TKMD at 15:59, 16 October 2025

2025-10-16T15:59:56Z

New page

{{Short description|Indian linguist (1928–2012)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Bhadriraju Krishnamurti
| image = Bhadriraju_krishnamurti.jpg
| caption = Krishnamurti in 2010
| order = Professor of Linguistics (Founder and Head of the department) [[Osmania University]]
| term_start = 1962
| term_end = 1988 (On leave of absence 1986–88)
| predecessor =
| successor =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y |1928|6|19|}}
| birth_place = [[Ongole]], [[Madras Presidency]], [[British Raj|British India]] (now [[Andhra Pradesh]], [[India]])
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2012|8|11|1928|6|19}}
| death_place = [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]], [[Andhra Pradesh (1956–2014)|Andhra Pradesh]], (now in [[Telangana]]), India
| spouse = Bh. Syamala
| profession = [[Historical linguistics|Historical linguist]] Dravidian linguist [[Academician]] [[Academic administration|Administrator]]
| order1 = Vice-Chancellor [[University of Hyderabad]]
| term_start1 = 1986
| term_end1 = 1993
| predecessor1 =
| successor1 =
| order2 = Resident Fellow Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences [[Stanford University]]
| term_start2 = 1975
| term_end2 = 1976, 2000 fall
| predecessor2 =
| successor2 =
| order3 = Member [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in [[Princeton, New Jersey]]
| term_start3 = 1999
| term_end3 = 2000
| predecessor3 =
| successor3 =
| order5 = Honorary Professor [[Andhra University]]
| term_start5 = 2003
| term_end5 =
| predecessor5 =
| successor5 =
| website =
}}

'''Bhadriraju Krishnamurti''' (19 June 1928 – 11 August 2012) was an Indian [[Linguistics|linguist]] who specialised in [[Dravidian languages]]. He was born in [[Ongole]] in the [[Madras Presidency]] of [[British Raj|British India]] (now in [[Andhra Pradesh]], [[India]]).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.engr.mun.ca/~adluri/telugu/language/linguistics/krishnamurti.html |title=Brief biography of Bhadriraju Krishnamurti. |access-date=16 December 2009 |archive-date=27 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927013027/http://www.engr.mun.ca/~adluri/telugu/language/linguistics/krishnamurti.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was the vice-chancellor of the [[University of Hyderabad]] from 1986 to 1993, and founded the Department of Linguistics at [[Osmania University]], where he served as a professor from 1962 to 1986. His [[magnum opus]], ''The Dravidian Languages'', is considered a landmark volume in the study of Dravidian linguistics.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/4145764 R. E. Asher, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Vol. 67, No. 1 (2004), pp. 95–97]</ref><ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/30028959 Ian Smith, Anthropological Linguistics Vol. 46, No. 1 (Spring, 2004), pp. 125–128]</ref><ref>[http://www.sil.org:8090/silebr/2009/silebr2009-001 WISE, Mary Ruth, author. 2009. Review of: The Dravidian languages, by Bhadriraju Krishnamurti. SIL Electronic Book Reviews 2009-001: 4] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702084640/http://www.sil.org:8090/silebr/2009/silebr2009-001 |date=2 July 2012 }}</ref>

Krishnamurti was a student and close associate of [[Murray Barnson Emeneau]]. He got his A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from the [[University of Pennsylvania]] in 1955 and 1957, respectively.<ref>{{Cite web|date=9 December 2019|title=Bhadriraju Krishnamurti – Scholars {{!}} Institute for Advanced Study|url=https://www.ias.edu/scholars/bhadriraju-krishnamurti|access-date=23 October 2020|website=ias.edu|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|author=Staff Reporter|date=12 August 2012|title=Linguist Bhadriraju Krishnamurti dead|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/linguist-bhadriraju-krishnamurti-dead/article3757019.ece|access-date=23 October 2020|issn=0971-751X|quote=A Fulbright and Smith-Mundt Fellowship in 1953 paved way for him to pursue masters degree in linguistics at University of Pennsylvania during 1954–55.}}</ref> His grandson, Ravi Bhadriraju, was a rhythm guitarist in the famous [[Death metal|death metal band]], ''[[Job for a Cowboy]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Homegrown|title=32 Musicians of Indian Descent Creating Sensational Sounds Abroad [Vol. II]|url=https://homegrown.co.in/article/35566/32-musicians-of-indian-descent-creating-sensational-sounds-abroad-vol-ii|access-date=24 October 2020|website=homegrown.co.in|language=en}}</ref>

