Centenarian Kannada writer and lexicographer Prof Ganjam Venkatasubbaiah passed away due to old age complications here in the early hours of Monday. He was 107.
He was being treated for urinary tract infection at a private hospital at Jayanagar. Doctors had planned his discharge on Monday as he had recovered from the infection. However, he developed breathlessness and other complications late on Sunday night and breathed his last at around 1.15 am.
He is survived by a son and a daughter. Of his four children, a son and a daughter had died a few years ago. His wife passed away three years ago.
Last rites were conducted at the Wilson Garden crematorium with full state honours on Monday afternoon.
Condoling the death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted,”He has left a huge void in Kannada literature. He was a prolific writer and thinker who made many efforts to popularise Kannada. He was passionate about his work and inspired many youngsters.”
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, his cabinet colleagues, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, KPCC president D K Shivakumar and many others condoled the death.
Primarily known for his contribution to the world of Kannada lexicography, Venkatasubbaiah was known as a walking encyclopedia of Kannada language and culture.
He published 70 books, 14 dictionaries and authored four seminal works on dictionary science in Kannada. He also translated into Kannada eight important works from other languages.
He is a recipient of the Kannada Sahitya Akademi, Pampa and Rajyotsava awards. He was honoured with the Nadoja award of Kannada University, Hampi and the Kendra Sahitya Akademi’s Bhasha Samman Puraskar.
Venkatasubbaiah presided over the 77th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in Bengaluru in 2011.
He was born on August 23, 1913, into a family of linguists at Kaigonahalli, KR Pet, Mandya district. He secured a postgraduate degree in Kannada from Maharaja’s College, Mysuru in 1937.
He served as a teacher at the municipal school in Mandya, at a high school in Davangere, at Maharaja’s College and Vijaya College in Bengaluru.
After his retirement in 1973, he began the work to publish a Kannada-to-Kannada dictionary as its chief editor.
He was vice president of the Lexicographical Association of India for 17 years, adviser to the multilingual dictionary project of the Institute of Asian Studies, Chennai and a consultative committee member in the Telugu lexicon project initiated by the Telugu Academy of the government of Andhra Pradesh.
His ‘Klishta Pada,’ a dictionary of complex words, was released when Karnataka celebrated 50 years of its formation in 2006.
‘Igo Kannada,’ Venkatasubbaiah’s column in ‘Prajavani,’ was hugely popular.
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