Modern Kannada Literature

Criticism of contemporary literature, however dispassionate or searching, always suffers under heavy disabilities. Such criticism always anticipates the judgment of posterity and makes pronouncements about books and authors, which with the passage of time will either have to be corrected or qualified. The critic of contemporary literature is too near his own times to have a proper perspective of what he is writing about. Thus, it is always very difficult to assess contemporary literary merit with any appreciable measure of finality. The best of critics cannot dispense with the sifting process of time. Authorities and certainties of today may well be the superstitions and the conventions of tomorrow. Only true literature will withstand the ravages of ‘Time’s antic hand.’ This however should not blind us to the possibility of our being able to discern the dominant tendencies and movements behind the literary output of any one given period. Reacting to the intellectual life of a people, the literature of a particular period is bound to manifest in its process the fluctuations of the spirit of the age. Though definite judgment as to the lasting character or otherwise of the work of any one individual author cannot reasonably be expected of any critic, the critic can very well ascertain, behind the plethora of publications, whither the spirit moveth. It is the subconscious mind of a people which moulds and colours its literature. Therefore, instead of risking premature judgments about the work of individual authors, we shall content ourselves, within the brief scope of this article, with an indication of the tendencies and movements in Kannada literature today.

As late as 1920, literary activity in Kannada was confined only to scholars and select experts in the field. Literary composition connoted something learned, specialised and rigid. With great traditions both in verse and prose, Kannada literature was showing clear signs of decadence. With conventions established by masters of the past, and standards of formal excellence defined by the most inflexible of regulations, literary activity was moving, if at all it was moving, within the narrow groove of conventionalities which could not but stifle the spirit within. Restricted in theme and regulated in form, artistic activity was surely stagnating. In the field of poetry, form reigned supreme over spirit, and though it would be too much to assert that poetic imagination in Kannada was only an infrequent guest in the midst of a stilted rhetoric, it could be safely affirmed that imagination only moved on in channels dug by an orthodox tradition and was sadly loaded with conventions from which there appeared hardly any prospect of escape. In prose fiction too, artificiality in theme and treatment was the general rule. This indeed was no encouraging state of affairs for literary enthusiasts who were to herald the new movement. But they knew that such periods of stagnation and despair, of inaction and uncertainty, generally precede periods of a revolt and renaissance. In their expectation and their incessant endeavour, the literary history of Karnatak proved no exception.

Broadly speaking, the publication of the first volume of the short stories of Mr. Masti Venkatesa Iyengar marked the beginning of a new era in Kannada literature. The revivalist tendencies had been slowly gathering strength and the publication of the collection of short stories and the enthusiasm with which the same was welcomed, made it at once clear to the Kannada reading public that simple scenes from the common life of the community could, by proper and sympathetic presentation, attract and delight, when the language used was such as could be understood by the multitude. Thus both in verse and prose there was, at the opening of the third decade of the present century, an intensely renascent activity, the birth of a new life-giving spirit. It would certainly take us far afield if we should attempt to explain the psychological ground of such a renaissance, but we can safely take it for granted, on the strength of the unmistakably changed character of the new literature, that there was a general broadening of the literary horizon. Literature for the first time began to be regarded and practised as an expression of life. This renaissance, this broadening of the literary horizon, expressed itself in the disregard of established conventions which so far shackled literary endeavour in the slackening of formal regulations, coupled with a desireto experiment in new forms of expression better suited to individual authors and particular themes. The gulf which artistic convention created between literature and life began to be slowly bridged by the authors’ tendencies towards the naturalistic method either in the selection of the theme or the manner of its presentation. Realism in literature, which is not a method but an impersonal tendency, thus only brought literature and life nearer each other and was responsible for the birth of a new type of writing which we may conveniently term as ‘social.’ Before the advent of the new generation of writers, literature in the ‘social’ sense did not exist in Kannada. The coming of realism in Kannada literature thus led to the creation of the novel and the play in the new manner, affording as much opportunity for entertainment as for criticism of evils existing in society. It would be hardly possible to examine in detail the far-reaching repercussions of the influence which other literatures had on Kannada literature at this period; neither is it necessary for our present purpose. The very air seemed to respond to a new and insistent call of the spirit. But in one respect at least the influence of foreign literatures must be mentioned. The short story in Kannada was a literary form of a comparatively recent origin, and before 1920 practically did not exist in the manner in which it obtains today. It must be admitted that Kannada literature owes this popular literary form to the influence which the study of English literature had upon the prophets of the silent revolution which was going on in the domain of Kannada letters. Like the short story in prose, the movement for a more direct, more intense touch with reality resulted in the rise of the lyric, with all the depth of its feeling and the variety of its colours. Thus it was that the birth of a new life in Kannada literature expressed itself in the creation of new forms, in the disregard of tradition and convention, and above all in the establishment of a more direct and lasting touch with the essentials in the subconscious life of the community.