==Contribution to linguistics==
Krishnamurti is considered to be among the first to apply the rigour of modern comparative linguistic theory to further the study of [[Dravidian languages]]. His thesis ''Telugu Verbal Bases'' (1961) is the first comprehensive account of comparative Dravidian phonology and derivational morphology of verbal bases in Dravidian from the standpoint of Telugu. His comprehensive grammar on [[Konda language (Dravidian)|{{IAST|koṃḍa}}]] or Kūbi is a monumental work in the area of non-literary Dravidian languages.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Krishnamurti|first1=Bhadriraju|title=Telugu Verbal Bases|date=1972|publisher=Shri Jainendra Press|isbn=9780608110523}}</ref> His research was devoted to the central problems of [[phonology]] and morphology/syntax of Dravidian, and he made significant contributions in advancing the then nascent field of comparative and historical Dravidian studies in the second half of the twentieth century. His ''Comparative Dravidian Linguistics: Current Perspectives'' is a collection of twenty-one important articles published during the period 1955–1998, which attempts to provide solutions to many outstanding problems of Dravidian linguistics. His recent work ''The Dravidian Languages'' published by Cambridge University Press (2003) is a culmination of the scholarly research carried out by him in the last fifty years. It replaces [[Robert Caldwell|Caldwell]]'s one-hundred-fifty-year-old ''A comparative Grammar of Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages'' as a comprehensive and authoritative source of reference on the Dravidian languages.

After a brief service (1960–61) at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], he returned to India and started the Department of Linguistics at [[Osmania University]] which later became the first center of Advanced Studies in Linguistics in India. He was also instrumental in conceptualizing, designing and implementing the compilation of ''A Telugu Dialect Dictionary of Occupational Vocabularies'' in Andhra Pradesh, India, and so far over a dozen volumes covering different occupations and dialects have been published. This series is first of its kind in India.

==Positions held==
Krishnamurti worked as a lecturer in Telugu at [[Andhra University]] (1949–61); Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley (1960–61); Reader in Telugu, S. V. U.(1961–62); Professor of Linguistics (1962–88), Osmania University, Dean, Faculty of Arts (1973–76), Member, Univ Syndicate (1971–75); Director, Southern Regional Centre, [[Indian Council of Social Science Research]] (1978–82); Vice-Chancellor, University of Hyderabad (1986–93), Honorary Professor, University of Hyderabad 1993–99; Andhra University 2003–.

Krishnamurti was also associated with the study of South Indian languages in many western institutions, and was a visiting professor of linguistics at several universities. He was the first Asian Fellow at ANU (1974), a Resident Fellow at the [[Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences]], Stanford (1975–76), and Rama Watumaull Distinguished Indian Scholar at the University of Hawaii (1995).

He was a visiting professor at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1967), Cornell University, Ithaca (1967,
1970), Australian National University (1974), Tokyo University (1982), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (1983), University
of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1986), University of Hawaii (1995), University of Texas at Arlington (1995).
Resident Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford (2000
–2001), Member, [[Institute for Advanced Study]], Princeton (1999–2000), Visiting Fellow,
Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, Institute for Advanced Study, La Trobe University, Melbourne
(2001), Visiting Scientist, [[Max Planck Institute]] in Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
(2003 September–November); He was also served as President of the Linguistic Society of India in 1970, and also as President of the [[Dravidian Linguistics Association]] in 1980.

==Awards==
He was the first of the two Indian scholars to become a fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] (2004),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/article1180227.ece |title=National / Andhra Pradesh: Creating a 'pan-Dravidian' identity |work=The Hindu|date=17 January 2008 |access-date=21 August 2012}}</ref> and only second Indian after [[Suniti Kumar Chatterji|S. K. Chatterji]] to receive an honorary membership from the [[Linguistic Society of America]] in 1985. He was elected Corresponding Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]], UK, in 2004. He had been an executive member of [[Sahitya Akademi]], New Delhi, 1990–2002. He was conferred an honorary doctorate in literature by [[Sri Venkateswara University]] in 1998, and by [[Dravidian University]] in 2007. He was elected Fellow of Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, in 2004. He received the Gidugu Ramamurti Award at the 15th TANA (Telugu Association of North America), Detroit, July 2005. He was the first recipient of the Telugu Bhaarati Award instituted by C.P.Brown Academy, Hyderabad (2008). He also received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 10th ATA (American Telugu Association), New Jersey, for significant contributions to Telugu and Dravidian linguistics, 3–5 July 2008. He was presented Indian Linguistics, Vol. 70, as [[Festschrift]] by the Linguistic Society of India, on the occasion of his 80th birth year in 2009.

