Poet, freedom fighter Kayyara Kinhanna Rai passes away

August 10, 2015

Eminent Kannada poet and freedom fighter Kayyara Kinhanna Rai passed away at Badiyadkka in Kasaragod district of Kerala. He was 101.
He was an author, poet, journalist and Indian independence activist.

About Kayyar Kinhanna Rai

He was born on 8 June 1915 in Kasaragod in then Madras Presidency of British India. He had started his career as a secondary school teacher and later delved into journalism and contributed his writings to various newspapers.
Some of his famous poems are Aikyagana, Shreemukha, Chethana, Punarnava and Koraga.
His other important works are Sahithya Drushti and Malayala Sahitya Charithre (History of Malayalam literature) which is a translation of an original work by P. K. Parameshwaran Nair.
In 1998, he had served as President of 67th Akhila Bharatha Kannada Sahitya Sammelana which was held in Mangalore.
Activist career: He was forefront in the movement of merging the Kannada-speaking region north of the Chandragiri river (Kasaragod district) with Karnataka in order to fulfill its linguistic and development aspirations after the 1957 States Re-organisation. For this cause, he had founded Kasaragod Vileenekarana Kriya Samiti.
Awards: Karnataka Sahitya Academy Puraskar (1969), National Award for Best Teacher (1969), Karnataka Ekikarana (Unification) Award (2007) etc.