Poets translating Poets - Essays

The Kannada Renaissance

The last two decades of Kannada poetry demonstrate a shift towards the reformist, individualistic and contemplative approaches, while drawing upon the past in a quest for identity.

Since the 10th century poet Pampa, Kannada has trodden the path of the classical tradition as part of its main culture and poetry. Passing through the influence of Jainism, Shaivism and Vaishnavism, the classical approach was maintained until the 20th century, and meter, rhythm, rhyme, rasa were applied to appreciate poetry. It was in the 20th century, as part of the Indian renaissance, that Kannada poetry developed new approaches through fresh styles.

The influence of the freedom struggle, principles of social equality, and reformist approaches became part of the poetry of the time. The characteristic emotional expression in poetry gave way to social concerns, and the disappointment of unfulfilled socio-economic and political expectations after freedom led to serious intellectual exploration. Modern poet Gopalakrishna Adiga brought about the first shift: from song to soliloquy. While dramatising the narration in poetry, it allowed for intellectual analysis as part of the poetic experience. Dalit and Bandaya (rebel) poets brought the focus, once again, on social issues, and later postmodern poetry dealt with the fragmented experience in society¹. The last two decades of Kannada poetry have also absorbed various narrations of poetic experiments in form, from the last century. Its intellectual positioning is largely a strong response to the socio-economic situation - the need for freedom and equality. There is also a desire for introspection, among a small section of new poets.

The ‘Navya’ Poets

Kannada poetry of the last two decades recognises the changing socio-cultural position owing to the influence of globalisation. Besides the new poets of the last two decades, many senior poets who wrote during the modern Navya movement (mid-1950s onwards), continue to write with their new approaches. Among these, we can consider K.V. Tirumalesh, H.S. Venkatesh Murthy and H.S. Shivaprakash as the most prominent practising poets of this era.

K.V. Tirumalesh explores the fragmented experience of postmodern times. His poem Saundarya Lahari (Aesthetic Ecstasy) compares the temple statue of a beautiful woman with the enthusiasm of a living woman in the process of self-beautification before a mirror. Saundarya Lahari was originally a collection of hymns written by sage Shankaracharya in praise of Goddess Tripura Sundari, more than a thousand years ago. In the early 1900s, D.V. Gundappa’s poems of sculptures of women (Shila Balikeyaru) in the Belur temple as metaphors for the aesthetic value of feminine beauty, became the benchmark for appreciation of aesthetics through poetry. K.V. Tirumalesh responds to all of them in a subtle manner. The fragmented experience between reality and artistic expression are his concerns as well. His poem about a woman dressing up, ends with the line, “I don’t know how to express this experience of beauty in aesthetics.”

H.S. Venkateshamurthy (b. 1944) employs modern imagery to construct an experience. He discards the story framework practised by Kannada romantics, to explore the truth through individual experience. In his recent collection, Uttarayana Mattu (Ananda Kanda Granthamala 2008), which explores his intense experience after the death of his wife, he builds narration using imagery related with the story of his life around her.

H.S. Shivaprakash (b. 1954) explores feminine strengths as part of our cultural search. In his poem Samagaara Bheemavva² (Cobbler mother, Bheemavva) a woman from an untouchable community breastfeeds a dying child and saves his life. The child goes on to become a respected sage. A woman becomes instrumental in the continuation of cultural energy. In his recent poem, Oh Prana Shakthi Devi (Oh goddess of energy of life), the poet calls upon feminine energy to counter the evil and vengeance in today’s world.

The New Practitioners

Among the next generation of poets, Laxmipathi Kolar feels that contemplative creativity is a way to deal with the growing influence of consumerism. His poem Hebbettinanthaha Pakshi (A thumb-like bird) explains the beauty of life together. In primitive cultures, the secret of beauty was concealed in sex and desire, while in modern life, it has become an addiction. In exploring the original beauty of human existence, and realising the ecstasy of life, the poem seeks the core truth of the past. It goes beyond present day realism in its quest for identity.

In H.L. Pushpa’s Lohada Kannu ³ (Eyes of Metal), the poem Pushpavathiyadarenanthe (What if she has her menstrual period) (Published by: Lohiya Prakashana, 2008) treats the entire earth as a woman in a customary ritual. Once a year, coastal Karnataka practises the ritual of three days of the menstrual period of Mother Earth, which ends by letting her inside the home. This is done before the monsoon; ploughing and cultivation begin after this ritual. H.L. Pushpa changes the roles of man and woman after the periods and puts forth the creative powers of feministic energy.

Jyothi Guruprasad⁴, author of the collection Maya Pettige (Magic box), in her poem Ashoka Vana, employs the image of Sita to explain present day needs.

Lalitha Siddabasavaiah, in her poem Vakribhavana (Curved reflection in a mirror) feels that a search for the self is also part of one’s own liberation from gender bias. The poem narrates in detail, the experience of seeing various mirrors. At the end is an exclamatory statement: “Oh elder sister (Akka), so many mirrors I have seen”. The allegorical reference in the last two lines pertains to the famous 11th century liberated sage poetess Akka Mahadevi, who describes, in a poem, the appearance of Lord Shiva in her dream. The poem begins with the line, “Oh elder sister I have seen a dream”. If Akka derives her strength and self-realisation through Shiva, then Lalitha Siddabasavaiah derives her own through mirrors.

Going back to one’s own historical past is not a revivalist approach. It is simply a search for identity. Poets like Arif Raja and S. Manjunath explore the possibilities of mysticism to reflect upon socio-economic situations ⁵. S. Manjunath’s poem Paramahamsa Kanda Nona (The fly seen by the sage with a ‘great soul’) explores metaphysics as mystical possibilities. Arif Raja brings alive the tradition of the Sufi poets, for whom all are equal before God. K.B. Siddaiah in his lengthy poem Gallebani (a bowl used by cobblers to store water for softening leather) narrates the socio-religious and mystical experience through that image.

There have been more than 100 practitioners of Kannada poetry in the last 20 years. Providing the representative trends of their writing is a way of understanding contemporary Kannada poetry.

References

S.R. Vijayashankar, 2016