D.R. Bendre (Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre),((1896-1981) who wrote under the pen-name of Ambikatanayadatta, is amongst the most famous of Kannada poets of the Navodaya period . He also made several contributions to Marathi literature.

He started off with some amazingly simple and earthly romantic poetry, in fact often using the "spoken" language, thus gaining instant admiration of the masses. His later works dig deeper into social and philosophical matters. He is a recipient of the prestigious Jnanpith Award.

He was part of the famous Geleyara Gumpu a grouping of for promotion of study of literature and included famous authors, poets and intellectuals like Ananda Kanda , Sham. Ba. Joshi , Siddavanahalli Krishna Sharma , Enke , G.B.Joshi , V. K. Gokak, and R. S. Mugali .

Works

Poetry Collections

• Krishnakumari (1922)
• Gangavatarana (1951)
• Gari (1932)
• Aralu Maralu (1957)
• Naku Tanti (1964) (Four Chords, Jnanpith award)
• Nadalele

Drama

• Ambikatanayadatta Nataka Samputa (1982)

Other Languages

• Samvad (1965) (Marathi, Kelkar Award )
• Vittala Sampradaya (1984) (Marathi)

External Links

• Kamat's Potpourri
• Dharwad City