Kannada poet and freedom fighter Kayyara Kinhanna Rai, who lives near Kasaragod, Kerala, will turn 100 on June 8.
His selected poems, which have been translated to English and Hindi for the first time, will be released at a function at his residence Kavitha Kuteera, Badiyadaka, Kasaragod district on that day.
The Department of Kannada and Culture has organised various programmes to mark the occasion.
A. Narasimha Bhat, retired Block Education Officer at Kasarargod, has translated Mr. Rai’s 20 poems into English with a title ‘Payaswini’. Mithali P. Rai, principal, Vidyarashmi First Grade College, Savanur, Puttur, has translated 16 poems into English. It has been named as ‘Springs’.
Vishnu Bhat Sajankila, vice-principal, St. Philomena College, Puttur, has translated 36 poems into Hindi with a title ‘Atma Nivedan’. The poems have been chosen randomly from Mr. Rai’s various works.
Mr. Rai has left an indelible stamp as a freedom fighter, poet, social activist, teacher, scholar, journalist and people’s representative.
He championed for integrating the region around Kasaragod, north of the Chandragiri, with Karnataka, an aspiration of the Kannada-speaking minority in Kerala after the 1957 States reorganisation. Mr. Rai founded Kasaragod Vileenekarana Kriya Samiti to fight for the cause.
The programmes scheduled for June 8 included an exhibition on Mr. Rai, a music programme by Puttur Narasimha Nayak and party and a literary session on the various facets of Mr. Rai.
The session will cover aspects relating to Mr. Rai as a poet and a writer, as children’s litterateur, his devotional songs and journalism and his role as a teacher.
There will be cultural programmes from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The former Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde will inaugurate the programmes.
The State government presented its prestigious Pampa award, the highest honour bestowed on outstanding litterateurs, to the poet on his birthday in 2014.
He is also a recipient of the Karnataka Sahitya Academy award. As a multi-linguist, Mr. Rai translated poet Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer’s Malayalam Sahitya Charitram and Kumaran Asan’s famed works such as Karuna , Chandala Bhikshuki and Chindavishtayaya Sita into Kannada.
Selected poems to be released at a function in Kasaragod
