Vinayaka Krishna Gokak

For other uses, see Gokak (disambiguation).

V. K. Gokak
File:Vkgokak.jpg
Born	(1909-08-09)9 August 1909 Savanur, Dharwad, Kingdom of Mysore, British India
Died	Bengaluru, Karnataka
Occupation	Professor, Writer
Nationality	Indian
Genre	Fiction
Literary movement	Navodaya
Signature

Vinayaka Krishna Gokak (Kannada: ವಿನಾಯಕ ಕೃಷ್ಣ ಗೋಕಾಕ; 9 August 1909 – 28 April 1992) was a major writer in the Kannada language and a scholar of English and Kannada literatures. He was fifth writer to be honored with the Jnanpith Award in 1990 for Kannada language, for his epic Bharatha Sindhu Rashmi. Bharatha Sindhu Rashmi deals with the Vedic age and is perhaps the longest epic narrative in any language in the 20th Century. In 1961, Gokak was awarded the Padmashree from the Government of India for Dyava Prithvi.

Academic life

Vinayak Gokak studied literature at Karnatak College, Dharwad, Karnataka, India and was later awarded a First class honors by the University of Oxford. On his return from Oxford in 1938, he became the principal of Willingdon College, Sangli. He was an ardent devotee of Sathya Sai Baba and served as the first Vice-Chancellor of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning at Puttaparthi, Anantapur District between 1981 - 1985. His novel Samarasave Jeevana is considered one of the typical works of Navodaya literature in Kannada.

Writings

Epics

• Bharatha Sindhu Rashmi

Novels

• Samarasave Jeevana - Ijjodu Mattu Erilita (vol 1)
• Samarasave Jeevana - Samudrayana Mattu Nirvahana (vol 2)

Poetry collections

• Urnanaabha
• Abyudaya
• Baaladeguladalli
• Dhyava Pruthvi (Kannada Saahithya Academy Award)
• Samudra Geethegalu
• English words

Other

• Sahitya Vimarsheya Kelavu Tatvagalu
• Nanna Jeevana Drishti
• Jeevana Paatagalu
• Kala Siddhantha
• India & World Culture
• Gokak Kruthi Chintana
• Dyava Pruthivi

Translations

• Voices of the Himalaya: translated by the authors, Kamala Ratnam, V.K. Gokak and others. (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1966. vi, 70 p. Poems by celebrated poet Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'

See also

• Gokak agitation - a language campaign

External links

• Kannada Jnanpith Award Winners
• Dharwad
• Na Kanda Gokak - By Jeevi Kulkarni