ALTHOUGH A JOURNALIST by profession, Nadoja Dr. S R Ramaswamy is a multi-facted scholar who has had wide- ranging interests and worked in various capacities as a proof- reader, amanuensis, copyeditor, writer, translator, editor, orator, compositor, social worker, environmentalist, activist, organiser, photographer, socio-politico-economic commentator, advisor, and guru - through the course of his somewhat unorthodox but many-splendoured career spanning nearly seven decades.
Much of his writing-journalistic and otherwise-has been in Kannada although his lingustic felicity traverses Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, English, German, and French, among others. A handful of his writings, lectures, and academic papers in English survive and the best of those has been selected for publication in two volumes. The first volume com- prises his essays and speeches on Bharatiya Samskrti, literature, and eminent personalities; the second volume, on environment, economics, and development and swadeshi. However, it must be remembered that these are not water-tight compartments and there are essays that can be classified under mutliple categories; for the sake of convenience, the major themes of the essays have been taken into consideration while classifying them.
This two-volume anthology will afford the readers a glimpse into the brilliant mind of SRR and take them on a journey across a dazzling range of topics. The instrinsic value of these essays and speeches will appeal to general readers; their historical value will be of special interest to academicians.
We are immensely grateful to Dr. Ramaswamy for granting us the permission to bring out his vintage English writings in book form.
SR RAMASWAMY (b. 1937) is a renowned littérateur, journalist, art critic, environmentalist, and social activist from Karnataka. A prolific writer and translator, he has authored more than sixty books and over two thousand articles on literary, cultural, developmental, and nationalist themes. From 1972 to 1979, he worked as the Chief Sub- editor of the Kannada weekly Sudha. Since 1979, he has been the Chief Editor of Rashtrotthana Sahitya and Editor-in-Chief of the Kannada monthly Utthana. For many years he served as the Honorary Secretary of Bengaluru's Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs.
SRR was intimately associated with doyens of literature and public life in Karnataka including DV Gundappa, V Sitaramaiah, S Srikanta Sastri, Rallapalli Ananthakrishna Sarma, Yadavarao Joshi, and P Kodanda Rao.
For nearly two decades, SRR guided major voluntary rural development initiatives in Karnataka. He has been a staunch advocate of the Swadeshi Movement.
For over thirty years, he was active in environmental campaigns. Among his major campaigns is a movement he led for restoration of people's customary rights over community lands threatened by forestry policies. In addition to awareness-building, field activity, and lobbying at administrative and legislative levels, he led litigation for these causes in various courts including the Supreme Court of India.
Among the awards and recognitions that SRR has received over the years, the notable ones include the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi Award for his social science treatise ಶತಮಾನದ ತಿರುವಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾರತ (1992), the Aryabhata Award for Journalism (2006), and the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award for Contribution to Literature (2008). For lifetime contribution to literature and journalism, Karnataka State Open Uni- versity, Mysore awarded him an Honorary Doctorate - D. Litt. (2011) and Hampi University conferred upon him the prestigious Nadoja award (2015).
SOME FIVE THOUSAND years ago, the rși Gotama Rahugaņa Ssang May noble thoughts come to us from every side -
unchanged, unhindered, undefeated in every way...!
Even a cursory glance through the corpus of SR Ramaswamy's speeches and writings in English makes it evident that he has taken to heart the Rgvedic seer's pronouncement. One can do little but marvel at the breadth and depth of his erudition and the precision and richness of his exposition. His compositions cover an expansive range of disciplines and are full of perspicacious observations, clothed in eloquent expression; within a few lines and in a matter of moments, his acuity becomes manifest, even as he effortlessly traverses space and time.
Nadoja Dr. SR Ramaswamy (SRR) exposits with the same ease and felicity an abstruse mantra from the Veda-samhitas as he discusses SS Rajamouli's approach to filmmaking; he quotes from memory humorous lines in Richard Armour's books just as easily as he reels out complex precepts detailed by the grammarian Bhattakalaika; he narrates with verve a poignant episode from DVG's life and the next moment, a piece of juicy gossip about a high-ranking public official. Be it painting or photography, economics or ecology, sastra or kavya, history or polity SRR is endowed with penetrating knowledge on all these subjects reinforced by what seems like an infallible memory.
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