Dattātreya Rāmachandra Bēndre, popularly known as Da Rā Bēndre, is generally considered the greatest Kannada lyric poet of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the history of Kannada literature. A pioneering poet of Kannada's Navōdaya movement and a leading figure in the linguistic renaissance of Kannada in the region of North Karnataka, Bendre forged a new path in Kannada literature and modern Kannada poetry through his original use of desi Kannada, particularly Dharwad Kannada – the form of Kannada spoken in the North Karnataka region of Dharwad. The richness, originality, and euphony of his poetry, his preternatural feel for the Kannada language, and his charismatic personality would result in him being hailed as a Varakavi by the Kannada people. In a poetic journey that spanned almost 70 years, Bendre engaged continuously in what he called Kāvyōdyōga or 'The High Yoga of Poetry'.

Kannada literature is the corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script.