T. N. Srikantaiah

Theerthapura Nanjundaiah Srikantaiah (26 November 1906 – 7 September 1966) commonly known as 'Thee. Nam. Shree, was a Kannada poet, essayist, editor, translator, linguist and teacher. He was awarded the Pampa Prashasthi for his work on the history and tradition of Indian poetics spanning two millennia titled Bharathiya Kavyamimamse. T. N. Srikantaiah was instrumental in preparing and publishing the Kannada version of Constitution of India in 1952. He is credited with the use of the vernacular equivalent of Rashtrapathi for the English 'President', a usage which is still in vogue. Srikantaiah was responsible for guiding the doctoral theses of Kannada litterateurs like S. Anantanarayan and M. Chidananda Murthy. An active participant in the Kannada Dictionary Project, Srikantaiah later laid the foundations for the Post Graduate Department at Manasa Gangotri campus at University of Mysore.