List of people from Karnataka

This is a list of famous and notable people from Karnataka, India. 'Criteria of Name' Inclusion: Names of people whose work has been appreciated by the public has been included in the list, not considering the critical views of some people.

Arts and entertainment

Cinema

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Aishwarya Rai Ambareesh Ananth Nag Anushka Sharma Anushka Shetty Amrita Rao Arjun Sarja Arthi Atul Kulkarni B. Saroja Devi B. R. Pantalu B. S. Ranga B. V. Karanth Bala Balakrishna Bharathi Bhavana Chandulal Jain Comedy Time Ganesh Darshan Tugudeep Deepika Padukone Dinesh Dwarakesh Feroz Khan	Ganesh Hegde G. V. Iyer Geetha Girish Karnad Girish Kasaravalli Guru Dutt Isha Koppikar Jaggesh Kalpana Kalyan Kumar Kashinath Lakshmi Rai Leelavathi Lokesh M. R. Vittal M. S. Sathyu Manjula Master Manjunath Nagathihalli Chandrashekar Narasimharaju Pandari Bai Pattabhirama Reddy Pradeep Uppoor	Prakash Rai Prema Puneeth Rajkumar Puttana Kanagal Raghavendra Rajkumar Rajanikanth Rajesh Rajkumar Rakshita Ramesh Arvind Ramya Ravichandran Rockline Venkatesh Rohit Shetty Roopa Iyer Sadashiv Salian Sakshi Shivanand Sandeep Chowta Sanjay Khan Shamitha Shetty Shankar Nag Shashi Kumar Shilpa Shetty	Shivarajkumar Siddalingiah Sneha Ullal Snehalatha Reddy Soundarya Srinath Sudha Rani Suman Nagarkar Suman Ranganath Sunil Kumar Desai Suniel Shetty T. S. Nagabharana Tara Thugudeep Srinivas Tiger Prabhakar Uday Kumar Uma Shivakumar Upendra Vajramuni Vaishali Desai Vasundhara Das Vishnuvardhan Vishwanath Ayengar

Theatre

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A. S. Murthy Arundhati Nag Ashok Mandanna B. V. Karanth Bhargavi Narayana C. P. Krishnamurthy Chandrashekhar Kambara Chindodi Leela Enagi Baalappa	Enagi Nataraja Garuda Sadashivarao Girish Karnad Gubbi Veeranna Jayashree K. V. Subbanna Kalpana Lokesh Makeup Nani	Master Hirannayya Mukhyamantri Chandru Nagaratnamma Prasanna Preetham Venky R. J. Anjaan Setumadhavarao Manvi Shankar Nag Shivananda	Sihikahi Chandru Subbayya Naidu Subhadramma Mansoor Sudhir Umashree Vajramuni Vasanth Kavali Vishaya Jevur Yashwant Sardeshpande

Ancient Architecture & Sculpture

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• Amarashilpi Jakanachari
• Gundan Anivaritachari
• Ruvari Malithamma

Modern Art - Painting, Sculpture, Puppetry, New Media Art & Art Criticism

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B.K.S. Varma B.V. Rama Murthy Biju Jose C.P.B. Prasad[1] Anil Kumar H.A[2] Dattatreya Aralikatte Kogga Kamath K.K. Hebbar K.K. Raghava	K. Venkatappa M.S. Umesh R.K. Laxman R.M. Hadpad Ramya Nagraj Surekha Sheela Gowda Yusuf Arakkal S. G. Vasudev

Music

Classical Music - Carnatic

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Bidara Krishnappa Gopala Dasa Harikesanallur Muthayya Bhagavathar Jagannatha Dasa Kadri Gopalnath Kamalesha Vittala Kanakadasa Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Mysore Manjunath Mysore Nagaraj Mysore Sadasiva Rao Mysore V. Ramarathnam Mysore Vasudevacharya N. Ravikiran	Purandaradasa R.K. Padmanabha R. K. Srikanthan R.R. Keshavamurthy S. Seshagiri Rao Sripadaraya Suchetan Rangaswamy T. Chowdiah Vadiraja Vijaya Dasa Vyasatirtha Doraiswamy Iyengar Veene Sheshanna Veene Subbanna	Vittal Ramamurthy Flute V Deshikachar Smt Kshama Govind Rau Ghatam Udupa M. S. Sheela Mysore Nagamani Srinath B. Shankar Rao M.R.Doraswamy M.S.Srinivasa Murthy

