Krishna Kolhar Kulkarni (born 1939) is a Kannada historian from Vijayapura. ^[1] He is also a research scholar who works include extensive research on Dasa Sahitya. ^[2] He wrote more than 50 books. At least 14 of them were on Dasa Sahitya. He received the Kanakashree award, in recognition of his research on Dasa Sahitya. ^[3] He is the president of the Karnataka Gamaka Kala Parishat. ^[3] He worked and used gamaka to popularise literature. ^[3] He also served as the director of Dr. P. G. Halakatti Research Centre in Bijapur. ^{[4] [5]}

He hails from Kolhar village, Bijapur, which is on the banks of river Krishna, in the erstwhile Bijapur district. ^[6]

Kulkarni heads the Adil Shahi Literature Translation Project. Under the project seven volumes were commissioned to be translated by January 2024. ^{[7] [5]} The project started by M. M. Kalaburgi was completed in 2019. ^[8] Kulkarni inaugurated the first Dasa Sahitya Sammelan in Bidar. ^[9] The professor also translated, the ancient history of the dynasty that ruled Bijapur from Persian to Kannada. ^[3] One of his books is Kannadalli Seriruva Arabbi Persia bhasha padagalu, published by Samanvita. ^[10]

He is also an irrigation activist and welcomed the final award of the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal with former Supreme Court judge Brijesh Kumar as its head in 2014. ^[11] He also opposed changing the name of the district. ^[12]

• Kulkarni received the Kanakashree award in 2013. The Karnataka government's annual award is given to him in recognition of his work on Dasa Sahitya. ^{[3] [7]}
• In 2021, he was also given the Rajyotsava award in literature category. ^{[13] [14] [15]}