Masti’s Contribution to Kannada Literature

Sri Masti Venkatesa Iyengar, popularly known as Masti, is a doyen of modern Kannada literature who stands out as a colossus spanning as a bridge between the old and the new in his own characteristic manner. He is the most elderly Kannada writer, who has completed 93 years of fruitful life, has continued to be in good health and cheer and kept up writing with the same zest as before.

In his life and personality one can see a singular combination of an abiding faith in the Divine and the eternal values of Indian culture, constantly being examined and assessed by the light of reason and free thought. He is thus an ancient among the moderns and a modern among the ancients. His own synthesis of the religious and the rational attitude to life has found expression in his writings. There is no form of modern literature which he has touched and has not adorned with his seemingly simple and significant approach and style. He has written poetry–lyrical, devotional and narrative – short story and novel, plays in prose and verse, criticism, biography including autobiography in a manner, different from the usual and comments on contemporary life and events as the editor of a monthly literary journa1. It is as a great story-teller, however, that he shines most in the galaxy of letters and will continue to occupy the highest place in short story and fiction not only in Kannada literature but also in Indian literature when he is put across properly in the other Indian languages and read all over India.

Short Story

Sri Masti is rightly considered to be the father of the modern short story in Kannada, though he is not exactly the pioneer in this field. He started writing short stories as early as 1910 and published his first, collection in 1920. Since then, the number of stories written by him in prose has been nearly one hundred, published in 15 collections so far. He is a born story-teller, taking delight in enlivening incidents and charac­ters known to him with an effortless ease and without much of an embellishment or glaring technique. Among his very first stories we find a lively sense of humour in the picture of a young man in a middle-class family trying to be modern in his courtship and marriage much to the embarrassment of his life partner, who has been brought up in the traditional manner. The stories entitled “Rangappa’s Courtship.” and. “Rangappa’s Marriage” as also “Rangappa’s Deepavali” are good examples of this kind of gentle, satirical humour. Gradually Masti spread his net far and wide and chose themes and characters from the vast panorama of life, encompassing the rich and the poor besides the middle-class, the old and the new, Indian and foreign. The main source of his inspiration is his genuine interest in human life and character in the noble values of life, chiefly as enshrined in Indian tradition and culture and in the greatness of virtue, that overcomes weakness after a period of severe trial and suffering. His narration and his diction are deeply influenced by his wide contact with the life of the common people and his close acquaintance with Indian folklore, mainly of the Kannada land. One of the short stories that deserves a special mention from among his earlier collections is “Ondu Haleya Kathe” (An old tale), which is as new as it is old, dealing with the eternal theme of man’s weakness for woman’s charms which overpowers his pride of self-mastery. The story in brief is this. A charming woman asks for shelter in the hermitage of a recluse, being caught in a thunder storm at night. She is taken in and shown a room, which she bolts from inside. Taken in however by her charms, the recluse asks her to open the door so that he can see her only once. She refuses on the plea that she can open to no one except her husband. Caught in the inner storm of temptation, he breaks open the door, only to face sage Vyasa in the place of the woman – Vyasa whose words that a woman’s charm can tempt an old man, a scholar or a recluse were resented byhim just before this incident. The subtle art of the author in the narration of the episode and the delineation of the conflict of character elicits our high admiration.

Another story of equal merit in the earlier bunch of stories is “Indireyo Allavo” (Is it Indira or an illusion), a domestic theme that rises to tragic height and reaches the climax as a perfect short story by its surprising finish. A gentleman returns home tired by the day’s work in the office and is lying in an easy chair, when his beloved wife Indira appears before him, showers all her affection on him and makes him forget all his worries. She disappears all of a sudden, leaving him to a dull and drab life in the none-too-happy company of his second wife who replaced Indira, who is no more. The contrast between his life before and after his second marriage has been brought out in this story through an art that conceals art. As we proceed to the later collections, we are astounded by the variety of theme, chosen by the author from the regional, national and international storehouse of folklore, legend and history. For instance, we come across a story like “Kalmaadiya Kona” (The buffalo of Kalmaadi), in which the age-old superstition of butchering an animal to please a village deity has been held up to ridicule and exposed to irony, a truly regional theme. We have then a story called “Acharyara Patni” a theme, concerning the wife of Ramanujacharya of national importance. The story called “Kaviyal Bala Koneya Dina” (The last day in the life of a poet), deals with the last day in the life of Goethe, the great German poet, raising the thematic choice and narration to the international plane. In fact, one whole collection of short stories is mostly devoted to foreign themes such as “Alexander’s Gurudakshina”, “The defeat of Napolean”, “The last Kapet and Master William”. Masti is perhaps the first Indian author, who has­ gathered a variety of story material from foreign sources from both East and West and handled it with commendable ease and confidence. Two stories, viz, “Hemakutadinda Heluda Mele” (After return from Hemakuta) and “Goutami Heluda Kathe” (The story told by Goutami) stand apart from the rest as they reveal a rare power of meaningful inventiveness, being inspired by Kalidasa’s drama “Abhijnana Sakuntalam”.

On the whole, the short story as tackled by Masti is characterised by diversity of situation and character and wisdom though at times it is too simple and falls flat without much of a thrill anywhere.