We shall now illustrate the foregoing remarks with reference to the various forms of literature, and close this brief survey with the mention of the activity and achievement of some of the masters in the field during the last few years.

The lyric and the short story are the crowning achievements of the Kannada literary renaissance. Allied in spirit, but distinguishable in form, the two branches of literary effort have developed with such rapidity and power that it can be claimed that the Kannada lyric and the short story today can equal and sometimes even surpass the best that is being done in any Indian language today in those two forms. In the poetry of Mr. K. V. Puttappa and Mr. D. R. Bendre, the twin stars in the poetic firmament today, one experiences the range and variety of emotional reaction to reality expressed with the wonder and vivacity of a strangely new life. Kannada poetry has had a great tradition in the past, but the wealth of imaginative feeling and the corresponding spontaneity of sonorous expression in the case of Mr. puttappa, and that mysterious magic of Mr. Bendre which weaves around common life the strangely delicate and dim embroidery of pure poetry, expressed in the most captivating of cadences, are really achievements which the most perverse of critics must marvel at. Comparisons may be odious, but one who reads the poetry of Mr. Puttappa certainly submits his self to the outpourings of a mighty orchestra, while of Mr. Bendre’s lyrics it can only be said that our helpless spirit is carried away on the wings of a strange but spontaneous emotional experience, just as is done by one single touch of the string of a well-attuned delicate musical instrument. It is impossible within the brief scope of this article to do justice to the large number of poets who write in Kannada today. But mention must be made of the work of Mr. Betgeri, K. Shankar bhat, G. P. Rajaratnam, V. Seetaramaiah and Prof. Gokak, all of whom have to their credit, many poems of lasting merit. Pioneer work was indeed done by Prof. B. M. Shrikantiah and Panje Mangesharao, and Kannada poetry would have never been what it is today, had it not been for the incessant endeavour of these two masters.

In the field of the short story Mr. Masti Venkatesa Iyengar stands supreme. Himself the progenitor of this form in Kannada, he has written a large number of short stories ever since 1921, stories which any literature can be very well proud of. His power is the power of simplicity. His immortal ‘Subbanna’ is easily a masterpiece in all that is necessary in narrative fiction of the highest order. Every one of his stories bears testimony to the fineness of his artistic vision, his subtlety and sureness of touch, and his wonderfully attractive style–a distinct achievement in itself. Unforgettable indeed are all his creations. They are simple but grand, and one need say no more about them. In the same tradition but slightly on a lower plane come the short stories of Anand, Mr. Betgere, K. Gopalkrishna and Goror Ramaswamy, if we include the longer form of the narrative in prose. All these see life at close quarter, experience its bitter-sweet pleasures with a sympathetic understanding, and lay out their subtle reactions in a manner calculated to win them the popularity they so eminently deserve. Among the less important practisers of this form of literature may be mentioned A. N. Krishnarao, P. Ramanandarao, Rangaswami Iyengar, Krishnakumar Kallur, Mrs. B. T. G. Krishna, Shamala devi and Vasantibao Padukone. The work of all these artists holds out a bright future for the Kannada short story.

