Sannappa Parameshwar Gaonkar (January 11, 1885–1972), also called Sa.Pa. Gaonkar, was an India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n politician, and an author. Sapa. Gaonkar was often described as "Sajjan"', or "good and gentle".
Gaonkar was imprisoned during the British Raj

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

 for having participated in the Quit India Movement

Quit India Movement

The Quit India Movement , or the August Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...

, and later served as a Deputy Minister in B. G. Kher

B. G. Kher

Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher was the first chief minister of Bombay State which consisted of present day Maharastra and Gujrat States of India. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 1954...

’s cabinet of the composite State of Bombay, India.

Sannappa Parameshwara Gaonkar (Grandson of Ram Gaonkar) was born on January 11, 1885 in Torke

Torke

"Torke" , is a small village in Kumta taluk of Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka, India. This place is about a few square kilometres in extent. Torke traditionally is the amalgmation of Hoskatt , Naranapur, Toregazani , Torke , Devarabhavi, Hallergudi , Devana and Gonehalli...

. Sa.Pa. was a headmaster of the Kannada Primary School, at Tadadi

Tadadi

Tadadi is one of the ports in Uttar Kannada. It is near Gokarna in Kumta taluk.-References:* http://www.hinduonnet.com/2006/03/16/stories/2006031606890300.htm* http://www.dc-epaper.com/dc/dcb/2008/08/25/ArticleHtmls/25_08_2008_002_006.shtml...

. At the age of 40 (1925), Gaonkar graduated from the Willingdon college, Sangli

Willingdon college, Sangli

The Willingdon College, Sangli was started on the morning of June 22, 1919 in the Sangli City. During this period, Centers of higher education and colleges were rare...

. He was an officer at Hubli municipality. After his retirement in the year 1942, S. P. Gaonkar participated in Quit India movement and joined the Swaraj Party

Swaraj Party

The Swaraj Party, Swarajaya Party or Swarajya Party, established as the Congress-Khilafat Swarajaya Party, was a political party formed in India in 1922 that sought greater self-government and political freedoms for the Indian people from the British Raj. It was inspired by the concept of Swaraj...

. In the year 1946-47, B. G. Kher nominated Gaonkar as a Deputy Minister in his cabinet of the composite state of Bombay, India. It was Gaonkar, in the year 1936, who helped to organize the Kannada Sahitya Academy Sammelana in Gokarna

Gokarna

Gokarna is a village in the Uttara Kannada district of the Karnataka state, India. It is a Hindu pilgrimage centre as well as a tourist destination in India. Gokarna is a temple town and is referred to in a number of Hindu historical literature pieces. The main deity is Lord Mahabhaleshwara, a...

.

SAPA was the paternal grandfather of Dilip Gaonkar a professor at Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

.

His work (Poetry and writings)

• Mugilu Kavan (1932)
• Raitar Golu
• Nadakale

• Ankoleyavanu
• Gitanjali
  Gitanjali
  Gitanjali is a collection of 103 English poems, largely translations, of the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.This volume became very famous in the West, and was widely translated....
  
    ( A translation of Rabindranath Tagore
  Rabindranath Tagore
  Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
  
  ’s Gitanjali into Kannada language) (1962).