SL Bhyrapa and Sahity Bhandar never had any formal agreements between themselves, and Bhyrapa consistently rejected lucrative offers from other publishers, according to Arno MG Sahitya Bhandar.
Mr. Aruna said that the family connection with Bhyrappa exceeded the mere relationship of the publisher and there was never a misunderstanding between bhyrapa and publications.
“In fact, many top publishers and influential characters have tried to persuade Bhyrapp by offering additional license fees, better quality and increased press runs, but refused everything. He did not allow him to influence him,” said Aruna Hindu.
According to him, Sahitya Bhandar published 24 out of 25 books written by late Bhyrapa. The roots of this association date back to 1961, when he published Dharmashree.
At that time, Bhyrappa was a professor of philosophy at Kadasiddesh Colege in Hubball. One of his students approached him to ask if he would give the philosophy of his father, who was a manager at Corporation Bank in Hubball. “Bhyrappa easily agreed and the classes began. Moon later, after building a relationship with the manager, Bhyrappa mentioned that he wrote a book and was looking for publishers,” said Aruna Hindu.
Interestingly, since 1935 she had Sahitya Bhandar, located in Hubball, a business account at the same bank.
“My father, Govinda Rao and the bank manager were friends, and that is when he approached my father to publish the book Bhyrapy,” Aruna said. “My father was Gandhian and after reading the Dharmashree proposal and offered to publish a book,” he added.
Mr. Aruna remembered that sometime at the age of 90, when Govinda Rao retreated from business and they (his sons) took over the publishing house, they forgot to pay Bhyrapa’s license fees after reprint. “Even then, Bhyrappa did not ask us anything, even though he knew,” he said.
Aruna further shared the response of Bhyrappy to the publisher who approached him to publish his book through his publication: “What do I say to Sahity Bhandar, if they ever ask me what they did wrong and make me move my books to another publisher?” According to Mr. Aruna Bhyrapp, he told the publisher.
Published – September 2025 9:37