He died after a brief illness in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/article3757019.ece |title=Cities / Hyderabad : Linguist Bhadriraju Krishnamurti dead |work=The Hindu|date=12 August 2012 |access-date=21 August 2012}}</ref>

==Publications in English==

===Authored===
*{{cite book |last1= Krishnamurti |first1= Bhadriraju |title= Telugu Verbal Bases: A Comparative and Descriptive Study (reprinted 1972) |series= UCPL |volume= 24 |year= 1961 |publisher= University of California Press |location= Berkeley and Los Angeles |isbn= 978-1-258-17843-7}}
*{{cite book |last1= Krishnamurti |first1= Bhadriraju |author2=P. Sivananda Sarma |title= A Basic Course in Modern Telugu |year= 1968 |publisher= Department of Linguistics, Osmania University (reprinted in 2006 by Telugu Akademi, Himayatnagar, Hyderabad) |location= Hyderabad }}
*{{cite book |last1= Krishnamurti |first1= Bhadriraju |title= {{IAST|koṃḍa}} or Kūbi: A Dravidian Language |series= Tribal Cultural Research and Training Institute |volume= 2 |year= 1969 |publisher= Tribal Cultural Research and Training Institute, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh |location= Hyderabad }}
*{{cite book |last1= Krishnamurti |first1= Bhadriraju |author2=Djordje Kostic'|author3= Alokananda Mitter |title= A Short Outline of Telugu Phonetics |year= 1977 |publisher= Indian Statistical Institute|location= Calcutta}}
*{{cite book |last1= Krishnamurti |first1= Bhadriraju |author2=J P L Gwynn |author2-link=J P L Gwynn |title= A Grammar of Modern Telugu |year= 1985 |publisher= Oxford University Press |location= New Delhi |isbn= 978-0-19-561664-4}}
*{{cite book |last1= Krishnamurti |first1= Bhadriraju |author2=I. Ramabrahmam|author3= C. R. Rao|author3-link= C. R. Rao|title= Evaluation of Total Literacy Campaigns: Chittoor and Nizamabad Districts of Andhra Pradesh |year= 1995 |publisher= Book Links Corporation |location= Hyderabad |isbn= 978-81-85194-35-6}}
*{{cite book |last1= Krishnamurti |first1= Bhadriraju |title= Language, Education and Society |year= 1998 |publisher= Sage |location= New Delhi |isbn= 978-81-7036-695-9}}
*{{cite book |last1= Krishnamurti |first1= Bhadriraju |title= Comparative Dravidian Linguistics: Current Perspectives |year= 2001 |publisher= Oxford University Press, USA |isbn= 978-0-19-824122-5}}
*{{cite book |last1= Krishnamurti |first1= Bhadriraju |title= The Dravidian Languages |edition= 1 |series= Cambridge Language Surveys |year= 2003 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |location= Cambridge |isbn= 978-0-521-77111-5}}
*{{cite book |last1= Krishnamurti |first1= Bhadriraju |title= Studies in Telugu Linguistics |year= 2010 |publisher= C P Brown Academy |location= Hyderabad |isbn= 978-93-8012-099-7}}

===Edited===
*{{cite book |last1= Emeneau |first1= M.B. |editor1-first= Bhadriraju |editor1-last= Krishnamurti |title= Studies in Indian Linguistics: Professor M. B. Emeneau {{IAST|Ṣaṣṭ}}ipūrti Volume |year= 1968 |publisher= Centres of Advanced Study in Linguistics |location= Poona and Annamalainagar }}
*{{cite book |editor1-first= Bhadriraju |editor1-last= Krishnamurti |editor2-first= Aditi |editor2-last= Mukherji |title= Modernization of Indian Languages in News Media |year= 1984|publisher= Department of Linguistics, Osmania University |location= Hyderabad }}
*{{cite book |editor1-first= Bhadriraju |editor1-last= Krishnamurti |editor2-first=C.P. |editor2-last=Massica |editor3-first=A.K |editor3-last=Sinha |title= South Asian Languages: Structure, Convergence, and Diglossia (Proceedings of the Second International Conference of the South Asian Languages and Linguistics) |year= 1986 |publisher= Motilal Banarsidass |location= Delhi }}
*{{cite book |editor1-first= Bhadriraju |editor1-last= Krishnamurti |editor2-last= Dimock |editor2-first= Edward C. |editor3-last= Kachru |editor3-first=Brah |title= Dimensions of Sociolinguistics in South Asia: Papers in Memory of Gerald Kelley |year= 1992 |publisher= Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. P.Ltd. |location= Delhi }}
*{{cite book |editor1-first= Bhadriraju |editor1-last= Krishnamurti |others= Chaganti Vijayasree |title= Gold Nuggets: An Anthology of Telugu Short Stories of the Post-Independence Period in Translation |publisher= Sahitya Akademi |location= New Delhi }}

