By The Hindu Bureau

Copyright thehindu

S.L. Bhyrappa and Sahitya Bhandara never had any formal agreements between them, and Bhyrappa consistently rejected lucrative offers from other publishers, according to Aruna M.G. of Sahitya Bhandara.

Mr. Aruna said that the family’s association with Bhyrappa went beyond a mere publisher-writer relationship, and there was never an instance of misunderstanding between Bhyrappa and the publication.

“In fact, many top publishers and influential figures tried to persuade Bhyrappa by offering more royalties, better quality, and increased print runs, but he rejected everything. He didn’t let even his close circle influence him,” Mr. Aruna told The Hindu.

According to him, Sahitya Bhandara published 24 of the 25 books written by the late Bhyrappa. The roots of this association date back to 1961, when it published Dharmashree.

At the time, Bhyrappa was a philosophy professor at Kadasiddeshwara College in Hubballi. One of his female students approached him to ask if he would give philosophy classes to her father, who was a manager at Corporation Bank in Hubballi. “Bhyrappa readily agreed, and the classes began. Months later, after building a rapport with the manager, Bhyrappa mentioned that he had written a book and was looking for a publisher,” Mr. Aruna told The Hindu.

Interestingly, since 1935, Sahitya Bhandara, which was located in Hubballi, had a business account at the same bank.

“My father, Govinda Rao, and the bank manager were friends, and that is when the latter approached my father to publish Bhyrappa’s book,” Mr. Aruna said. “My father was a Gandhian and used a bicycle to travel everywhere. He personally went on his bicycle to Bhyrappa’s house after reading the draft of Dharmashree and offered to publish the book,” he added.

Mr. Aruna recalled that sometime in the 1990s, when Govinda Rao had stepped back from the business and they (his sons) had taken over the publishing house, they forgot to pay royalties to Bhyrappa after a reprint. “Even then, Bhyrappa didn’t ask us for anything, despite knowing,” he said.

Aruna further shared Bhyrappa’s response to a publisher who had approached him to publish his book through their publication: “What will I tell Sahitya Bhandara if they ever ask me what they did wrong that made me shift my books to another publisher?” Bhyrappa had told the publisher, according to Mr. Aruna.