From what I’ve heard, Sri Vasudeva Sastri hailed from Doddaballapura. His Highness the Maharaja of Mysore bestowed upon him the title of “Vidyanidhi” (literally: Treasure of Knowledge). Perhaps he was the first in a line of scholars to receive the “Vidyanidhi” honorific. He also earned renown as “Jaganmithya” Vasudeva Sastri.
M S Puttanna was a person who toiled for the revival of Kannada right from the beginning. During his initial days, he worked for a while along with Venkatakrishnayya and B M Srinivasa Iyengar, and later, on his own. I’ve heard that M S Puttana began his career with a government job at the Chief Court. He used to work as a translator. There is an interesting anecdote of those bygone days. In the Chief Court of those days, the manager of the office was one Bhimaji Rao. An announcement was made for the post of an office assistant in the Chief Court. This vacancy attracted several aspirants.
Much like Togere Nanjundashastri, the Nanjundashastri of Kadaba was also a traditional scholar. A person with complete mastery over both Sanskrit and classical Kannada. If the scholar from Togere was well-versed in Epigraphical Literature, the one from Kadaba had a deep knowledge of music. He has written an insightful article about how the Kannada poetic meters such as the Ṣaṭpadi[1] fit perfectly within tāḻas[2].
The Kannada Sahitya Parishad appointed two senior scholars to carry out its work. One was Nanjundashastri of Togere. The other was Nanjundashastri of Kadaba. Both were eminent scholars.
Mulabagal Sri Subbabhatta hailed from a lineage of Raja Purohitas (Royal Purohitas) and belonged to the Badaganadu subsect. He was younger to Sri Venkatarama Bhatta. He was a Rg Vedin but still studied Jyotisha and Dharmashastras under the tutelage of Sri Venkatarama Bhatta, who was a Yajur Vedin. His house neighbored that of Sri Venkatarama Bhatta.
Sri Chandrashekhara Sastri belonged to the Hulusukamme (or Ulucukamme) Brahmana subsect hailing from Srinivasapura. He arrived in Mulabagal as the Headmaster of the Anglo Vernacular School. He earned the respect of all people owing to his character, scholarship, and work ethic. His elder brother Sri Nanjunda Sastri was a renowned Vedic Guru; his younger brother, Sri Subbasastri made a name for himself as the schoolmaster in a place named Yerukaluve.
Y K Ramachandra Rao is one among the people to be remembered from the Parishad’s initial history.[1] He retired as a Railway Chief Engineer. He hailed from Elandoor. He had a natural, abiding interest in Kannada; when Gopal Krishna Gokhale died in 1915, Ramachandra Rao arranged an essay-writing competition in Kannada, offering a gift to the best essay written about that great soul. I remember that the prize-winning essay—it was written by a student—was published in the Parishad’s periodical.
Sri Venkatarama Bhatta urged my grandfather and my younger grandfather to perform my Thread Ceremony as early as possible.
M Venkatakrishnaiah, M S Puttanna, C Subbarao, and other language enthusiasts in Mysore decided to publish a monthly magazine called Hitabodhini. They decided it would have topics and discussions useful to the general readers that would encompass literature, science, history, and social welfare. After having finalized the size and the design, they decided to print a poem on the cover page that would convey their purpose. How to obtain such a poem? They requested many people. Those scholars composed their poems and handed it to them.