T. V. Venkatachala Sastry - a brief biography

T. V. Venkatachala Sastry (1980)

Togere Venkatasubbasastry Venkatachala Sastry is a renowned Kannada writer, grammatician, critic, editor and lexicographer. He has to his credit over 90 books, several translations and has edited numerous collections of essays, biographical sketches and felicitation volumes. Recipient of the prestigious “Kannada Sahitya Akademi Award” (honorary), T. V. Venkatachala Sastry is an authority on Kannada language grammar and its various facets ranging from the metre scale (Chandassu) on which he has written extensively to history of Kannada literature spanning two millennia. His work on Jain temples, culture, religion and heritage has attracted considerable attention. His research work “Mulukanadu Brahmanaru” is an anthropological study of the Mulukanadu Brahmin community since the early 17th Century. It traces their origin, migration and absorption of modern western education. It records their history in detail with fifty and odd family genealogical trees and is indeed a valuable contribution to the field of caste study in sociological sciences. T. V. Venkatachala Sastry has served as Kannada Professor for over two decades at University of Mysore and additionally held the post of Director at “Kannada Adhyayana Samsthe” for several years before retiring in 1994.

T. V. Venkatachala Sastry was born on the 26th day of August, 1933 at Harohalli village in Kanakapura taluk of Bangalore district to devout Brahmin parents Venkatasubba Sastry and Subbamma. T. V. Venkatachala Sastry hails from the Telugu speaking South Indian "Mulukanadu" sect. Both his parents had little formal education and were avid devotees of the Ramakrishna Order. T. V. Venkatachala Sastry had his primary schooling at Kanakapura near Bangalore. At the age of 15, he finished his Intermediate course in the year 1947-48. From

T. V. V. Sastry at his Graduation

1948 till 1954, he would spend the next six years pursuing undergraduate and post-graduate degrees at University of Mysore. He joined Yuvaraja College, Mysore in the year 1948 where he came under the influence of noted Kannada professors N. Anantarangachar and U. K. Subbarayachar. In 1950, he joined B. A. (Honours) course in Kannada at Maharaja’s College. At that time, there were such illustrious scholars as K. V. Puttappa (Kuvempu) who taught “Pampa Bharata” and “Literary Criticism”, D. L. Narasimhachar (History of Literature), S. Srikanta Sastri (Cultural History of Karnataka), K. V. Raghavachar (Kannada classic – “Basavarajadevara Ragale”), N. Anantarangachar (Kannada Grammar – “Shabdamanidarpana”), T. S. Shamarao (Vachanas of Basavanna) and Parameshwar Bhatt (Bharatesha Vaibhava). He did intensive research work on Pampa, Ranna, Harihara, Nemichandra, Raghavanka and Kumaravyasa by availing ancient texts both from the Mysore University library and the Oriental Research Institute. He would finish Master of Arts (Kannada) from Maharaja’s College, University of Mysore in the year 1953-54. T. V. Venkatachala Sastry started his career as a lecturer at Kanakapura rural college in the year 1955. Subsequently, he shifted to St. Joseph’s College, B'lore in the year 1957 and continued till 1959 as a lecturer there. He was later appointed as lecturer at Osmania University in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh where he toiled hard to build the nascent Kannada department. In addition to his teaching duties at the University, he also taught at several Women’s and Arts Colleges. 

T. V. V. Sastry with G. S. Shivarudrappa

His genial bearing and affable manners both with fellow colleagues and students earned him the affection and respect of many students. Among these were Puranik, Venkatoba Rao, Hanumanthacharya Upadhyaya, Divakarla Venkata Avadhani, P. Madhava Sharma, C. Narayana Reddy and B. Ramaraju. He involved himself avidly in the affairs of the “Telugu Sahitya Akademi” and during these years put together his “Mahakavyalakshana”. He translated Sophocles’ “Trakiya Pengal” during his tenure at Osmania University. Later he translated “Prometheus Bound” by Aeschylus into Kannada. In fact, he is credited with modern Kannada literature’s first number specific dictionary titled “Sreevatsa Nighantu”.

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