B. G. L. Swamy Biography 
B. G. L. Swamy was an Indian botanist and Kannada writer who lived during the period, 1918–1980 in the 20th century. His full name is Basavangudi Gundappa Lakshminarayana Swamy. His father D. V. Gundappa was a renowned writer and philosopher best known for his work, Mankuthimmana Kagga. As a writer, Swami’s favourite subjects were fiction, science, history, literature, epigraphy etc. Hasiru Honnu and College Ranga were his famous books, and he won Kendra Sahitya Academy award in 1978 for Hasiru Honnu. After winning this award, he along with D. V. Gundappa became the first father-son duo to win this prestigious honour.
Basavangudi Gundappa Lakshminarayanaswami was born on 5 February 1918 in Bangalore, Mysore State in British India. He studied botany from Bangalore. He got his PhD from the University of Mysore in 1947 and also studied at Harvard University. He served as Botany professor since 1953 for many years at Chennai. As a researcher he focussed on plant anatomy, particularly the structure of connections between plants' roots and stem. Ascarina maheshwarii and Sarcandra irvingbaileyi are two plant species founded by him. He received Birbal Sahni gold medal in 1976. He also authored many books in botany, mainly based on his research works.
Apart from botany, he extensively studied and conducted research works on histories and literatures of the Kannada and Tamil languages. His book Tamilu Talegala Naduve is one of his major works related to Tamil language. His celebrated book, Hasiru honnu is a treatise on some familiar and unfamiliar botanical species, which earned him Kendriya Sahitya Academy Award. It was written as a travelogue. Pradhyapakana Peethadalli, Colleju Ranga, Namma hotteyalli Dakshina amerika, Colleju Taranga, Panchakalasha Gopura, Tamilu Talegala Naduve, Diary of a Botanist, Americadalli naanu etc are a few more works.
Published: January 17, 2019
Updated: January 17, 2019
