The Kannada Tagore; Shivarama Karanth

Ramachandra Guha
In the summer of 1994 I was in the town of Ranibennur at the invitation of a local
environmental group. They had just won a major award and wished me to share in the
celebrations. The road to the meeting hall was lined with banners that read: To celebrate
the Indira !andhi "aryavaran "urus#ar and $r %hivarama &aranth's ninetieth birthday.'
This was a happy ju(taposition) for &aranth had been a pioneer of environmentalism in
%outh India) and had even been the first petitioner in a case the group in Ranibennur had
filed in the %upreme *ourt) against a notorious polluting firm of the town.
The meeting was entertaining) not least because &aranth spo#e. +fterwards we
repaired to the travellers' bungalow. There I got chatting with the great &annada writer's
chauffeur. ,ith a historian's interest in dates) I as#ed him when precisely had his boss
turned ninety. +ctually) sir') he replied) he is almost ninety-two.' Then why are they
celebrating the birthday now) I wondered. .ecause they also need their chance') he said.
They' were the people of Ranibennur) and their chance' was the opportunity to pay
tribute to a man who was more than a legend in his lifetime. It turned out that for the past
two years the writer and his driver had been on the road. The white +mbassador that
brought &aranth to Ranibennur had the previous fortnight ta#en him to
Tum#ur) for a meeting to *elebrate the &annada %ahitya %ammelana and $r
&aranth's ninetieth birthday.' In /ysore) the birthday was clubbed with the opening of a
new girls' school in !adag with the opening of a new science laboratory. 0owhere was
the event celebrated by itself. That would have offended &aranth) and in any case it was
easy enough to find an e(cuse provided by one of his many spheres of achievement. +
new dance academy would do in one place) a film studio in another) a library in a third.
1ne way or another) the people of every decent-si2ed hamlet in &arnata#a found a way to
honour their man.
+ cat) it is said) has nine lives) 3ishnu had ten avatars. .ut %hivarama &aranth had as
many as si(teen careers. These were: nationalism) social reform) commerce) journalism)
photography) acting) dance) painting) music) cinema) e(periments in education) rural up-
lift) the populari2ation of science 4through a multi-volume encyclopaedia designed and
written wholly by himself5) the writing of novels 4as many as forty-five5) the writing of
plays 4not less than ninety5) and environmentalism. This list is not necessarily e(haustive)
and the man did not necessarily follow only one career at a time.
%hivarama &aranth was born on the 16th of 1ctober) 1967) in the village of &ota in
$a#shina &annada district. 8is early life is described in his autobiography) Ten Faces of
a Crazy Mind, s#ilfully translated into 9nglish by 8.:. %harada "rasad. Ten Faces is as
heterodo( as the man himself: unstructured) occasionally meandering) yet plush with
epigrams and witty asides and philosophical insights. It is that altogether rare thing) a
wor# of literary merit which is also a wor# of social history. ;i#e most other
autobiographies) this was written to pre-empt a future biographer. +s &aranth put it) I do
not desire to be #illed by others' pens. I shall ta#e my own life.'
+s a boy) %hivarama &aranth's attitude to studies was one of disinterest'. 8e dropped
out of college without ta#ing a degree. +s he put it) I did not have to e(perience the
indigestion of high mar#s.' %till) he was luc#y in his teachers. + middle-school teacher
taught him to do interesting things with his hands< to garden and to weave mats) for
e(ample. In high school) one teacher inculcated an appreciation of :a#shagana< another
opened up the library of &annada literature to him .
!rowing up) &aranth was contemptuous of the 3anity') the tyranny') and the
narrowness' of his .rahmin upbringing. 8e was disenchanted by his visits to &ashi and
"rayag) places he found crowded) dirty) and full of grasping priests and pandas. 0otably)
the one holy place which gave satisfaction and was not culturally jarring was
$a#shineshwar ... I went to the "anchavati garden. That was the field of the
"aramhansa's spiritual e(ertions. /y feelings for 0ature and my reverence for the sage
led me to find more peace there than I did at .rindavan.'
,hile turned off by faith and studies) &aranth was enchanted by the arts. 8e was
gripped by the travelling theatre companies that came to his nec# of rural &arnata#a =
these the southern e>uivalents of the .engali jatras. It was under their inspiration that
&aranth taught himself music. The process of self-training he later described with
characteristic wryness:
It was a fellow student who taught me to shriek, co shriek in some recognisable
raga . . . There was an open space near our house called naribena jackal field!. I used to
go there at dawn and late at night to do my screaming. . . . "nce a jackal came within ten
yards of me and looked at me as if to throw a challenge. I am not joking# it did happen.
To this day I feel that music$learners should find a plate beyond the town limits.
