Renowned Sanskrit Scholar Bannanje Govindacharya Passes Away

Vidyavachaspati Bannanje Govindacharya, a renowned sanskrit scholar and widely regaraded as one of the greatest exponents on Madhva philosophy, passed away at his residence in Ambalpady here on Sunday December 13 due to age related illness, Daijiworld reported.

Bannanje Govindacharya was 84 and is survived by four daughters.He had lost his son a few days ago.

Hailing from Bannanje near Mangaluru, Govindacharya was born in 1936. He was one of the greatest experts on Madhva philosophy, and was best known for his pravachanas which are very popular among Tuluvas and Kannadigas all over the world.

Bannanje Govindacharya was well-versed in Veda Bhashya, Upanishad Bhashya, Mahabharata, Puranas and Ramayana, he has written copious commentaries on Veda Suktas, Upanishads, Shata Rudriya, Brahma Sutra Bhashya, and Gita Bhashya. He leaves behind a rich legacy of around 4000 pages of Sanskrit Vyakhyana to his name with 50 odd books and around 150 books, including those in other languages.

Bannanje Govindacharya had translated works like Madhwaramayana and Mangalashtaka to Kannada and published several writings on the Upanishads, Bhagavadgita as well as several essays on various philosophical texts.

Bannanje Govindacharya will also be remembered for translating several texts from Sanskrit to Kannada. Some of them are 'Bana Bhattana Kadambari', a translation of Bana Bhatta's novel, Kalidasa's 'Shakuntala', 'Shudraka's Mrichakatika' as 'Aaveya Mannina Atada Bandi', which won the Sahitya Akademi's award for translation in 2001, and Bhavabhuti's 'Uttaramacharita'.

Bannanje Govindacharyaalso penned dialogues for three Kannada movies on Madhwacharya, Shankaracharya and Ramanujacharya. He also served as the consultant for the movie ‘Madhvacharya’ directed by G V Iyer.

Bannanje Govindacharya was awarded the Padma Shri for 2009 for his contribution to “Literature and Education”