendra Patil, Former Chief Minister S.Bangarappa, Former Chief Minister Veerappa Moily, Former Chief Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, Former Prime Minister J.H.Patel, Former Chief Minister George Fernandes, Former Defense Minister S.M. Krishna, Governor of Maharashtra & Former Chief Minister Dharam Singh, Former Chief Minister H.D.Kumaraswamy, Former Chief Minister B.S.Yediyurappa, Former Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Former Chief Minister and present union law minister

Jagadish Shettar,Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister Ramesh Jigajinagi, Former Cabinet Minister, M.P M.P. Prakash, Former deputy Chief Minister Oscar Fernandes, Former Union Minister Jaffer Sharief,Former Union Minister Margaret Alva,Former Union Minister U. Srinivas Mallya, Former Member of Parliament H.N.Ananth Kumar, Former Union Minister & M.P. Mallikarjun Kharge,Ex Home Minister, Union Railway Minister K.H. Muniyappa, Union minister of state for Railways V.S.Acharya,Ex Minister for Home affairs & Medical Education H.Vishwanath, Former Minister & M.P Vatal Nagaraj, Ex MLA Vishweshwara Hegde, Former Education Minister , back to top

Bureaucrats

• C B Muthamma, first woman IFS officer
• C. G. Somiah, Comptroller and Auditor General of India (1990-1996)
• Shankar Bidari,IPS, DG & IPG, Karnataka.
• Abdul Rahman Infant, IPS, DG & IGP, Karnataka.
• Dr.M.H.Marigowda, Former Director of Horticulture.
• H. T. Sangliana, Former Police Officer, and M.P. Lok Sabha.
• Daya Nayak
• Kempaiah

Cooperative movement

• S. K. Amin Founder of South Kanara District Co-Operative Fish Marketing Federation

Religion and philosophy

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Sarvajna Sree Sree Shivakumara Swamiji - Karnataka Ratna, highest civilian awarded by the state Kanaka Dasa - The great saint. Basavanna - Founder of Veerashaivism, social reformer Purandara Dasa - The great saint. Vidyaranya - 12th Shankaracharya of Sringeri, spiritual guide to Vijayanagar Empire. Allama Prabhu Madhvacharya Mangesh V. Nadkarni Raghavendra Swami Akka Mahadevi	Jayatirtha Sripadaraya Vyasatirtha Vadirajatirtha Naraharitirtha Padmanabha Tirtha Raghaveshwara Bharathi Gangadharendra Saraswati Balagangadharanatha Swamiji Shivamurthy Shivacharya Mahaswamiji Siddharudha Swami Narayan Maharaj Dattatreya Kaadsiddheshwar Keshavashram

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Yoga

• Tirumalai Krishnamacharya - known as "the father of modern yoga" and reviver of Hatha Yoga.
• B.K.S. Iyengar
• Geeta Iyengar
• Jaggi Vasudev
• Malladihalli Sri Raghavendra Swamiji
• Pattabhi Jois

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Wildlife and Environment

• Hanumappa Sudarshan
• Ullas Karanth, Tiger conservation.
• Krupakar-Senani
• Vandana Shiva

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Historians, Art Historians, Epigraphists and Archaeologists

• Dr. Shikaripura Ranganatha Rao
• Dr. B.A. Saletore
• P. B. Desai
• P. Gururaja Bhat
• G. S. Gai
• A. N. Narasimhia
• B. L. Rice

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Social Service

• Sree Sree Shivakumara Swamiji
• Jagadguru Shivarathri Deshikendra Mahaswamiji
• S. K. Amin
• Malladihalli Sri Raghavendra Swamiji
• Sudha Murthy
• Tulsi Gowda
• Veerendra Heggade
• Saalumarada Thimmakka

Sports

Cricket

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Shivkant Rahul Dravid E.A.S. Prasanna Gundappa Vishwanath Javagal Srinath Anil Kumble Sanjay Manjrekar Roger Binny Syed Kirmani Brijesh Patel	Venkatesh Prasad Bhagwat Chandrasekhar Sunil Joshi Raghuram Bhat Vijay Bhardwaj David Johnson Doddanarasaiah Ganesh Robin Uthappa Ravi Shastri Sadanand Viswanath	Sujith Somasunder Manish Pandey Stuart Binny Vinay Kumar Deepak Chougule A. Ramakrishnappa Abhimanyu Mithun Barrington Rowland Ganesh Satish Manju Nadgoda

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Hockey

• B. P. Govinda (former captain, Arjun award)
• M. P. Ganesh (former captain, Arjun Award)
• Ashish Ballal
• Arjun Halappa
• M M Somaiya (former captain)

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Athletics

• Ashwini Nachappa, Athletics
• J. J. Shobha, Athletics
• Vandana Rao, Athletics
• Vandana Shanbagh,athlete, Olympion, Arjuna awardee
• Vikas Gowda, discus thrower
• Girisha Nagarajegowda, men's high jump F-42 category, Jump (F42) – Paralympics Silver