9ventually) &aranth became >uite accomplished) not merely as a singer but also as a
connoisseur and composer. 8is great wor# for :a#shagana) the traditional dance-drama of
the west coast) was helped immeasurably by the musical s#ills and innovations he
brought to it. %ome of the most attractive and sensitively delineated characters in his
fiction are musicians and music teachers.
In college &aranth also became a great consumer of political harangues'. The non-co-
operation movement inspired him to leave his degree halfway and ta#e to the promotion
of spinning) this at a time when patriotism had not yet become a profitable industry'.
In his mid twenties) &aranth started a correspondence with /ahatma !andhi. %adly)
we don't have his side of the e(change. ?rom the letters printed in the Collected %orks of
Mahatma &andhi, we get a bare idea of what was on &aranth's mind. The topics alluded
to in !andhi's letters include the therapeutic value of asanas and pranayamas 4!andhi
seemed sceptical5) the life and ideals of Rama#rishna "aramhansa) and the moral life of
actors. 1f this last !andhi seemed most sceptical: I should draw a sharp distinction
between kirtans and theatricals. The >uestion of theatricals is very serious) and as you
seem to #now all about the lives of actors) it may be as well for you to avoid the
profession.'
+ topic that preoccupied &aranth at this time) as it did !andhi) was se( and marriage.
!andhi offered the view) presumably in answer to a >uery of &aranth's that wet dreams
were undoubtedly harmful'< for they released seminal energy better husbanded and
reserved for reproduction) when the latter is desired) or transmutation into spiritual
energy.' In response to another >uestion) !andhi assured the young see#er that to promote
widow marriage=as &aranth was then doing=was not inconsistent with brahmacharya.
%till) he saw it as a concession to human frailty: when I advocate the marriage of child
widows) I presume that they want the pleasure which all animals see# and some human
beings only can restrain themselves from see#ing.'
The insinuation that brahmacharya was somehow superior to married life) &aranth
came to reject) even as he disregarded the /ahatma's advice to stay away from the
theatre. .ut he continued to wor# in #hadi and swadeshi for five years) till about 197@) by
which time the 0ationalist /ovement in our region was cold li#e stale porridge.'
?ortunately) &aranth had already started writing fiction=detective novels) to begin with
=as well as plays.
,hile still in his twenties) &aranth ac>uired the taste for very long wal#s through the
southern countryside. 8e would wal# through forests and swim across rivers) carrying
little) sleeping in disused temples or peasant homes. %ome of these journeys were made
for pleasure) others to educate himself about the culture) the ecology) -and the artistic
traditions of his land.
,hen he came to plan a children's encyclopaedia) in the 19A6s) &aranth was dismayed
by the intellectual thinness' of the &annada country. There was a way out: he would
research and write the thing himself. 8is 'ala (rapancha was followed by his science
encyclopaedia. Then) provo#ed by a badly produced government boo#) he researched and
wrote an illustrated history of architecture. +ll these wor#s were to have an enduring
impact. There were also other) relatively minor literary productions) among them a
translation into &annada of )amlet. 8is contributions to dance and fiction) by no means
minor) I shall come to presently.
%hivarama &aranth married late) when he was well past thirty. In his memoirs he is
reticent about telling us what first attracted his wife to him. +ll he tells us is that she was
a gifted dancer) and from another caste. The lady was more forthright. &aranth) she
recalled) was e(plaining to his troupe how to ma#e costumes for the characters. +s he
began to cut colour paper in different shapes) ;eela's eyes observed the movement of his
fingers. ,hat speedB ,hat s#illB I stood there) completely lost) loo#ing at his hands. ... +t
that moment) I felt an intense desire to be near those hands . . . ,hat I yearned for) for the
first time in my life) was to possess those artistic hands of &aranth'.
The critic *.0. Ramachandran) who >uotes these words) also >uotes an appreciation of
;eela &aranth by her second son) Clhas. It was our mother who shaped &aranth's life')
remar#s Clhas: %he was the bac#bone of all his endeavours. %he was also >uite well
read) and she dedicated all of her talents to her husband. %he too# care of all household
responsibilities. I remember now that mother also) li#e our father) was an atheist< and she
used to read and e(plain .ertrand Russell for us.'
&aranth's standing was not hindered by his appearance. In his later years) especially)
he made for a stri#ing figure) dressed in spotless white dhoti and #urta) with an
impressive face framed by a silver mane combed bac#wards. 8e was charismatic and) it
must be admitted) at times intimidating. +s his associate ;.%. %eshagiri Rao has written)
he could be brus>ue and withering') and) especially as he grew older) impatient of
criticism) and dogmatic'.
