Mysore/Mysuru: Vighnesh Hampapura, an alumnus of VVS Golden Jubilee PU College, Kuvempunagar, currently an undergraduate of English at Ashoka University, has been awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship for 2021 to study at the University of Oxford. 

Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest and the most prestigious international student scholarship, and is awarded to five students from India every year. Notable Rhodes scholars include playwright Girish Karnad, advocate Menaka Guruswamy, economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia and writer Neel Mukherjee.

Vighnesh is a writer and translator who is bringing out his first collection from the Penguin Random House. He has been trained for a short-term course in the Cambridge University. He is presently pursuing his fourth year at Ashoka University in Haryana and is writing a                                                 thesis on modern Indian drama. He is trained in Karnatak classical music. 

He is the son of Jayanth Hampapura and Namitha Hampapura, residing in Mysuru.