Eminent Kannada poet G S Shivarudrappa died yesterday aged 87.
The Karnataka government declared two days’ of mourning as a mark of respect to Shivarudrappa and said offices, schools and colleges across the state would remain closed today.
The poet is survived by wife, two sons and a daughter.
“Shivarudrappa was ailing for some time,” a family member said. The distinguished litterateur was the third Kannada poet to be awarded the prestigious title of Rashtrakavi (national poet) by the state government in 2006 after K V Puttappa (Kuvempu) and Manjeswara Govinda Pai.
Born on February 7, 1926 at Shikaripura in Shimoga district, about 300km from here, Shivarudrappa began his career as a Kannada lecturer in Maharaja College in Mysore and later became head of the Kannada department in Osmania University in Hyderabad and subsequently in Bangalore University.