Profiles

In 1902 my sister got widowed. Then she was about 10 years old. This matter somehow reached Sri Venkatakrishnaiah and he wrote to me and conveyed his condolences.

“Please bring that child to my place. I will take care of her at my house; I will arrange for her education. She should not be discouraged. She should be in a lively environment. You get her here in person”. But my parents were traditionalists. They adhered to old customs. Sri Venkatakrishnaiah’s suggestion was not accepted, but this shows the magnanimity of Sri Venkatakrishnaiah.

Venkannayya’s Whims

Sense of Humour

Most of the time, Ranganatha Sharma’s mind was engaged in unknotting tough problems posed by the śāstras. But a sense of humour is something that came naturally to him. Whenever the occasion arose, he would laugh and make others around him laugh. I recollect a couple of such instances.

Dispassion and Generosity

Sharma never sought publicity. He became totally dispassionate about the job he had taken up once it was complete. He authored a couple of columns in a few magazines under a different name[1]. Even his family members did not know for several years that he was the author of those articles.

While referring to Sri M. Venkatakrishnaiah we should first respectfully acknowledge the small number of his disciples who were serving him with utmost dedication. That highly devoted bunch extended much needed assistance promptly in the matters of his food, his health, and his public programs. In my opinion, it would not be possible for Sri M. Venkatakrishnaiah to have led such an able and long-lasting life without that devoted resourcefulness of the disciples. From where they came and what their whereabouts are now is unknown. They recognized the greatness and served.

1. Inner Vision

Five or six days after the [Kannaḍa Sāhitya] Pariṣat was established (in 1915), one day at about three in the afternoon, two eminent people came to my workplace. At that time, I was running the Karṇāṭaka, an English newspaper that was published twice a week. The newspaper office was in Gundopanth’s building on Gundopanth Road in Siddikatte [Today’s Krishna Rajendra Market]. The Karṇāṭaka office was on the top floor. K S Krishna Iyer’s Irish Press occupied the ground floor of the building.

A Judgement

One more instance to exemplify Shastri’s verbal prowess.

In a village near Bangalore, K— had taken some money as a loan from R— saying that he would return the money the very next day. But even after months he did not return it. Later once somewhere in the Gandhinagar locality of Bangalore they met each other by accident and the topic of money came up immediately and resulted in heated exchange of words.