Classical Music - Hindustani

Abdulla Khaja (Bansuri) Anupamaa Gudi Mangalvede(mumbai) (vocal) Arjunsa Nakod (Vocal) Ashok Huggannanavar (Vocal) Bale Khan (Sitar) Bapu Padmanabha(Bansuri) Basavaraja Rajaguru (Vocal) Bhimsen Joshi (Vocal) Shripati Padigar (Vocal) Dhananjaya Hegde (Vocal) Dattatreya Velankar, (Vocal) Fayyaz Khan (Sarangi) Ganapati Bhat (Vocal) Gangubai Hangal (Vocal) Gururao Deshpande (Vocal) Gayatri Gudi (vocal) Hanumanna Nayak Dore (Vocal) I.N. Kalaburgi (Vocal) Jayateerth Mevundi (Vocal) Kaivalya Kumar Gurav (Vocal) Keerti Kumar Badseshi (Vocal) Krishna Hangal (Vocal) Kumar Gandharva (Vocal) Lalith J. Rao (Vocal)	Madhav Gudi (Vocal) Govind Rotti (Vocal) Madhava Rao Nayak (?) Mallikarjun Mansur (Vocal) Nachiketa Sharma (Vocal) Nagaraja Rao Havaldar (Vocal) Omkarnath Havaldar (Vocal) Panchakshari Gawai (Vocal) Panchakshari Swami Mattigatti (Vocal) Parameshwara Hegde(Vocal) Prasanna Madhav Gudi Pravin D. Rao (Tabla, Keyboards) Pravin Godkhindi (Bansuri) Puttaraja Gawai (Vocal) Raghavendra Gudi (Vocal) Raghunath Nakod (Tabla) Rajabhau Sontakke (Vocal) Rajashekhara Mansur (Vocal) Rajeev Taranath (Sarod) Rajendra Kulkarni (Bansuri) Rajendra Nakod (Tabla)	Ramesh H Kulkarni(Hindustani Vocal) Ravindra Katoti (Harmonium) Shreedhar Kulkarni (Vocal) Ravindra Yavagal (Tabla) SAADHANE (Rajguru Guruswami Kalikeri-Vocal) Sanjeev Chimmalgi (Vocal) Sangameshwara Gurav(Vocal) Sangeetha Katti(Vocal) Sawai Gandharva (Vocal) Shantaram Hegde (Vocal) Shyamala G Bhave Sheikh Hannumiya (Vocal) Sheshagiri Hanagal (Tabla) Sheshagiri Gudi (Vocal) Smita Bellur (Vocal) Srinivas Kulkarni(Tabla & Drums) Taranath Ram Rao Hattiangadi (Tabla) Venkatesh Godkhindi (Bansuri) Venkatesh Kumar (Vocal) Vinayak Torvi (Vocal) Gopalakrishna Hegde, Kallabhag(Tabla) Vishwanath Nakod (Tabla) Vyasamurthy Katti (Harmonium) Udayraj Karpoor (Tabla) Koushik Aithal (Vocal)

Modern musicians

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• Bapu Padmanabha, Bamboo Flute.
• C. Ashwath, Sugama Sangeetha.
• Balappa Hukkeri, Folklore.
• G.V. Atri, Bhavageete.
• Ganesh Hegde, Choreography.
• Lucky Ali, Vocal.
• Mysore Ananthaswamy, Bhavageete.
• P. Kalinga Rao, Bhavageete.
• Pravin D. Rao, Tabla and Keyboard.
• Pravin Godkhindi, Flute.
• Shimoga Subbanna, Sugama Sangeetha.
• Gopalakrishna Hegde,Kallabhag,Tabla
• Aravinda Huilagolkar, Gadag Hindustani vocalist
• Sameer Rao Flautist

