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Personalities

Personalities in/from Karnataka

Karnataka has produced many well known personalities. Many from other states of India have moved to Karnataka and achieved a lot for themselves and the state. This page is NOT about being a successful Kannadiga, but it is about those who have brought change.

We would like to introduce you to successful entrepreneurs, sports men/women, scientists, authors etc.

We are NOT that HOT about film actors. We are not aware of any film actor sponsoring any charitable organization in a big way.

We are still building this page and we are looking for appropriate content. Please help us by suggesting names, categories, intro for each name.

Astrologer

  • Shakuntala Devi
  • Somayaji

Beauty Queens

  • Aiswarya Rai
  • Celina
  • Lara Dutta

Business

Cartoonists

Education

  • Dr. S. Rajashekharaiah - He was the first Vice Chancellor of Karnataka's biggest university, Visveswaraiah Technological University at Belgaum. He was responsible for bringing more than 80 engineering coleges in the state under one banner and giving them a new improved and contemporary syllabus. He envisioned a papeless exam pattern and started work on Student Exchange programs with foreign Universities.
  • Dr. H. Narasimhaiah

Entertainment/Movies

  • Ambarish - has been active in politics, currently a Member of Parliament from Mandya District [Congress].
  • Anil Srivatsa - hosts the most popular radio show in the US.
  • Girish Karnad
  • Girish Kasaravalli
  • Guru Dutt - Hindi movie actor born and brought up in Karnataka. Graduated from Bangalore Central College
  • Leena Chandavarkar - Hindi movie actress from Dharwad
  • M.S. Satyu
  • Nagabharana
  • Nagathihalli Chandrashekar - best known for producing movies like America America.
  • Puttanna Kanagal
  • Rajnikant - Worked in Bangalore before becoming a Tamil movie superstar
  • Dr. Rajkumar - a versatile actor, singer. Religiously practices yoga. An introvert, got into spotlight when he was kidnapped by Veerappan in 2000. He has acted in more than 220 Kannada movies.
  • Shankar Nag
  • Shanta Ram - Hindi movie producer/director
  • Shyam Benegal
  • Vishnuvardhan - the #2 hero of Kannada film field. A great and versatile actor.

Government

  • Field Marshall K.M. Cariappa
  • H.T. Sangliana - best known as Super Cop!
  • Kengel Hanumanthaiah - architect of Vidhana Soudha
  • Sanjoy Das Gupta (IAS) Ex-IT Secretary - Born in Lucknow he joined the IAS in 1979. He served as a Deputy Commissioner in Kolar and Raichur districts. He became the first secretary of the then newly formed Department of Information Technology and was instrumental in making Bangalore attractive to investors in the electronics and information technology sectors and retaining Bangalore as the premier location for information technology industry in India. The first-ever IT.com, an annual event to showcase Bangalore as an IT City was his brainchild. (A tribute)
  • Hon. Justice Venkatachala, Lokayuktha of Karnataka, who is fighting against corruption.
  • Sir M. Visvesvaraya

Literature/Arts/Authors

  • Aa.Na.Kru
  • Aravind Adiga : A first- timer, wins the Man Booker Prize 2008
  • Beechi
  • Chittala
  • Girish Karnad
  • K.V. Puttappa (Kuvempu)
  • Prof. Itigi Eranna - Mr. Eranna is the first person who wrote shayiris in Kannada. He is a Professor of Kannada in Vijayanagara College, Hospet. He was a major force of North Karnataka during Gokak Chaluvali. He has written books for kids, film songs, and was recently awarded by the State Government.
  • Kaykini
  • Lankesh
  • Dr. Panchakshari Hiremath
  • R.K. Narayan
  • S.L. Bairappa
  • Shivarudrappa
  • Triveni
  • Tejaswi

Jnanpith Awardees

Undoubtedly the most prestigious award in India for literature. The award comprises a cheque, a plaque and a bronze-cast statuette of Vagdevi, the goddess of learning. It is modelled after the statue originally in 11th-century Saraswati Temple at Dhar in central India and currently in the British Museum, London. The 15 petals of the pedestal lotus represent the Indian languages. Vagdevi holds in her ams the ritual vessel 'Kamandal', a book, a stalk-less lotus and a rosary - all symbols of learning and spiritual insight.

  • Da.Ra.Bendre for Naaku Tanti (1973)
  • Girish Karnad (1998)
  • K.V. Puttapa (Kuvempu) for Ramayana Darshanam (1967)
  • Masti Venkatesha Iyengar (1983) for outstanding contribution to Indian literature during pre-1978 period with special mention to his historical work 'Chikkaveera Rajendra' (1983)
  • Shivarama Karanth for Mookajjiya Kanasugalu (1977)
  • U R Ananthmurthy (1994)
  • V.K. Gokak for outstanding contribution to Kannada literature (1990)

Mathematics

  • Shakuntala Devi

Music

  • Basavaraj Rajaguru
  • Bhimsen Joshi
  • B.V. Karant
  • Doreswamy Iyengar
  • Gangubai Hangal
  • Kumar Gandharva
  • Dr. Manjunath & Nagraj - classical violinists
  • Prof. Mysore Sri V. Ramarathnam - He is the vocalist and disciple of Sri T. Chowdiah. He is also the Kanaka Purandara Awardee for 2007.
  • RK Shrikantan & RK Suryanarayana
  • Saxophone Kadri Gopalnath
  • T. Chowdaiah - violinist
  • Mallikarjun Mansur

Religion/Lyrisists

  • Basavanna - time most effective social revolutionist of South India
  • Akka Mahadevi
  • Sarvajna
  • Madhvacharya
  • Purandara Dasa
  • Kanaka Dasa