%ome admirers li#ed to call &aranth &adala Tiratha .hargava') the ;ord of the
*oastal ;ands. This seems to be a mista#en title) not least because it was originally given
to "arusarama) that fervent upholder of the .rahmin way of life. I prefer what %harada
"rasad once called him< The &ing 9lephant of the %outhern ?orests'. ;i#e the #ing
elephant &aranth dominated the landscape by the sheer bul# of his achievement. ;i#e
him) he roamed wherever his fancy too# him. +nd li#e him) he could go sometimes into
periods of well-directed rage.
II
In the 19@6s %hivarama &aranth moved from "uttur=where he had lived for forty
years=to the village of %aligrama. In %eptember 19D9 I visited &aranth at his now no-
longer-new home. +fter the monsoon) the countryside was at its greenest and most
glorious. The great man's house was a contrast: a large and inelegant structure) painted
white outside but with the rooms inside very dar#. ,e spo#e of his campaign against
nuclear energy. %adly) I have lost my notes of the meeting) but I do recall his concern for
the integrity of life') for life natural as well as human.
0ot long after I met &aranth) I was loo#ing at some old microfilms in $elhi of the
now-defunct nationalist paper) the 'ombay Chronicle. %earching for an article by 3errier
9lwin) this headline une(pectedly popped up: :a#shgana +rt) a Real +pproach to
/asses: Troupe !ives $emonstrations of Their Talent in .ombay. The te(t below told of
a performance by a :a#shagana group from %outh &anara) followed by a tal# by &aranth
on the history of the art form. 8e had spo#en of the dance's fusion of rural life with a
mass audience) of its forms of dress and ma#eup) and of recent innovations in music and
presentation.
This) then) was the island city's first e(posure to :a#shagana) as reported in the
'ombay Chronicle of 7D 0ovember 19AE. ;ater) I came across a reference to the trip in
&aranth's memoirs. I gave >uite a pompous lecture in 9nglish. It was attended by people
of .ombay's upper crust. + few ladies wore so much paint they could have gone on the
stage.'
I remember reading that faded microfilm with an almost indescribable feeling of
wonder. This was 19D9) and I had just interviewed &aranth about his environmental
campaigns. 0ow) I was learning of his pioneering wor# in the promotion of :a#shsagana)
as described in a newspaper report fifty-three years ago. I have #nown many remar#able
Indians) but this e(perience might help e(plain why for me &aranth commands a place all
his own.
If one were forced to ran# &aranth's multiple careers) one might= reluctantly=allow
chat :a#shagana and the writing of novels should share first place. 8e both revived and
redefined the dance-form of the ,est *oast. 8e rediscovered many ragas that were
traditionally part of the :a#shagana repertoire but had fallen into disuse. 8e did away
with dialogue) ma#ing songs and dance do its wor# instead. 8e added new instruments)
lin#ed dance rhythms and music rhythms) and searched for and trained talented young
artists. /ost significantly) he brought down the average time of a performance from eight
to three hours) thus allowing :a#shagana to ma#e its peace with the rushed modern
world.
In the field of fiction) &aranth was prodigiously active) in part because he did not
bother unduly about theory or techni>ue. If you have something of your own to say') he
remar#ed) techni>ue will come of its own accord. If you are true to your e(perience and
the values that your own life has taught you) if they are not borrowed values) what you
say will find the best form.'
The first of his novels to have a wider impact was Choma*s +rum 4translated into
9nglish by C.R. &al#ur5 Its central character was an Cntouchable whose dream) or
fantasy) was to cultivate his own plot of land. /eanwhile) he wor#ed in the fields of a
landlord half his age) his children labouring with him. 8e drowned his sorrows in drin#)
and by playing his drum. %tic# in hand) he coa(ed out of the FdrumG the monotonous
sound) damadhamma dakadhakka. There was never a new rhythm) never a new timbre in
the sound. .ut he played it with all the pride of a mridangam pandit.'
This early novel) li#e the ones to follow) is replete with descriptions and images of
nature: of animals) trees) insects) and landscapes. There is a vivid account) drawn
undoubtedly from personal e(perience) of a wal# from the coast to a coffee plantation on
the crest of the ghats. .ur the human world is described with a biting irony. *onsider
these samples: The hut was his own=when not claimed by rains and storms'. Their
dinner would be before dar#) for no lamp had ever been lit in *homa's hut. ,hat
precious thing did they have to do at night to need a lampH' "lantation debts are li#e
plantation malaria: once in their grip no release till death.'
Choma,s +rum has been compared to /ul# Raj +nand's -ntouchable. The novel it
reminded me of) however) is !opinath /ohanty's (araja, which too was published in the
19A6s. There a tribal has his land ta#en away< here a $alit can never own land. .oth loo#
to the forest for sustenance but are thwarted by the state. .oth are forced to see#
consolation in drin#) both forced to burden their-young with their sorrows. 1ne novel is
set in 1rissa) the other in coastal &arnata#a. %eparated by five hundred miles of territory)
the novels are united by a mood) a moment) and a movement: the !andhian struggle for
social reform.