Film Music

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• Anoop Seelin
• Arjun
• B. V. Karanth
• Biddu
• C. Ashwath
• G. K. Venkatesh
• G. V. Iyer
• Gurukiran
• Hamsalekha
• Jayant Kaikini
• Mano Murthy
• Rajan-Nagendra
• Ravichandran
• Sadhu Kokila
• Sandeep Chowta
• Shankar Ganesh
• V. Harikrishna
• V. Manohar
• Vijaya Bhaskar
• Raghu Dixit

Fashion

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• Anushka Sharma
• Deepika Padukone
• Prasad Bidapa

Classical Dance

Dr.Maya Rao Narmada Nirupama Rjendra Rajendra T D U S Krishna Rao ChandrabhagaDevi

Great Kings and Nobles

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Aliya Rama Raya Abbakka Rani Amoghavarsha I Basaveshwara Bijjala II Bukka Raya I Chand Bibi Deva Raya II Dhruva Dharavarsha Durvinita Govinda III Hyder Ali	Harihara I Ibrahim Adil Shah II Indra III Jayachamaraja Wodeyar Kempe Gowda Krishna III Krishnadeva Raya Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV Madakari Nayaka Mayuravarma Pulakesi II	Rani Chennamma of Keladi Rani Chennamma of Kittur Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya Sangolli Rayanna of Kittur Tailapa II Tippu Sultan Veera Ballala II Veera Ballala III Vikramaditya II Vikramaditya VI Vishnuvardhana

Industrialists

M. Sachidananda Moorthy, I. A. S., First MD Hiranyakeshi Coop Sugar Factory, Sankeshwar, CMD NGEF Ltd, KEB Chairman (1976-1979) A. B. Shetty, Founder, Vijaya Bank. Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, Founder, Canara Bank. Azim Premji, Wipro Technologies, Ltd. B. R. Shetty, NMC Group. Gururaj Deshpande, Tejas Networks, Sycamore Networks. K. V. Kamath, Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon India Ltd. Mark Mascarenhas, WorldTel. N. R. Narayana Murthy, Infosys Technologies, Ltd. Nandan Nilekani, Infosys Technologies, Ltd. Phaneesh Murthy, iGATE Global Solutions, Ltd. R. N. Shetty, Murdeshwar Group. T. M. A. Pai, Co-founder, Syndicate Bank. Upendra Ananth Pai, Co-founder, Syndicate Bank. V. G. Siddhartha, Cafe Coffee Day. Vaman Srinivas Kudva, Co-founder, Syndicate Bank. Vijay Mallya, UB Breweries, Kingfisher Beer. Vijay Sankeshwar, Vijayanand Group. Umesh Hegde Unchalli, Food Processing and Export. back to top

Health care

• Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty, Cardiovascular Surgeon.
• Dr. M. C. Modi, Eye Surgeon.
• Dr. Sharan Patil, Orthopaedic Surgeon.
• Dr. Y. G. Parameshwara

Science and technology

Science

• C. N. R. Rao, Chemistry.
• C. R. Rao, Statistics.
• M. C. Modi, Ophthalmology.
• Narayan Hosmane, Biochemistry, Cancer Research.
• Raja Ramanna, Physics.
• Roddam Narasimha, Aerospace, Atmospheric Sciences.
• U. R. Rao, Space Science.
• B. N. Suresh
• S. K. Shivkumar
• K. N. Shankara
• Shri Vadiraj Raghavendra Katti, Padmashree awardee 2003, Fellow of Instituition of Engineers (FIE), India,ISRO,(ISAC) Bangalore

Mathematics

• Bhaskaracharya
• Leelavati
• Mahaviracharya
• Shakuntala Devi

Technology

• Arun Netravali, Bell Lab.
• B.V. Jagadeesh, Co-founder, Exodus Communications.
• Kumar Malavalli, Co-founder, Brocade Communication Systems.
• Mallikarjuna Bennur, General Motors.
• Sir M. Visvesvaraya.

