G.T. Narayana Rao

Who was G.T. Narayana Rao?

Guddehithlu Thimmappiah Narayana Rao was a well-known science writer in Kannada, music critic, cultural organiser, and a prominent citizen of the city of Mysore, India.

He was popularly known as GTN to his large number of students and readers. GTN served as a teacher of Mathematics in various colleges in Madikeri, Mangalore, Bangalore and Mysore; and during his tenure as a teacher, he was an officer of the rank of the major in the National Cadet Corps. From 1968, he worked as an editor of the 14-volume Kannada Visvakosa, created and published by the Institute for Kannada Studies, University of Mysore.

GTN was a leading music critic of Mysore, with Karnatak classical music being his focus of interest. He wrote reviews of music concerts for the local eveninger Star of Mysore and The Hindu. He was also known for spotting musical talents of promise and helping them come to the fore.

GTN has written over 30 books in Kannada on a range of subjects, including biographies of Albert Einstein and S.Chandrasekhar, the Nobel laureate astro-physicist. He has also written three books in English.

Karnataka Open University honoured GTN with an Hon. D.Litt. in 2008. He received the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award in 2008, and has also been a recipient of other honours including the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award, Kannada Sahitya Parishat’s H. Narasimhaiah Award, Malawaad Award instituted by the Karnatak University, Dr Shivarama Karanth Award from Delhi Karnataka Sangha, Bangalore Gayana Samaja Centenary honour, Kodagu District 5th Literary Conference Chairmanship.