B. M. Srikantaiah

B. M. Srikantaiah Biography

Belluru Mylaraiah Srikantaiah, shortly called B. M. Srikantaiah was an eminent writer and scholar belonging to Kannada literature. A doyen of Kannada literature, he was a renowned scholar, writer, translator and poet, whose translations are present in university texts all over the world. He mostly gained recognition as a translator. He belongs to a family of illustrious family of writers. His sister Vani and nieces - Anasuya Shankar, best known as Triveni and Aryamba Pattabhi are well-known fictional writers of Kannada literature, and early established female Kannada novelists too. Their father B. M Krishnaswamy was his younger brother.

Belluru Mylaraiah Srikantaiah was born in Turuvekere in Kingdom of Mysore, British India. He was born on the 3rd January 1884 at Sampige village belonging to Gubbi Taluk of Tumkur District. He was named after the family deity Lord Srikantheshwara of Nanjangud. His father Mylariah was an advocate at Srirangpatna, where young Srikantaiah was brought up and completed his education as well. As a child he was a naughty boy and had a hoard of similar friends. Since the age of 5 he was taught Kannada and Sanskrit, and he was given home tuition. He was a brilliant student who learnt his lessons easily.

When he finished his matriculation he married a 12-year old girl, Devamma. Later he left for Bangalore to pursue his degree education at the Central College. He continued his studies at Madras Presidency College. He admired English language a lot and during his days at Presidency College, he used to discuss a lot about English language and authors with his friends. He wanted to study law. But his father passed away soon after he returned from Chennai and he was forced to take a job to support his family.

The family shifted to Mysore. His wife died during delivery after 13 years of his marriage, and the child also didn’t survive. B. M. Srikantiah did not marry again, and took the responsibility to bring up kids. His other son became blind, and his daughter lost her husband and later stayed with him with two children. He had one more daughter. In the absence of his wife, he devoted his most time to Kannada, and translated Silappatikaram and Kural to English languages. Kannadigarige olleya saahitya and Kannada Kaipidi are his literary criticism works in Kannada. He was well versed in Sanskrit and Tamil literature and was a multilingual scholar.

Published: February 18, 2019

Updated: February 18, 2019