Fiction

Masti has so far written 3 or 4 novels, certainly a small number compared to the vast number of short stories penned by him. But his contribution to the world of Kannada fiction is distinctly qualitative. His earliest novel or novellette entitled “Subbanna” is remarkable for its simplicity and maturity in the complete delineation of the growth of a character to its fullest extent. It has all the expanse of a novel but produces the concentrated effect of a short story, thus defying any attempt to pin it down to a fixed form. The central figure of this story is “Subbanna”, a musician, who is beaten into shape by the buffets ofbad circumstance and who matures into an emancipated soul. In the very last paragraph of the story, the author sums up by saying that “Subbanna” had realised the essence of philosophy through music and if this were not liberation, nothing else could be that. “Subbanna” is really a great story because it ennobles us by its simple and subtle art.

The two novels that follow are historical in theme and are entirely different in their treatment. The first one is “Channa Basava Nayaka”, named after the young prince of Bidanur, a small principality of Keladi Dynasty situated in Karnataka. The political happenings in this state during the 18th century, leading to its downfall form the main subject of this novel. The international dissensions in the royal family lend themselves easily to clever intervention by an external power like that of Haidar Ali. All the characters in this tragic drama, both good and bad, have been depicted with an unerring sense of human character. This novel showed for the first time how the author could handle a historical theme on a broad canvas with a firm grip on fact and local colour. The second novel entitled “Chikkavira Rajendra” is bigger in magnitude and has a broader canvas. It, however, gains in importance because it raises a regional story to one of national significance in the most unobtrusive manner. In “Channa Basava Nayaka” the external power is Haidar Ali; in “Chikkavira Rajendra” the external power is the foreign invader, the Englishman, ¹ wears the mask of a generous benefactor, while actually his strategy is to swallow the small kingdom of Coorg with the consent of everybody concerned and to convert the king and his people to his religion to the extent possible. The chapters 85 to 95 of this novel reveal this strategy as depicted by the masterly art of Masti in minute detail. It is in this context that a sensitive reader not only feels agony at the fall of a small state but also the fall of the whole of India at the feet of the British. In every aspect of plot, character and diction, this novel is the great achievement of a mature artist. The turbulence of human passions and the disastrous deluge they create are portrayed in “Chikkavira Rajendra”. ² This is evident from the very opening chapter of the novel but it should be noted that this turbulence is charac­terised by succinctness, typical of the author and is quite different from the lengthiness and the emotional overtones found in some historical fiction. As a result, it sometimes loses its  force and vigour, The close of the novel is not as impressive as the beginning, though it discloses certain facts, that a reader is interested in knowing.

Poetry

The poetry of Masti is as varied as his short story, being devotional, lyrical, narrative and dramatic. Among his first collections we come across “Binnaha” and “Aruna”, which heralded the new age of modern Kannada poetry along with poetry of Panje, Sri and Bendre. The personality of the poet which is God-centred finds its genuine expression in the devotional songs of “Binnaha” which are sincere to the core, whereas the aesthetic response to nature and life is expressed in the lyrical poems of “Aruna”. The latter trend continues in later collections such as “Tavare” and “Cheluvu”. His sonnets are put together in “Matara.” Another bunch of devotional songs is to be found in “Manavi.” In all this poetic and devotional self-expression, there is the imprint of a mature mind and soul, though only some of it rises to a height. It is general1y simple and devoid of complexity. In its best it has its subtlety and significance.

It is in narrative poetry that we find Masti’s diversity and power. He started telling stories in blank verse through the stories of place-names and those about Kanakadasa. He switched on to different patterns of verse in “Goudara Malli”, “Ramanavami” and “Mookana Makkalu”, all these attaining a high standard of narration and interpretation.

His narrative ability in verse reached its high watermark in the collection of varied stories in verse called “Navaratri” and in his long poem “Ramapattabhisheka.” The technique ofthe latter is one of retrospect, through which the entire story of the Ramayana is recounted by different characters, who have played their role in it, on the last day of Rama’s exile. This poem of nearly 10,000 lines in blank verse, is unique in its rational and far from conventional approach to the incidents in it and mainly to the character of Rama who is depicted as an ideal human being and not as an incarnation of God.

Masti has to his credit a good number of plays, based on mythological, historical and social themes. Some of them are verse plays, some others have a mixture of verse and prose and song. His earlier experiments in play-writing as in “Santa”, “Savitri” and “Usha” are praiseworthy for their delicate portrayal of character and elegant style. Later he wrote more powerful plays as in “Kaakana Kote”, “Yasodhara”, “Tali­kote” and “Bhattara Magalu”, exemplifying his wide interest and confident handling. “Kaakana Kote” is tribal in theme and spirit, “Yasodhara” deals with Buddha’s meeting with his wife, “Talikote” is historical, whereas “Bhattara Magalu” is social.

Masti was among the first few Kannada writers, who spelt out the essential features of literature and criticism and who draw the attention of the reading public to the beauty of folk literature. His independent approach to the great Indian classics, viz., the Ramayana and Mahabharata, found full vent in his works. “Aadi Kavi Valmiki” and “Bhaarata Tirtha”. He has produced fine renderings into Kaunada of some of Shakespeare’s plays as Hamlet, King Lear and The Tempest. He has put into English his “Subbanna” and several of his stories and thus enables non-Kannada lovers of literature to have a glimpse of his mind and art.

One can see from this brief survey of the vast and variegated literary treasure of Masti, that his contribution to modern Kannada literature is unique and substantial. More than any­thing else, it is the aroma of sweetness, light and wisdom which it spreads and will continue to spread for all time to come.

¹ L. S. Seshagiri Rao: Masti Venkatesa Iyengar. Page. 41
² Ibid: Page 45