S. N. Rathnamma

Smt Ratnamma Sundararao, daughter of Sagara Kavi Lingannaiya grew up in Bangalore (Bengaluru), in an atmosphere of books and artwork.

Naagaratna became Smt. Ratnamma Sundararao after her marriage to Ba. Na. Sundara Rao, author, novelist, journalist and historian, well known for his monumental work "Bengalurina Itihasa" - History of Bangalore.

She started writing small stories and novels in her younger days and continued writing throughout her lifetime. Her Kannada handwriting was so neat that she made fair copies of Ba. Na. Sundara Rao's manuscripts for the publishers. Encouraged by him, she evolved her own eloquent style of writing.

She wrote a novel "Kannadambeya Adigalalli" under the pen name Sumati, which was very popular and sold out in the 1960s.

She wrote for many periodicals and special commemorative volumes. However, her skill in writing dramatic stories was special. This was recognised by the All India Radio, Bangalore, which encouraged her to produce radio-drama adaptations of famous novels and short stories.

She wrote many travelogues, and authored a book on her travel across South India.Her works include biographies of women achievers, as well as the life of the Great Sage Shankaracharya.

She was well versed in music (Carnatic vocal and Veena) and was a trained Gamaki. She sang verses from Indian epics like Ramayana and Mahabharatha in the Gamaka style of storytelling epic ballads.

Her short stories are available as a collection. She translated several biographies and episodes from "Shadows on the Wall" by Krishna Hutheesing into Kannada language.

She was felicitated by the Karnataka Lekhakiyara Sangha (Women Writers of Karnataka) in July 2004 for her contribution to Kannada literature.

Author Bio by Dr. Shylaja Prabhakara