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Literature

Classical literateurs

Nripatunga Amoghavarsha Ranna Janna Adikavi Pampa Sri Ponna Shivakotiacharya Muddana Andayya Gangadevi Kumaravyasa Harihara	Raghavanka Rudrabhatta Basavanna Akka Mahadevi Sarvajna Tirumalamba Purandaradasa Kanakadasa Shishunaala Sharif Saheba Trivikrama Panditacharya Narayana Panditacharya

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Modern literateurs

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A.N. Krishna Rao Anupama Niranjana Adya Rangacharya Arya B. G. L. Swamy B. M. Srikantaiah B. T. Desai Beechi Chandrashekhara Kambara Da. Ra. Bendre D. Javare Gowda D. V. Gundappa G. B. Joshi (Jadabharata) G. P. Rajarathnam Girish Karnad Gopalakrishna Adiga	Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar P.M. Giriraju Ha Ma Nayak K. S. Narasimhaswamy K. S. Nissar Ahmed K. V. Tirumalesh K. Anantharamu Kota Shivarama Karanth Kuvempu Lavanya Sankaran M. Govinda Pai M. V. Seetaramiah Maasti Venkatesh Ayengar Mena Ramakrishna Bhat P. Lankesh Panchakshari Hiremath	Panje Mangesh Rao SAADHANE (Rajguru Guruswami Kalikeri) T. N. Mallappa. Judge High Court of Mysore (1947-1954), Vedavedanta VidyaVachaspathi Poornachandra Tejaswi P. T. Narasimhachar R. K. Narayan Raja Rao S. L. Bhyrappa Shatavadhani Dr.R.Ganesh S. V. Parameshwara Bhatt Samsa Shashi Deshpande T. P. Kailasam T. R. Subba Rao T. N. Srikantaiah U. R. Ananthamurthy V. K. Gokak H. S. Venkatesha Murthy H. R. Chandrasekhar

Politicians

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K.C. Reddy, Former Chief Minister Kadidal Manjappa, Former Chief Minister Gudlappa D Hallikeri, Freedom Fighter & Former Chairman of the Legislative Council of Karnataka. S. Shivappa, Former Oppostion Leader Devaraj Urs, Former Chief Minister Basappa Danappa Jatti, Former Vice-President B.Vaikunta Vaikunta Baliga, Former Law Minister, & Former Speaker, Mysore State M Krishnappa, Former M.L.C. George Fernandes, Former Defense Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, Former Prime Minister Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya Kengal Hanumanthaiah, Former Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde, Former Chief Minister Vishweshwara Hegde, Sitting Primary education Minister J.H.Patel, Former Chief Minister Gundu Rao, Former Chief Minister S Nijalingappa, Former Chief Minister Rao Bahadur S.N. Angadi, Former M.L.A, Deputy Speaker of Bombay Assembly, DLB Chairman - Freedom Fighter M.N. Jois, Former M.L.C, Deputy Speaker of Legislative Council - Mysore State, Eminent Freedom Fighter Veerendra Patil, Former Chief Minister S.R.Bommai, Former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, Governor of Maharashtra & Former Chief Minister

