Vaman Dattatreya Bendre, writer and son of Jnanpith award-winner Da.Ra. Bendre, died after a brief illness at a private hospital in Hubballi on Wednesday.
According to family sources, Mr. Vaman Bendre was admitted to a private hospital a couple of days ago and breathed his last at around 4.45 a.m. on Wednesday. The body was brought to his residence at Sadhankeri in Dharwad and was kept for public viewing. The last rites were held at the Hosayellapur crematorium here.
A former Kannada lecturer, he has to his credit a brilliant thesis on poet Lakshmisha’s ‘Jaimini Bharata’, for which he was awarded doctorate by the Savitribai Phule Pune University. His literary works include ‘Modalu Todalu’, ‘Ananta Dhare’, ‘Olave Balavu’, and Srushti, an anthology of Kannada poems. His dramatic literature is contained in the works ‘Sondi Ganappa Banda’, ‘Sparsha’, and thirty radio plays. He has also created works on literary criticism such as ‘Bendre Kavya Lolaka’, ‘Kavi-Kavya Parampare’, and ‘Lakshmisha — A study’. Mr. Bendre had worked on several research projects and translated some leading Marathi plays into Kannada.
As editor of the complete works of Da.Ra. Bendre, he edited the complete poetic, dramatic and prose works, as well as the 43 anthologies of his father.
He also won many laurels such as the Sahitya Akademi award, the Karnataka Sahitya Academy award and the Vidyaranya prize, among others. He was accorded a public felicitation on the occasion of his 76th birthday in 2010.
