Linguist BB Rajpurohit dies at 86

Dharwad: Noted linguist, Kannada writer-critic BB Rajpurohit died at his residence in Saraswatupuram in Mysuru on Tuesday. He was 86. He is survived by two daughters who are abroad.
Hailing from Sortur in Shirahatti taluk of erstwhile Dharwad district (now Gadag district) Bando Bhimaji Rajpurohit did his schooling at Kurtakoti, Kundgol, Hubballi-Dharwad and obtained a PhD in Kannada. He served as a professor of Kannada at Udupi and Thiruvanantapuram, the Indian Institute of Linguistics, Mysuru, and was a visiting professor to Tokyo University, Japan. He authored Kannada-English-Japanese dictionary.
A close associate and disciple of Jnanapith awardee poet laureate Da Raa Bendre, Rajpurohit has written 11 books on Bendre’s works besides 11 in English and 36 in Kannada. His book ‘Bendreyavara Samagra Sahitya Nighantu’ is hailed as a masterpiece. He has also written on Shri Brahma Chaitanya Maharaj in Kannada and Marathi.
His final rites were performed at Mysuru on Tuesday.
Writer Shaymasundar Bidarkundi, publisher Ramakant Joshi, Harsh Dambal, H V Kakhandki, Raghavendra Patil and others have condoled Rajpurohit’s death.