Shivaram Karanth
Indian writer (1902-1997)
Kota Shivaram Karanth (10 October 1902 – 9 December 1997), also abbreviated as K. Shivaram Karanth, was an Indian author, who was a novelist in the Kannada language, a playwright and an ecological conservationist. Ramachandra Guha called him the "Rabindranath Tagore of Modern India, who has been one of the finest novelists-activists since independence". He was the third writer to be decorated with the Jnanpith Award for Kannada, the highest literary honor conferred in India. His son Ullas, is an ecological conservationist.
Early life
Shivaram Karanth was born on 10 October 1902, in Kote, a village near Kundapura in present-day Udupi district, Karnataka to a Kannada-speaking Smartha Brahmin family. The fifth child of his parents Shesha Karantha and Lakshmamma, he completed his primary education in Kundapura and Bangalore. Shivaram Karanth was influenced by Gandhi's principles and took part in the Indian Independence movement when he was in college. His participation in the Non-cooperation movement did not allow him to complete his college education which he quit in February 1922. He canvassed for khadi and swadeshi in Karnataka led by Indian National Congress leader Karnad Sadashiva Rao, for five years till 1927. By that time, Karanth had already started writing fiction novels and plays.
The public source identifies “Shivaram Karanth” as indian writer (1902-1997). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Shivaram, Karanth and Indian.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Shivaram Karanth”, the useful work is to connect “indian writer (1902-1997)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3536450. VIAF identifies the subject as 51767202. The Library of Congress control number is n82018097. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1902, 1997, 1922 and 1927.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Shivaram Karanth”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Shivaram Karanth primary sources, Shivaram Karanth archive and Shivaram research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Shivaram Karanth”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Shivaram Karanth” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.