P.G. Kamath

Padmanabha Gopalkrishna Kamath was a revered teacher, Konkani poet, multilingual translator, educationist and scholar of sevral languages from Thuravoor, Kerala. His contribution to each and every field of his activity was noble. He pioneered and set samples and targets for the younger generation. He was both a trailblazer and a pathfinder. He was born in 1926 to Sri Padmanabh Kamath and Puthamammal in Thuravoor,Kerala. He had his regular education at the local T.D. School and studied Sanskrit at the Temple Pathashala.

Career
After graduating in Science, he took to teaching and won distinction in the teaching of English and Science at the B.T. examination for which he was awarded the Nagoji Rao Gold Medal in 1949. Later he took M.A. in Hindi from the Benarus Hindu University. Meanwhile, he studied languages such as Pali, Prakrit and the Apabhramsa also. He entered the Kerala Government Service as a trained graduate teacher and after a long and sincere service of 33 years he retired as the Hindi education officer of Kerala in 1981. He has also served as Principal of Ramavarmapuram Hindi Training Institute. He introduced modern techniques of evaluation in Hindi and the SSLC question paper in Hindi evolved by him was considered a pace setter. He was a well-known writer and translator even in his younger days and has several books to his credit. His translations are vast and varied – 1) Maila Anchal (Malayalam translation of Hindi novel by Phanishwaranath Renu) 2) Sahitya ka Marma (Malayalam translation of Hindi Essays by Dr Hazari prasad Dwivedi), 3) Eternal Values for a changing Society (Malayalam translation of Vol. 1 of the lectures by Swami Ranganathananda) 4) Konkani translation of Swamiji’s Gita Lectures, 5)Hindi Translation of Padma shri R.V.Pandit’s Bhurgyalo Jag, 6) Konkani translation of Poonthanam’s Malayalam poem Jnanapana, 7) Malayalam translation of Sri Budha’s Dharmapada, 8) Malayalam translation of Wiki Collins’ English novel 9) Malayalam translation of Edgar Allan Poe’s detective novel . His significant Konkani work titled LIPI – Ek Sastriya Chintan has not only been reprinted but also translated into English. His poetry is found in 2 anthologies – Povllim and Ollokh. Almost all of his remaining poetical works in Konkani were compiled in the posthumous anthology titled Ollokh.

Awards and Recognition
Kamath’s book Anya Bhasha Shikshan won him a central Govt Award in 1972. Kerala Hindi lovers founded the P.G.Kamath Puraskar Nidhi, which gives two annual cash awards named “P.G.Kamath Puraskar” to the teacher trainees scoring highest marks at the Hindi Training Course conducted by the Govt. of Kerala. He was chairman of Kerala Konkani Academy (1985-2001), Member of the konkani Advisory board of Central Sahitya Academy (1998-2002), Member of the Advisory Board to the School of Konkani Studies under Sukratindra Oriental Research Institute. He was president of the 16th All India Konkani Sahitya Sammelan held in Goa (2003) organised by All India Konkani Parishad. The Central Sahitya Akademi conducted its Meet the Author programme in his honour at Panaji, Goa (2000)