Phakirappa Gurubasappa Halakatti

Dr. Phakirappa Gurubasappa Halakatti is a Kannada writer. He was born in Dharwad. He studied at the Basel Mission High School, Dharwad and then at St. Xaviour's College, Bombay. He obtained his B.A. and L.L.B. degrees from the University of Bombay. However he started his legal practice in Bijapur. He was an important public figure serving in several different capacities. He was an educationist and a vocal supporter of social reformation. As part of the educational reforms of the Lingayaths, he established a high school in 1910. He was also very active in ameliorating the conditions of the farmers and for this purpose he established a co-operative society in 1912 to help small-scale farmers, weavers, pot-makers, etc. His tenure as a member of the Mumbai Legislative Council in 1920 gave a much needed impetus to the politics of Bijapur and he enjoyed an important position among his colleagues and friends. "His political activities during this period also helped him building contacts with several national leaders and their followers" (The "Discovery" of Vachanas, 2012).

But his interest grew towards Vachana Shasthra of twelfth century. He visited many villages in north Karnataka and collected old palm leaf manuscripts in which vachanas were written. But some parts of those manuscripts were either damaged or missing. Then he completed those missing parts of vachana and published it in three volumes popularly known as [[Vachana Shastra Saara]] (The Essence of Vachana Shastra). His work was considered great as it made even a common man understand the vachana.

He also published two periodicals: "Shivaanubhava" and "Nava Karnataka".He was considered as the "Max Muller of Karnataka" for his continuous research on Vachana Shasthra for over 60 years just the same as Max Muller of Germany on Vedas. He was one of the foremost to translate vachanas into English and they were published in Indian Antiquity (1922). His contribution to Kannada literature lies primarily in the "discovery" of vachanas. It was part of his zealous research on the Lingayath literature. He collected, wrote and published more than ten thousand pages about Lingayath Literature out of which vachana vangmaya (literature) occupies a lion's share. He initiated the process of adapting precolonial vachanas to correspond to his contemporary sensibilities. He encouraged many young minds to take up studies on vachanas; collate and publish them. He is proudly hailed as "Vachana Gummata" (The Gumbaz of Vachanas) by [[B.M. Shrikantaiah]], the doyen of [[modern Kannada poetry]]. However, despite his fame and name, Halkatti spent his life in poverty. He was awarded the honorary doctorate by the Karnatak University. The British Government conferred him the titles Rao Sahib and Rao Bahadur. He was chosen as the President of Kannada Sahitya Sammelana which took place in 1926 at Bellary.