Dharam Singh, Former Chief Minister Byre Gowda, Former Cabinet Minister B.N. Bacche Gowda, Former Cabinet Minister Siddaramaiah, Former Deputy Chief Minister Veerappa Moily, Former Chief Minister S.Bangarappa, Former Chief Minister . H.N.Ananth Kumar, Former Union Minister & M.P. H.D.Kumaraswamy, Former Chief Minister B.S.Yediyurappa, Chief Minister K.H. Muniyappa, Union minister of state for Railways Mallikarjun Kharge, Former State Minister (various portfolios), Current Union Labour Minister in the Manmohan Singh Government K.N. Nage Gowda, Former Cabinet Minister Qamar ul Islam, Former Housing & Labour Minister H.Vishwanath, Former Minister H.K.Patil, Former Textile, Water Resource, Agriculture, Law & Parliamentary Affairs minister D.R.Patil, Former MLA, Former President All India Co-operative Spinning Mills Federation - Mumbai, Chirman APMC Jayalalitha, Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu V.S.Acharya, Minister for Medical Education of Karnataka Shamanur Shivashankarappa, Davangere MLA and senior Congress leader M. A. M. Ramaswamy, Rajya Sabha MP and Industrialist S. K. Amin, Ex-vice president of the South Kanara District Congress Committee and MLA Veershetty Kushnoor,Former M.L.A.,Cabinet Minister,Member of Parliament back to top

Bureaucrats

• M. Sachidananda Moorthy, I. A. S., First MD

 Hiranyakeshi  Coop Sugar Factory, Sankeshwar, Belgaum. 
 CMD NGEF Ltd, KEB Chairman

• M. Subramanyam, I. A. S.
• M.S. Raguraman, IPS, Former D.G. & I.G.P.
• Dr.K.Sreenivasan, IPS, Former D.G. & I.G.P.
• B.N.Garudhachar, IPS, Former D.G. & I.G.P.
• Dr Yellapa Reddy, IFS, Former Secretary, Environment and Forest.
• M.C.Antin,Former Chief Engineer (General), Mysore State.
• J.C.Lynn, IAS, Former Chief Secretary, Karnataka.
• Dr.M.H.Marigowda, Former Director of Horticulture.
• H. T. Sangliana, Former Police Officer, and M.P. Lok Sabha.
• Gopal B. Hosur, IPS, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Current IGP Western Range (Head Quatered at Mangalore)
• Daya Nayak
• Kempaiah

Cooperative movement

• Shri. K. H Patil Former Co-Operative minister, who was instrumental to bring Co-Operative movement in north Karnataka
• S. K. Amin Founder of South Kanara District Co-Operative Fish Marketing Federation
• Veershetty Kushnoor,Former Chairman of All India Cooperative banks federation,Former Chairman of Karnataka State Cooperative Apex Bank limited,Bangalore,Former Minister of Cooperatives,Government of Karnataka,Former Member of Parliament.
• B.S.Vishwanathan,Chairman of National Cooperative Union of India,Chairman of Karnataka state land development Bank limited,Former M.L.C.
• M.P.Machaiah (late), Retired as Deputy Secretary, Kodagu District Cooperative Central Bank. Played a crucial role in strengthening the Cooperative movement in Coorg district. An upright officer widely respected by farmers.

Religion and philosophy

• Sarvajna
• Sree Sree Shivakumara Swamiji - Karnataka Ratna, highest civilian awarded by the state
• Kanaka Dasa - The great saint.
• Basavanna - Founder of Veerashaivism, social reformer
• Purandara Dasa - The great saint.
• Vidyaranya - 12th Shankaracharya of Sringeri, spiritual guide to Vijayanagar Empire.
• Allama Prabhu
• Madhvacharya
• Ramanujacharya - Offered asylum in Karnataka
• Mangesh V. Nadkarni
• Raghavendra Swami
• Akka Mahadevi
• Jayatirtha
• Sripadaraya
• Vyasatirtha
• Vadirajatirtha
• Naraharitirtha
• Padmanabha Tirtha

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Yoga

• B.K.S. Iyengar
• Geeta Iyengar
• Malladihalli Sri Raghavendra Swamiji
• Pattabhi Jois
• Prashant Iyengar
• R. Sharath
• Saraswathi Rangaswamy
• Srivatsa Ramaswami
• T.K. Sribhashyam
• T.K.V. Desikachar
• Akshata Hallikeri
• Tirumalai Krishnamacharya
• Jaggi Vasudev

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Wildlife and Environment

• Hanumappa Sudarshan
• Krupakar-Senani
• Ullas Karanth, Tiger conservation.
• Vandana Shiva