It is sometimes claimed that the short story will some day throw out the novel altogether, and the popularity of the former in Kannada is really sufficient to justify the apprehension in Kannada at least. Though the novel in the new manner has certainly made headway, the Kannada novel today definitely lacks volume. The total output during recent years is indeed disappointing. Mr. Vasudevachar Kerur, who was the pioneer of the Kannada novel in the naturalistic manner, has had many followers, and though during this decade new writers with new themes and broader outlook on life have put in appearance, the Kannada novel has still to develop. What stands in the way of its steady and healthy development cannot possibly be easily defined. Sustained creative effort, as that which recently went to the making of Mr. K. V. Puttappa’s great novel ‘KanurSubbamma–Heggaditi,’ together with the true artist’s knack of maintaining the interest in the theme to the end, certainly bring to us a hope that the Kannada novel is not going to remain what it is today. The achievement of Messrs. A. N. Krishnarao, Shivaram Karant, Betgeri, Shankarbhat, Jagirdar, and, Gokak, in their novels in recent years, lends assurance to the expectation that the novel of ideas is steadily gaining ground in Kannada, supplanting its predecessor, a creation of artifice rather than art by a decorously conventional story-teller rather than by an intimate and sympathetic observer of common life with all it troubles and misgivings. The novel as a vehicle of trenchant social criticism has been very fruitfully utilised by Mr. Karant in his novels such as ‘Sooleya Samsara’ and ‘Sarasammana Samadhi,’ by Prof. Jagirdar in his ‘Vishwamitrana Srishti,’ by Prof. Gokak in his ‘Ijjodu.’ With the coming of a large number of translated volumes of great novels from Hindi and other Indian languages, the Kannada novel today is striding in sure steps though admittedly in slow ones.

The Drama always affords an effective medium for the expression of reaction and rebellion, and the passage of Kannada literary activity from a decadent conventionality to a living and life-giving responsiveness is nowhere better in evidence than in the progress of the Kannada Drama today. Beginning with the excellent adaptations of Mr. Vasudevachar Kerur, such as ‘Pati-Vaseekarana’ and ‘Surata Nagarada Shreshti’ and the like, Kannada dramatic literature has today a number of really competent dramatists to boast of. The drama of heroes, safe in oblivion, of battles won and blood spilt, however thrilling and exciting the spectacle, has surely very little chance of appreciation in the presence of the writings of Messrs. T. P. Kailasam, Shivaram Karant, Prof. Jagirdar and A. N. Krishnarao. Never before in Kannada was this medium of expression better used as a vehicle of powerful social criticism, and when we know that the last three of the dramatists mentioned above are generally hailed, and quite often unjustly sneered at, as ‘revolutionaries,’ we can correctly understand the effectiveness and propriety with which they have used and are using the stage as an instrument of entertainment and enlightenment. All these have in them the essential knowledge of stage technique, and all of them have that brilliance and fecundity of dialogue, which alone ensure a lasting value for the stage. Apart from the social dramas of rebellion against an established code of conduct, morality, and other aspects of the existing social order, by these four writers, there is to be found in Mr. C. K. Venkataramayya (‘Mandodari’) and Mr. Masti Venkatesa Iyengar (‘Tirupandi’), the intellectual drama–the drama which we may better read and appreciate in our study. The poetic plays of Puttappa (‘Raktakshi)’, B. M. Shrikantiah (‘Ashwathama’) and Srinivasamurty (‘Nagarika’) and others also come under the same category. Altogether, next to the lyric and the short story, the Kannada literary renaissance today has found lasting expression in the dramas of Mr. Karant and Prof. Jagirdar. They have given us the drama of new thoughts, of new ideas and of new points of view.

The renascent Kannada literature is essentially a literature of reaction and rebellion. But it is the literature of reaction with a difference. It has in it qualities which ensure permanence. A living direct and intense touch with reality, and a plastic and responsive channel of expression in a language understandable to all, has worked the miracle. In poetry as in drama, in the novel as in the short story, and in every type of writing, it is becoming increasingly evident that the individual author is bound by no rule save that of his own temperament, that any desire to write or create under the guiding authority of artistic forms accepted in advance and justified by precedents is finally fast disappearing. With the growth of healthy literary criticism, all excesses will be restrained. And small wonder therefore that the literary enthusiast in Kannada today entertains for the future a bright and beautiful hope.