Bangalore Gundappa Lakshminarayana Swamy

Research

Swamy's primary research area was plant anatomy, particularly the structure of connections between plants' roots and stems. He discovered several plant species, including Ascarina maheshwarii and Sarcandra irvingbaileyi, which he named after two of his teachers.

Writings

Swamy's literary works encompass a wide range of topics. Many of them are related to botany and introduce botanical concepts to the layperson. A few of his books cover plants used in everyday life in a scientific manner, such as (South America in Our Stomach).

Other works by Swamy pertain to literature, and some of them are partially autobiographical, dealing with his experiences as a professor and principal. Apart from being an acclaimed botanist, B. G. L. Swamy was widely respected in the history and literary circles.

He extensively studied and researched the histories and literature of the Kannada and Tamil Languages. His book (Among the Tamil Heads) is devoted to examining theories pertaining to the language's origins (examining the claims that were being made in those days by the Dravidian parties) and mostly debunking them. In this book, he debunks some of the theories put forward by Tamil linguists and historians such as Iravatham Mahadevan and Nilkanta Shastri. He raised questions regarding gaping holes and contradictions he discovered in their theories.

According to N. K. Ramasheshan, Dr. Swamy authored more than 300 research articles in English, Spanish, German, Latin and French that were published in well-known papers of international repute.

His book (Green Gold) won him the Kendra Sahitya Academy award given by the Government of India in 1978. With that, Gundappa and Swamy became the first father and son duo to win this prestigious award.

is a treatise on some familiar and unfamiliar botanical species. It is also a travelogue enlivened by human drama and humor. Students of advanced botany undertake scientific tours in the company of their teachers for the identification and collection of botanical specimens. Swamy was a gifted man of letters with an observant eye, a sense of humour and, at the same time, a deep interest in history and the fine arts such as music, painting and architecture. Thus, as an artist and a scientist, he could explore and explain the world of botany in the light of a wider understanding. He describes the externals of a specimen with vivid precision and technical detail, but his account of the genus and species is only a prelude to a livelier, non-technical account of its appearance, its locations and its practical uses. Sometimes the reader discovers how the specimen claimed attention by appearing in well-known literary works of antiquity.

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(incomplete) (translation from Kannada by U. V. Swaminatha Iyer) (translation from Kannada by Subrahmanya Bharathi) (translation from Kannada by Chetti)

Awards

Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award for Sahitya Akademi Award for Hasuru Honnu Rajyotsava Prashasti by the Government of Karnataka Kannada Sahitya Parishat Award Birbal Sahni gold medal by the Government of India for his work in botany.