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Historians, Art Historians, Epigraphists and Archaeologists

• Dr. B.A. Saletore
• Dr. Jyotsna Kamat
• Dr. Krisnanand L. Kamat
• Dr. P.B. Desai
• P. Gururaja Bhat
• Dr. R.H. Kulkarni
• Dr. Suryanath U. Kamat
• G. S. Gai
• Anil Kumar H.A[3]
• A. N. Narasimhia
• B. L. Rice
• R. Shama Shastri

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Social Service

• Sri Shivamurthy Murugharajendra Sharanaru
• Sri Sri Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Mahaswamiji
• Dr. Deenabandhu Gudlappa Hallikeri., MBBS MS., Hubli
• Chaya Srivatsa
• K.R. Rama Moorthy
• Sree Sree Shivakumara Swamiji
• S. K. Amin
• Malladihalli Sri Raghavendra Swamiji
• Sudha Murthy
• Veerendra Heggade

Sports

Cricket

• Budhi Kunderan
• E.A.S. Prasanna
• Gundappa Vishwanath
• Javagal Srinath
• Rahul Dravid
• Anil Kumble
• Roger Binny
• Syed Kirmani
• Brijesh Patel
• Venkatesh Prasad
• Bhagwat Chandrasekhar
• Sunil Joshi
• Raghuram Bhat
• Vijay Bhardwaj
• David Johnson
• Doddanarasaiah Ganesh
• M. Chinnaswamy
• Robin Uthappa
• Sadanand Viswanath
• Sujith Somasunder
• Manish Pandey
• Stuart Binny
• Vinay Kumar
• Deepak Chougule
• A. Ramakrishnappa
• Barrington Rowland
• Ganesh Satish

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Hockey

• B. P. Govinda (former captain, Arjun award)
• M. P. Ganesh (former captain, Arjun Award)
• Ashish Ballal
• Arjun Halappa
• M M Somaiya (former captain)
• Len Aiyappa
• Sandeep Michael
• V.R.Raghunath

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Athletics

• Ashwini Nachappa, Athletics
• J. J. Shobha, Athletics
• Vandana Rao, Athletics
• Vandana Shanbagh,athlete, Olympion, Arjuna awardee
• Vikas Gowda, discus thrower

Badminton

• Prakash Padukone
• Anup Sridhar
• Aparna Popat

Tennis

• Mahesh Bhupathi
• Rohan Bopanna
• Poojashree Venkatesh
• Srinath Prahlad

Others

• Chetan Baboor, Table Tennis
• Nisha Millet, Swimming
• Pankaj Advani, Billiards
• Malathi Krishnamurthy Holla

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Motorsports

• Sujith Kumar,Rallying

Military

• Field Marshall K.M. Cariappa, Commander-in-Chief, Indian Armed Forces
• Gen. Gurunath.G.Bewoor, Chief of Staff, Indian Army
• Gen. K.S. Thimayya, Chief of Staff, Indian Army

Judiciary

• P. Mahadevayya, Devaan Bahadduur Raajadharma Praveena, Chief Justice of High Court of Mysore(1932-1934)
• T. N. Mallappa. Judge High Court of Mysore (1947-1954), Vedavedanta VidyaVachaspathi
• M. Sadashivayya, Chief Justice, High Court of Mysore (1969-1970)
• M. Sadananda Swamy, Chief Justice of High Court of Guwahati
• Justice N. S. Lokur, Retired Chief Justice, The Bombay High Court

Others

• Mysore Nagaraja, The President of New York Metropolitan Transport Authority's Capital Construction
• A.N.Prahlada Rao, Crossword writer, created 18,000 crosswords
• PROF.N.C.PARAPPA, An Eminent Physical Educationist, Ex Registrar Bangalore University Bangalore. Winner of Karnataka Rajyotsava award-2001 and H.C Buck National award -1985

See also

• List of Kannada poets
• List of people from Bangalore
• Kannadigas
• Tuluva
• Kodava
• Konkani people
• Lists of Indians by state