Raja Rao, a renowned writer of novels and short stories, was born to a Brahmin couple at
Hassan in
Karnataka on 9th November, 1908. He was a distinguished philosopher and teacher who wrote in both English and
Kannada. In 1938, he published his first novel, Kanthapura. The novel depicted the story of Mahtma Gandhi's struggle for independence. His first collection of short stories, The Cow of the Barricades was published in 1947. The Serpent and the Rope, The Cat and Shakespeare, The Vicar of Wakefield and Shakespeare, and Comrade Kirillov are his other popular works. For his literary contributions, Rao was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 1997.
