Dr. D.V. Gundappa, popularly known by his pen-name 'D.V.G.', was born on 17th March 1887 at Mulbagal, Kolar district, Karnataka. Formal education ended at Secondary School level, but he acquainted himself with the Vedas, the classics in Kannada, Sanskrit, Telugu and English, music and dance, and the speeches of Swami Vivekananda and the Presidents of the Congress.

In 1907 he began contributing articles to newspapers and journals. He helped to compile 'The Press Gag', reactions against the  Mysore Newspapers  Regulation  (1907).  He  started 'The  Karnataka ',  a  bi-weekly, 'The Indian Review of Reviews', 'Public Affairs', the journal of the Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs. He stabilised the running of the 'Karnataka Jana Jivana Mattu Arthasadhaka  Patrike' and the house journal of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat. Acquainted with Sir M. Visvesarya, he was nominated a member of the Bangalore Municipal Council (1912). He was devoted to G.K. Gokhale and his thought. Concerned about the problems of the Native States, he published many tracts on the subject. He was a member of the Committee on Constitutional Reforms in Mysore (1939) and of the Mysore Legislative Council (1926-1940). He was associated with the administration of Mysore since 1913, and with those who started the Congress in Mysore. An  outstanding  Kannada  litterateur,  his works included  lyrics like 'Antahpura Gite', philosophical poems like 'Manku Timmana Kagga', biographies, and translations of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' and Tennyson's. 'The Cup', essays on politics, culture and religion. His lecture on the 'Bhagvadgita' compiled as 'Gita  Tatparya' or 'Jivanadharma  Yoga'  received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1967. He was one of the editors of 'Pampa Bharata', an epic Kannada poem and of the English Kannada dictionary. He was also a Sanskrit scholar. Associated in 1915 with the founding of the Kannada Sahitya  Parishat  he  was  later  its Vice President, extending its activities and enhancing its prestige. He also started the Gokhale Service League, The Mysore State Journalists Association, the Shorthand Writers Association, the Self Protection League and the Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs.

The University of Mysore conferred the Hon. D. Litton him in 1961. He received the Padma Bhushan in 1974 from the  Government  of India. In October 1975 'D.V.G.', journalist, political thinker, man of letters, founder and organiser of the Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs  and  other  institutions,  passed  away.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India