K.R. Srinivasa lyengar (1908-1991) was an Acharya in the great Indian tradition. After teaching in Valvettiturai (Sri Lanka), Belgaum and Bagalkot, he moved to Andhra University, Waltair, Andhra Pradesh in 1947 as Professor of English, and was Vice-Chancellor during 1966-68. Elected Vice-President, Sahitya Akademi in 1969, he retired as Acting President in 1978. Recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, the B.C. Roy Award and the Kalidas Nag Award, he was elected Fellow of the Sahitya Akademi in 1985. Widely traveled in India and abroad, he was Visiting Professor of English at the University of Leeds in 1959, and received the Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, from the Sri Venkateswara and the Andhra Universities.
Dr. lyengar was a scholar and a prolific writer. His works include the standard biographies of Sri Aurobindo, and the Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram and critical studies of Lytton Strachey, G.M. Hopkins, Shakespeare and François Mauriac. Some of his learned articles have been collected in 'The Adventure of Criticism', 'Mainly Academic', 'Dawn to Greater Dawn' and 'Two Cheers for the Commonwealth'. His authoritative and comprehensive Indian Writing in English reveals his strivings as the founder of a new discipline in Indian letters. He made his mark as a translator too and has rendered into English 'Basaveswara', 'Tiruvalluvar' and 'Tirumoolar'. His translation of 'Sundara Kanda' has been published as 'The Epic Beautiful'.
It was in the seventies that Prof. lyengar turned to writing serious poetry. Apart from anthologies of short poems like 'Tryst with the Divine', he also wrote the epics 'Sitayana', 'Sall Sapthakam' and the Bhagavata-inspired 'Krishna Geetam'.
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