A commemorative postage stamp on the Gyanpith Award Winners : Kannada [K. V. Puttappa (1967), D. R. Bendre (1973), V. K. Gokak (1990), M. V. Iyengar (1983)] :

Issued by India

Issued on Mar 28, 1997

Design : The First Day Cover depicts ‘VAGDEVI‘, the Jnanpith Award Symbol.

Credits :
Stamp Design : Sh. V.S. Buranpur
First Day Cover : Smt. Alka Sharma, Based on the Jnanpith Award Symbol provided by The Bhartiya Jnanpith, New Delhi.
Cancellation : Alka Sharma

Type : Stamp, Mint condition

Colour : Multicolour

Denomination : 200 Paise

Overall size : 4.06 x 2.73 cms.

Printing size : 3.71 x 2.38 cms.

Perforation : 13 x 13

Paper : Imported un w/m Adhesive Gravure Coated Stamp Paper in Sheets 50.8 x 53.5 cms

Stamps Printed : 0.4 Million

Number per issue sheet : 40

Printing Process : Photogravure

Printer : India Security Press, Nasik

Name : Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa (Kuvempu)

Born on Dec 29, 1904 at Hirekodige village, Koppa taluk, Chikkamagaluru District, Kingdom of Mysore, British India

Died on Nov 9, 1994 at Mysore, Karnataka, India

Name : Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre (Da. Ra. Bendre, Ambikatanayadatta)

Born on Jan 31, 1896 at Dharwad, Bombay Presidency, British India

Died on Oct 26, 1981 at Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Name : Vinayaka Krishna Gokak

Born on Aug 9, 1909 at Savanur, Dharwad, Bombay Presidency, British India

Died on Apr 28, 1992 at Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Name : Maasthi Venkatesa Iyengar (Srinivasa, Maasti)

Born on Jun 6, 1891 at Hungenahalli, Malur taluk, Kolar district, Mysore State, British India

Died on Jun 6, 1986 at Bangalore, Karnataka, India

About : 

• The Jnanpith Award has come to acquire an unparalleled status in the field of Indian literature. This is the only award given for the best creative literacy writing of a specified period by an Indian citizen in any of the 15 Indian languages included in the VIII Schedule to the Indian Constitution. It has become the symbol of the comprehensive vision of Indian literature. This special postage stamp issued by the Department of Post pays tribute to the Jnanpith Award and to the four great writers of Kannada who were presented the Jnanpith Award by Bharatiya Jnanpith for their outstanding contribution to the enrichment of Indian literature. The stamp depicts portraits of the Jnanpith Laureates in Kannada in the following order (from top to bottom).

Dr. K. V. Puttappa : (1904-1994) : 

• Dr. K. V. Puttappa was co-recipient of the Jnanpith Award for 1967 for his outstanding work Sri Ramayana–darshanam (Kannada) during 1935-60. Sri Ramayana-darshanam, composed with great diction and style is the first epic in Kannada language. In this multi-dimensional epic, the real and reality, mundane and eternal, the ephemeral and immortal, the corporal and spiritual, all have been integrated into an accomplish work, with an inspired finesse. This is the most prominent work of Dr. Puttappa, where the past meets the future in the present, where the divine takes devil into embrace, where the most insignificant contributes in making of the Great. In 1958, Dr. Puttappa was awarded by the National Academy of Letters in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the Kannada literature, and his dedicated services to the nation as an educationist of eminence. The Government of India bestowed on him the prestigious title of ‘Padmabhusan‘ in 1958.

Shri D. R. Bendre : (1896-1983) : 

• Bendre is one amongst the most versatile writers in Kannada. He was co-recipient of the Jnanpith Award for 1973 for his outstanding work Naku–tanti (Kannada) during 1962-66. The poet-visionary Bendre, in his writings, has given expression to the beauty of human life, its agonies, the balance between nature and human individuality, the rediscovery of Karnataka and India, the future transformation of the World, the synthetic vision of journey through the decades, which all from essence of the Creation. Bendre is the torch-bearer who has given expression to the artistic consciousness of many writers. Through his folk-lyrics and intricate diction, he delighted both the educated and illiterate.

Prof. V. K. Gokak : (1909-1992) : 

• The Jnanpith Award for the year 1990 was presented to Prof. V.K. Gokak for his outstanding contribution to Indian literature during the period 1970-84.
• An author of about 50 works in Kannada and about 25 in English, spread over a period of six decades and covering almost all fields of literary expression like poetry, novels, plays,travelogues, aesthetics and contemplative prose, Prof. Gokak has been a strong advocate of integral vision in all his writings. What made Gokak a legend in his own lifetime is Bharata Sindhu Rashmi, an epic running into more than 35000 lines of blank verse in Kannada. The epic recreates the vedic culture and its changing value in a way that makes it relevant to our times and to all times. Bharata Sindhu Rashmi has indeed, acquired a place of distinction in the epic tradition of the world.

Dr. Masti V. Iyengar : (1891-1986) : 

• Bharatiya Jnanpith presented the Jnanpith Award for 1983 to Dr. Masti Venkatesh Iyengar, ‘Srinivas‘ for his outstanding contribution to Indian literature during the pre-1978 period, with special mention of his novel ‘Chikkaveer–rajendra‘.
• Masti was essentially a story teller, a master of the art of narration, whether in prose or poetry. He came to be recognised as the ‘Father of the Kannada short story‘. Masti remained in the forefront of Kannada renaissance for more than seventy years and made massive contribution to all the genres of literature. With his abiding faith in man’s potential greatness, his writings reflect his inner urge to assert the supremacy of the basic values of humanity that remain firm in the face of chaos.

Text : Compiled and composed by Sh. Ashok Kumar Das.

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