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Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ) is the language spoken in Karnataka (ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ, ಕರುನಾಡು). Karnataka has eight Jnanapeeth (ಜ್ಞಾನ ಪೀಠ ಪುರಸ್ಕೃತ) award winners, the highest honor bestowed for Indian literature. From the period of Adikavi Pampa(ಆದಿಕವಿ ಪಂಪ) who proclaimed his wish to be reborn as a little bee in the land of Kannada, Kannada poetry has come a long way to Kuvempu (ಕುವೆಂಪು) and Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre (ದರಾ ಬೇಂದ್ರೆ)