During Kanavi’s seven-decade-long literary journey, he remained committed to the genre of poetry.
Chennaveera Kanavi (1928-2022), one of the most widely read and critically acclaimed modern Kannada poets, passed away in Dharwad on Wednesday, leaving behind seven decades of poetic work. The poet in him was as much a product of Dharwad literary culture as his love for writing poetry. He was Nadoja, an honour conferred upon him in memory of the first Kannada poet Pampa, who is described as Nadoja ‘someone who belongs to all nadu (places)’.
Kanavi was born on June 28, 1928 in Hombala, a village in the Gadag region of north Karnataka. Before he came to Dharwad to study, he inherited the intellectual concerns from his father Sakkareppa, a school teacher, who used to recite tatva pada (philosophical songs) and mystic poems of saints like Sarpabhushana Shivayogi and Nijaguna Shivayogi to the boy Chennaveera. Native folklore and cultural practices also left an imprint on the future poet.