P. T. Narasimhachar

P. T. Narasimhachar Biography

P. T. Narasimhachar was a playwright and poet of the Kannada language. His full name is Purohita Thirunarayana Narasimhachar. He shares equal status with Kuvempu and D. R. Bendre and they are together known as trio of Kannada Navodaya poets. He has received Pampa Award and Sahitya Akademi fellowship from government of Karnataka. He is also known by the name PuTiNa. He has also worked in the army of Mysore state.

PuTiNa was born on 17 March 1905 into an orthodox Iyengar family in Melkote of Karnataka. His parents were Tirunarayana Iyengar and Srirangamma. He learnt Sanskrit and English from a younger age. He also learnt French and Tamil. His depth of knowledge in languages enabled him to learn western literature extensively. His college days were spent at Maharaja's College, Mysore; the time when he cultivated his intellectual talent. During this time, English professor TiNamSri influenced him a lot. This professor identified the real talents of PuTiNa. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan was then a professor at this college.

He was one among the writers who gave birth to the Navodaya style of Kannada literature. His collection of poems includes – Hanate, Ganesha darshana, Maley Degula, Haley Chiguru - Hosa Beru, Raaga raagini, Hrudaya vihari, Mandaliru and Sharadayaamini. His musical dramas are Ramapatabisheka, Doniya Binada, Vikatakavi, Vasanta Chandana, Ahalye, Seeta Kalyana, Gokula Nirgamana and Shabari. Ramachariya Nenapu, Rathasaptami and other stories, Sri Rama Pattabhiskekham, Hamsa Damayanti and Eechalu marad kelage are his collection of short stories.

His first collection of poems was Hanathe. Though he was proficient in several languages, he was interested in simple language, easy to understand. He also served as a member of the Mysore University committee. Honorary Doctor of Literature from Mysore University and padma shree in 1991 are other honours received by him.

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Updated: March 28, 2014