Bannada Tagdina Tutoori, Kaasige kondanu Kastoori”— this rhyming lyric has captured the minds of many children whose study of Kannada alphabets and words is incomplete without learning this song.

This poem is one of many written by G P Rajaratnam who is considered one of the best creative writers of the Hosagannada era. Rajaratnam was not only a poet but also a teacher, writer and creator of abundant literature exclusively for children. He also studied various religions in depth and was one among those who lent their services for the development of the Kannada language.

He was born on December 12th, 1908 to a middle-class family and was called Raja Iyengar. He got the name Rajaratnam after his teacher sarcastically called him ‘Ratna’ when he highlighted the mistakes of his English teacher.

He worked as a teacher in various colleges at different places. His style of teaching was unique. He had a firm and rich voice. To know more about his voice, one has to refer to his programme in Aakashavani (AIR) where presented Vichara Deepti periodically. In one of his presentations he explained, ‘Watch’, thus— “Watch your Words, Watch your Action, Watch your Thought, Watch your Character, Watch your Heart.” This indicates his immense understanding of life which he explains through a simple word.

From his younger days he was influenced by many stalwarts (Diggajas) of Kannada like A R Krishna Shastry, T S Venkanniah, B M Srikantaiah and V Seetharamaiah, who made him enter the literary world. His first poem was published in Jaya Karnataka published by Alur Venkata Rao.

During the tumultuous years of his youth he was confronted with many family problems; he diverted his mind to learning. He studied several languages like Sanskrit and Pali. His deep involvement in studying different religions of the world made him an authority to explain the spirit of each of them in simple language. He has penned several books so that all his knowledge is recorded. During his long journey in the literary world for 25 years he has written nearly 300 books on various topics through poetry, dramas, essays and biographies.

His major contribution to children’s literature is a gift to the literary work in Kannada. His writing is very simple and rhyming poetry is easy for children to learn by singing. His work includes plays, a collection of short stories and life sketches: Chutuka, Kenehaalu, Kallusakkare, Tuttoori and Kadalepuri are very popular.

Hundreds of his stories for children were published in magazines like Sudha and Mayura. This includes stories from the Panchatantra, Bible, Quran and epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata. These apart Gilimarigala Gandhi, Gandhi Vidya, Vande Gandhiji are also noteworthy. He can be called a versatile child psychologist.

He has written many dramas adopted from different stories, but his presentation has its own separate identity. His famous plays are Gandugodali, Kambali Seve, Narakadalli Nyaya and Shakarana Saarootu which were presented keeping in mind the relevant social responsibility. Being an authority on Buddhism and Jainism he has written many stories based on them.

Gokhale and Gandhi were his ideals and he tried to follow their principles in true spirit. His writings are infused with patriotism. After independence he worked closely with the Gandhi Sahitya Sangha.
 
Another important part of his writing, which paved a new form in Kannada literature, is his series of poems which highlighted the lives of drunkards and their family. Ratnana padagalu and Nagana padagalu are written using the rustic language of old Mysore and they are very well rhymed so that they can be sung. This can be called revolutionary literature of the Navodaya period. This gave him an exclusive place in the literary world. These became more popular with the singing of the same by P Kalingarao who is considered the father of Sugama Sangeetha in Kannada.

In order to make Kannada literature popular among students and the common man he brought out many works of halegannada which covered many poets like Ranna, Pampa and also modern writers like Kailasam, Samsa, D V Gundappa and Govinda Pai. He called himself a ‘servant of Kannada’. While publishing, he gave importance to others works rather than to his.

His idea of publishing was that books should be small, simple in style and reasonably priced. He is a rare personality in the publishing field.

Rajaratnam and Namma Rajaratnam are the two literary works published in his honour. He died in the year 1979.