An Integral View of Poetry: An India Perspective

Born in 1909, Vinayak Krishna Gokak has come to stay as a patriarch in Indian literature. His contribution is rich and varied, but his strain is spiritual seeking. Gokak has won many awards, among them being the Sahitya Akademi Award and the most prestigious Bharatiya Jnanpeeth Award for Kannada Poetry and has also been recipient of Padma Sri from the Govt. of India. He was the President of sahitya Akademi Delhi for a number of years. He enjoys the reputation of being a trend-setter in Kannada poetry as well as in Literary Criticism. Honoured with D. Litt (honour's causa) by Karnataka University, Dharwar and University of the Pacific California, USA, Prof. Gokak was for some time Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University and Director of Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla.