Bengaluru Gundappa Lakshminarayana Swamy, popularly known as BGL Swamy, the great Indian Botanist of International fame and famous Kannada writer, was born on 5th February, 1916 to Dr. DV Gundappa and Smt.Bhagirathi. His father DVG of Mankuthimmana Kagga fame was a highly revered Kannada litterateur. His house was frequented by great personalities in the field of Kannada literature and this would have influenced Swamy in his education and development. He was a multifaceted personality with mastery in varied fields like Epigraphy, Archaeology, History, Art, Music apart from his field, Botany. He was well versed with many Indian & foreign languages and Kannada & Tamil Literature.
Swamy did his schooling in National High School and joined Central college where he studied BSc (hons) in Botany in 1939. Upon his father’s advice he carried out his research work at home with as simple equipments as an old Microscope and a Microtome and obtained DSc from Mysore University in 1944. He continued his research under Prof. Irwing Baily at Harward University, USA where he worked on vessel less Angiosperms. He returned to India, joined Botany Department, Madras Presidency College. He served as Head of the Department and principal of the College. Most of his writings in Kannada & Tamil and Research papers are from his experience and the research work carried out during the stay in Madras. After his retirement from Presidency College in 1978, he served the department of Botany, Mysore University as visiting Professor, but expired unexpectedly in the middle of his research plans on 2 November 1980.
BGL Swamy was a simple man with great thinking. He was always seen in white pyjama or white shirt and half pants of course with a pipe in his mouth in many photographs and that was his dress code. He was married to Vasantha who was his support in all his works.
His major field of work in Botany include Embryology and Anatomy of Angiosperms. His contributions to the field of Botany include discovery of Vesselless Angiosperms, studies on monocot embryogeny, Helobial Endosperm, Root-Stem transition, Comparison of Embryos and Embryoids, establishing the concept of quiescent centre in all meristematic zones, new classification of Embryosac, wood anatomy, relationship between Vascular cambium and procambium. He has extensively worked on embryology of Gymnosperms and Orchids. He guided 13 PhD students, hand picked by him. He has more than 300 research papers published in International journals like Phytomorphology, La Cellule and Current Science. He received Birbal Sahni award for his contributions to Botany in 1975. A few newly identified plants (Bulbostylis swamyi Govind,Cycas swamyi) are named after Swamy.
More than a botanist, he is popular for his writings in Kannada which he started in his college days as a student of Central College. His early writings were recognised by eminent Kannada scholars like V. Seetharamaiah, Dr. Ra Shivaram and the like. His writing style stands apart, which looks to be hilarious yet satirical, and emits deep knowledge in the subject yet describing it in simple way, be it plant related, art, ancient literature, music or Archaeology. Hasuru honnu , the travelogue describing his experiences about botanical trips with students is the most popular work. He received Kendra Sahitya Academy award for the book and set an example for father & son duo receiving the academy award. Namma Hotteyalli Dakshina America, Sakshatkarada Hadiyalli are other examples for his botanical writings for commoners. From Flower to Fruit is the only Botany book written by Swamy, coauthored by his student Dr KV Krishnamurthy. Panchakalasha gopura, Kaleju ranga, Pradhyapakana Peetadalli, Chidambaram, Thamilu thalegala naduve are some of the books by Swamy which have enriched modern Kannada literature. He has a lot of write ups on diverse topics like Art, artists like Venkatappa, music etc. in Kannada and English Dailies and popular magazines. He was a good artist by himself, has drawn cartoons and drawings for all his books and articles. He created textile designs based on anatomical details of plants which he displayed in exhibitions, sponsored by Nallis.
BGL Swamy as a Botanist is recognised internationally through his research findings in Embryology and plant Anatomy. However in his mother land he is more popular as a writer in kannada. Many of his books are reprinted now . Details of his works, achievements, contributions are now documented in books by different authors as a token of respect and appreciation. His birth centenary celebrations were organised in 2018 by various organisations like Karnataka Rajya Vijnana Parishat (5-2-2018), Pallatadka Keshava Bhat Memorial Trust, Udupi (18-2-2018), Vijaya College, RV Road, Bengaluru (24-2-2018) and others. Many Lectures were organised at Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs, Bengaluru, B M Sri Pratisthana, Bengaluru and other Institutions. A documentary on BGL Swamy , SWAMIYAANA has been produced by Kalamadhyam Media Works & DVG Balaga Pratishtana. Public shows of the documentary were held in Dharwad, Mangalore, Mysore Universities & colleges in Bengaluru City, Chikkaballapura, Kolar, Sringeri has received a lot of appreciation by public, students and Teachers.