Rai was born on 8 June 1915 to Duggappa and Deyyakka Rai in aTulu-speaking[8]Bunt family.[1] His given name is unique since it includes theKannada alphabet 'ಞ' (apalatal consonant pronounced nasally as "nya"), which is used very rarely in thewritten Kannada of today and is absent in the English alphabet which often leads to various other transliterations of his given name such asKinyanna andKinnanna. Rai first learnedKannada in school.[1] Later he published his first handwritten journal,Susheela, at the age of 12.[1] He was influenced byMahatma Gandhi and also participated in the freedom movement of India.[1] During this period he married Unhakke and is a father to eight children.
Rai started his career as a secondary school teacher. He also delved into journalism and contributed his writings to newspapers likeSwabhimana,Madras Mail andThe Hindu.[1] He received the National Award for Best Teacher in 1969.[9] He is a writer and poet who has written books on theatre, grammar and children. Some of his famous poems areShreemukha,Aikyagana,Punarnava,Chethana andKoraga. He has written a biography ofGovinda Pai, theKannada poet from whom he was highly influenced. His other important works areMalayala Sahitya Charithre (History ofMalayalam literature),which is a translation of an original work by P. K. Parameshwaran Nair[10] andSahithya Drushti. He was conferred an honorary doctorate byMangalore University in 2005.[11] He also chaired the 66th AkhilaKannada Sahitya Sammelana (Kannada Literature Conference), which was held atMangalore. Some of his poems have been used as songs for the Kannada film,Paduvaaralli Pandavaru (Kannada:ಪಡುವಾರಳ್ಳಿ ಪಾಂಡವರು) which was directed byPuttanna Kanagal. In 1980 he also stood for elections inKasargod to the Kerala Legislative Assembly but was unsuccessful.[12]
Rai was also an avid agriculturist and was active in the cultivation of areca, rubber and rice.
Rai was a campaigner for the merger ofKasaragod district intoKarnataka.[13] One of his main goals was to seek the implementation of the Mahajan Committee Report, which urged the inclusion of the northern part of Kasaragod district (to the north of the Chandragiri river) into Karnataka.[14] He founded the Kasargod Merger Action Council (Kasaragod Vileeneekarana Kriya Samithi) in 2002 to work towards this goal. Describing the goals of this council Rai said thatthe linguistic minorities in the district were not against the Malayalis or Kerala State, per se, but were demanding the implementation of the Justice Mahajan Commission report, vis-a-vis the fulfilment of promises made by the former Chief Ministers,E. M. S. Namboodiripad,C. Achutha Menon andPattam Thanu Pillai, in this regard.[15][16]
Rai had a natural death from old age at his residence at Kallakalia nearBadiyadka,Kasaragod,Kerala at the age of 100.[17]
"Benki biddide namma manege ... O bega banni, Kannadada gadi kayona banni, Kannadada nudi kaypona banni" – ("Our house is on fire ... Oh come fast, let's safeguard the boundaries of Kannada, let's save the Kannada language")[1]
"Language and culture transcend geographical barriers and people who want to disseminate culture and language are not bound by borders."[1]
"It is meaningless for the Karnataka Government to observe Suvarna Karnataka [the Golden Jubilee of the formation of the state of Karnataka] if the problems faced by the State are not solved."[1]
^abcdefghiA short biography of Kayyara Kinyanna Rai is presented byAnantha Padmanabha."Kayyara Kinyanna Rai-90".Online Webpage of ThatsKannada.com, dated 29 March 2004. Greynium Information Technologies Pvt. Ltd.Archived from the original on 8 March 2014. Retrieved18 April 2007.