Science/Scientists

  • Dr. Devi Shetty - founder & MD of Narayana Hrudayalaya. Dr. Devi Shetty has started this noble venture just to provide medical service at low cost, preferably for free. In a nutshell, he is a man with a good heart. We pray young doctors get inspired by this "Doc".
  • Dr. Raja Ramanna
  • Prof C.N.R. Rao - was also awarded the Karnataka Ratna award in June, 2001
  • C. V. Raman - In 1930, for the first time in its history, an Indian scholar, educated entirely in India has received the highest honor in science, the Nobel Prize in Physics.
  • Dr. Shrinivas Kulkarni - an Astrophysicist based in California. The John D. and Catherine T. McArthur professor of astronomy and planetary science at Caltech discovered the millisecond pulsar-distant stars emitting very high-frequency radio waves-and has conducted stand-out observational astronomy in virtually the entire electromagnetic spectrum. 'Shrini' also discovered brown dwarfs-stars whose radii are less than the Chandrashekhar Limit (the theory that won Subrahmanyam Chandrashekhar the Nobel) and which decay into less luminous (brown), smaller gas masses instead of collapsing into black holes. Shrini's primary interests are the study of neutron stars and gamma-ray bursts, and the search for extra-solar planets through interferometric and adaptive techniques. Dr. Shrini is related to Narayana Murthy (Sudha Murty's brother) and Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande.
  • Prof. U.R. Rao
  • Srinivasan - BARC

Simply Special

  • S Manjunath - An engineer from SJCE and with a MBA deree from IIM-L one would think he would be serving in the private sector or have his own business. Manjunath worked for IOC. This alone shows his dedication and love for the country. He was murdered by a petrol pump owner because Manjunath was just doing his duty 'honestly'. It was very touching to see his father talking to the media in Kolar - there was pride in his eyes as he said his son did the right thing by exposing the guilty. Karnataka has lost a brave son.

    The first presentation of Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award 2007 to be held on March 24, 2007 in IIM, Bangalore.

Social Service

Sports

  • Chess
    • DV Prasad
    • MS Thej Kumar - first Grand Master from Karnataka
    • Girish Koushik
  • Badminton
    • Prakash Padukone - Needs no introduction. Not just for the game but for his 'down to earth' attitude and humbleness.
    • Vimal Kumar
  • Carrom
    • RM Shankara - World Carrom Champion (2000 in New Delhi, 2004 in Sri Lanka). National champion twice. Has US Open and a Malayasian championship to his credit.

      He played in a club called Kiran Carrom Club near Kalasipalyam. Shankara is hoping to get the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.

      The state govt (during HDK regime) rejected his request for a site (land) to build a house. Tamil Nadu Government gve him a job with Indian Airlines and helped him pursue his passion. We continue to do a great job in snubbing non-cricketers.

  • Cricket
  • Ashwini Nachappa - Athlete
  • M.P. Ganesh - former India hockey team captain and former Director of Sport Authority of India. He was a member of the Indian team that won the World Cup in 1975.
  • Mahesh Bhupathi - Tennis pro
  • Nisha Millet - Swimmer
  • Pankaj Advani - won World Snooker Championship on Oct 25, 2003 at a young age of 19.

Technology

  • Arun Netravali - President, Bell Laboratories
  • Azim H Premji - Chairman, Wipro Corporation
  • B. V. Jagdeesh - co-founder of Exodus Communication.
  • Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande - Co-founder and Chairman of Sycamore Networks, Inc.
  • Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw - CMD Biocon. Popularly known as the "Bio Queen" of India.
  • Kumar Malavalli - co-founder Brocade Communication, InMage Systems, TeleVital
  • Nandan M. Nilekani - Co-founder & CEO, Infosys
  • N.R. Narayana Murthy - Chairman & Chief Mentor Officer, Infosys Technologies Limited
  • Sabeer Bhatia - born in Delhi, studied in Bangalore. Instrumental in introducing the first free web based email service Hotmail. This is no small achievement in our opinion. Other ventures of his are Arzoo ,  InstaColl, Telixo, Hot Seasons

Warriors/Dynasties/Fighters

  • HakkaBukkas
  • Kempe Gowda
  • Kittur Channamma - 45kms from Belgaum is Kittur. Kittur is best known for the heroic resistance the Rani Channamma put up against the British here in 1824. Enraged by the high handiness of Thakeray, the collector of Dharawad, when he refused to let the adopted son of Mallasarja rule his death. When all negotiations failed, the brave Rani fought until the Kittur army defeated and she was taken prisoner. A visit to the museum here will take you down through the curtains of time to her time of glory. In the memory of this valiant woman, a nature park has been founded where you can jump and watch the friendly deer and sambar. Her statue also stands sentinel over Belgaum, at a prominent square.
  • Mayura Varma/Sharma
  • Nalmadi Krishnadevaraya
  • Nalwadi/Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar
  • Pulakeshi - Badami, the one time capital of the Chalukyas , is noted several temples, some structural & other rock-cut, of the 6th & 7th Centuries. The foundations of Badami, or Vatapi as it was called, were laid by Pulakeshi I (535 - 566 AD) his son Kirtivarman, the Ist (567 - 598 AD), beautified the town with temples & other buildings. The greatest ruler of the dynasty was Pulakeshi II (610-642 AD) who among others defeated the Pallava King Mahendra Verman I.
  • Tipu Sultan
  • Vidyaranya
  • Vishnuvardhana

Updates

Vitthala Temple

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