Badminton

• Prakash Padukone
• Anup Sridhar
• Ashwini Ponnappa

Tennis

• Mahesh Bhupathi
• Rohan Bopanna
• Poojashree Venkatesh
• Srinath Prahlad

Others

• C.C. Machaiah, former boxer, Olympian and coach, 1978 Arjuna Awardee
• Chetan Baboor, Table Tennis
• Nisha Millet, Swimming
• Pankaj Advani, Billiards
• Malathi Krishnamurthy Holla

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Military

• Ajjamada B Devaiah, Pilot in Indian air force, Maha Vir Chakra (posthumous), war martyr.
• Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa, Commander-in-Chief, Indian Armed Forces
• Gen.K. S. Thimayya, Chief of Staff, Indian Army
• Gen. A C Iyappa, Prisoner-of-War in World War II, Indian Army, BEL chief.
• Air Marshal C D Subbaiah, VrC, PVSM, World War II fighter pilot, Indian Army.
• Ramesh Halagali, AVSM, SM, Deputy Chief of Indian Army.
• Major M C Muthanna, killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, Shaurya Chakra awardee.
• Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, killed in action during the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, consequently awarded the Ashoka Chakra, Indian Army

Judiciary

• Justice Manepalli Narayana Rao Venkatachaliah, Retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
• Justice N Y Hanumanthappa, Chief Justice of Orissa High Court and Ex-Member of Parliament, Chitra Durga
• Justice Santhosh Hegde, Retired Supreme Court Judge
• Justice H.L.Dattu, CJI Supreme Court Judge
• Justice V. Gopala Gowda, Supreme Court Judge

Award Winners

Bharat Ratna

• Visvesvaraya in 1955.
• Bhimsen Joshi in 2008.
• C.N.R. Rao (Announced 2014).

Jnanpith Award

• Kuvempu for his epic Sri Ramayana Darshanam in 1969.
• D. R. Bendre for his anthology of poems Naku Thanthi in 1974.
• K. Shivaram Karanth for his novel Mookajjiya Kanasugalu in 1977.
• Masti Venkatesha Iyengar for his historical novel Chikkaveera Rajendra in 1983.
• V. K. Gokak for Bharatha Sindhu Rashmi in 1990.
• U. R. Ananthamurthy for his monumental contributions in 1994.
• Girish Karnad for his monumental contributions to Kannada literature and for contributions to Kannada theatre (Yayati)in 1998.
• Chandrashekhara Kambara for his monumental contributions to Kannada literature in 2010.

Saraswati Samman

• S. L. Bhyrappa for his novel Mandra in 2010.

CROSSWORD Writer

• A.N.Prahlada Rao, Crossword writer, created 40,000 crosswords, Name mentioned in LIMCA Book of Records 2015

Others

• Shakuntala Devi,calculating prodigy and also called human computer.
• Naa Someswara, a Doctor by profession. Quiz master of 'Thatt anta hEli' quiz competition of Chandana, Bangalore Doordrshan. Holds Limca book of records for quizzing highest number of quizzes in any Indian television channels.
• Thumbay Moideen - Founder President - THUMBAY Group & Founder President - Board of Governors, Gulf Medical University - First Kannadiga to have established a Medical University and Teaching Hospital in the Gulf.
• G. S. Paramasivaiah - One of the founders of Karnataka University. He was a student of the Nobel-laureate Sir CV Raman was the first Principal of the Karnatak Science College, Dharwad.. He was also the Secretary of KLE Society Belgaum.
• K B Ganapathy, Editor of Mysooru Mithra and Star of Mysore
• Aluru Venkata Rao
• Huilgol Narayana Rao
• Ravi Belagere
• Mayurasharma
• Pulakesi I
• Krishna Deva Raya
• Kumara Rama
• Somesvara I
• Belawadi Mallamma
• Kittur Chennamma
• Attimabbe
• Raghavendra Acharya
• Sculptor Ramappa
• Pandita Ramabai - Reformer for women's education, Sanskrit scholar, Christian Bible translator into Marathi.
• Saraswati Gangadhar
• Chief Justice of India P. B. Gajendragadkar from Gajendragad
• Shivram Dattatreya Phadnis, cartoonist

See also

• List of Kannada poets
• List of people from Bangalore
• Kannadigas
• Tuluva
• Kodava people
• Konkani people
• Lists of Indians by state
• List of Lingayats
• Kannada people
• Recipients of the Karnataka Ratna
• People from Uttara Kannada District
• People from Belgaum District
• People from Bagalkot District
• People from Bellary District
• People from Bidar District
• People from Bijapur District
• People from Gadag District
• People from Gulbarga District
• People from Haveri District
• People from Koppal District
• People from Raichur District