==Publications in Telugu==

===Authored===
*{{cite book |last1= Krishnamurti |first1= Bhadriraju |author2=Eswara Reddy|title= janawācakam in 5 Volumes (One primer and workbook, two readers and a teacher's guide for Telugu non-literates) |year= 1980 |publisher= Director of Adult Education, Government of Andhra Pradesh|location= Hyderabad }}
*{{cite book |last1= Krishnamurti |first1= Bhadriraju |title= Tēlika telugu wācakam (Literacy Primer in Telugu, Parts I & II) |publisher= Visalandhra Publishers |location= Hyderabad }}
*{{cite book |last1= Krishnamurti |first1= Bhadriraju |title= cinnanāTi padyālu (Poems of Younger Days) |year= 1998 |publisher= Author |location= Hyderabad }}
*{{cite book |title= {{IAST|bhāSa, samājam, saṃskṛti}} (Language, Society and Culture)|year= 1999 |publisher= Nilkamal Publishers |location= Hyderabad |isbn= 978-81-86804-46-9 }}

===Edited===
*{{cite book |editor1-first= Bhadriraju |editor1-last= Krishnamurthi |title= (Ed. & Comp.) {{IAST|Mānṇḍalika Writtipadakōśam}}: A Telugu Dialect Dictionary of Occupational Vocabularies |volume= I: Agriculture Vocabulary |year= 1962 |publisher= A.P.Sahitya Akademi (Reprinted 1974) |location= Hyderabad: A.P. |isbn= 978-1-179-07882-3 }}
*{{cite book |author=A. Ramakrishna Rao & D.V. Avadhani |editor1-first=Bhadriraju |editor1-last= Krishnamurti |title= Tikkana padaprayōga kōśam (A Concordance of Tikkana's Māhābhārata, a literary work of the 13th century) |volume= I |year= 1971 |publisher= A.P. Sahitya Akademi |location= Hyderabad }}
*{{cite book |editor1-first= Bhadriraju |editor1-last= Krishnamurti |title= {{IAST|Māṇḍalika Writtipadakōśam}}: A Telugu Dialect Dictionary of Occupational Vocabularies |volume= II: Handloom Vocabulary |year= 1972 |publisher= A.P. Sahitya Akademi |location= Hyderabad }}
*{{cite book |author=A. Ramakrishna Rao & D.V. Avadhani |editor1-first= Bhadriraju |editor1-last= Krishnamurti |title= Tikkana padaprayōga kōśam (A Concordance of Tikkana's Māhābhārata, a literary work of the 13th century) |volume= II |year= 1974 |publisher= A.P. Sahitya Akademi |location= Hyderabad }}
*{{cite book |editor1-first= Bhadriraju |editor1-last= Krishnamurti |title= Telugu bhāSā caritra (A History of the Telugu Language) |publisher= A.P. Sahitya Akademi (2nd edition 1979; reprinted six times by Telugu University till 2006)|location= Hyderabad }}
*{{cite book |author=A. Ramakrishna Rao & D.V. Avadhani |editor1-first= Bhadriraju |editor1-last= Krishnamurti |title= Tikkana padaprayōga kōśam (A Concordance of Tikkana's Mahābhārata, a literary work of the 13th Century) |volume= III |year= 1977|publisher= A.P. Sahitya Akademi |location= Hyderabad }}
*{{cite book |author=Budaraju Radhakrishna |editor1-first= Bhadriraju |editor1-last= Krishnamurti |title= Bhāratīya Sāhityam: Samakālika kathānikalu (Contemporary Indian Short Stories) [in English] |year= 1996 |publisher= Sahitya Akademi |location= New Delhi }}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.academia.edu/5566024/Professor_Bhadriraju_Krishnamurti_1928-2012_ Bhadriraju Krishnamurti] at academia.edu

{{SahityaAkademiFellowship}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju}}
[[Category:Dravidologists]]
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:2012 deaths]]
[[Category:Telugu people]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian linguists]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Osmania University]]
[[Category:English-language Indian writers]]
[[Category:Indian editors]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Andhra University]]
[[Category:Scholars from Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:Heads of universities and colleges in India]]

Bhadriraju Krishnamurti - Revision history

TKMD at 15:59, 16 October 2025