+nother of &aranth's novels available in 9nglish is a story of courtesan life) translated
by 8.:. %harada "rasad under the title) The %oman of 'asrur. The rendering is feminist)
but without advertising itself as such: it is sensitive and subtle without ever descending
into stridency. There is a noticeable empathy with the courtesan: with her desire for
acclaim) her devotion to her art) the hapha2ard life she leads in roaming theatres. &aranth
penetratingly probes her hopes) fantasies and suspicions. The fic#leness and animal
feelings of her patrons are described with dry wit.
The novel spans four generations. Its core is a memoir of the legendary courtesan
/anjula) found in an attic by her grandniece: this) the serendipitous discovery of
forgotten te(ts) is a literary device more recently made popular in 9nglish fiction by +.%.
.yatt's (ossession. The tale is told entirely from the woman's point of view. To earn a
moment of joy) a woman had to undergo a hundred moments of suffering.' .ut can a
courtesan's daughter buy) off the shelf) someone in whom money and virtue are
combinedH'
,hen a lover gifts /anjula a bracelet) she felt as if soa#ed in syrup'. +t other times
she yearned for human understanding: sil# is soft to the touch) it is true) but can sil#
soothe the ache of the heartH' There is a brilliant description of her feeling let down by a
patron who had but one thing on his mind.
I thought I would be like a basket of bright and fragrant flowers offered in music.
Instead I was the goat sacrificed to the demon. )e was a hungry animal and I was only a
lump of flesh. From the moment he set foot in my rooms he acted as if I was someone
without a mind and feelings.
/anjula's last lover is the swami of a mutt, who would visit her under cover of
dar#ness and in disguise. This is a characteristic comment on the hypocrisy of an
enforced asceticism: &aranth had little time for the forms and pieties of his ancestral
religion. The critic *.0. Ramachandran observes that &aranth's novels are invariably
biased towards women and against holy men: these he saw as humbugs) or as having run
away from home to escape their responsibilities. +nd yet) in a bitter parado() when he
died in $ecember 199@) this great anti-ritualist and rationalist was cremated amidst the
chanting of 3edic hymns.
+s both !opala#rishna +diga and C.R. +nantha /urty have pointed out) the strengths
of &aranth's fiction are also its limitations. ,hat stri#es us most') writes +diga) is his
sincerity and earnestness.' The characters) dialogues) situation and story are so authentic
that FtheyG become a part of our own living e(perience.' 8owever) there is in &aranth's
writings throughout a lac# of imagery. 1nly when a novelist's intellect) feelings)
contemplation) values) dreams) memories at the conscious and unconscious levels=only
when all these ingredients are coo#ed to a delicacy) does it create a new e(perience for
the reader.' ;i#ewise) +nantha /urty comments that in becoming his people's most
authentic writer
1
) &aranth had to rigorously e(clude the aesthetic and poetic dimensions
from his fiction. %ince humans for him are the product of specific social relationships) he
cannot write about the intensity of mystical e(perience or the agonies of the alienated
individual. 8is novels are rich) readable) authentic< yet they do not contain invisible
eddies that catch the reader and draw him into subliminal depths.'
III
The bravest act of my writing career was to suggest in the pages of a *alcutta
newspaper that a &annada writer bore comparison with Rabindranath Tagore. I made the
claim in 199I) and too# care not to visit &ol#ata for some time thereafter. .ut let me
ma#e so bold now as to revive it. ?or %hivarama &aranth was the most influential &an-
nada novelist) a noted playwright) a dancer and choreographer) an encyclopaedist) social
reformer) patriot and educationist. 8is myriad-mindedness inspired a proverb in
&annnada: .adu muttada, soppilla, /arantharu maadada kelasa0illa. 4There is
vegetation that a goat doesn't eat) but there is no wor# that &aranth has not done.5
The range of %hivarama &aranth's achievements bears comparison with Tagore's. %o)
more intriguingly) does the pattern of his life) and the choice of his particular passions.
*onsider the following.
;i#e Tagore) &aranth wrote as much for the young as for adults. !enerations of
&annada schoolchildren grew up on primers written by him. +nd he too# care to have
these well illustrated: the painter he chose for the purpose being &.&. 8ebbar) in this
respect the e(act &annada e>uivalent of 0andalal .ose. 8is children's encyclopaedias
were also attractively produced: he too# many of the photos himself) and even had the
colour separations done in !ermany.
&aranth was proud of his wor# for children. +part from the boo#s he wrote for them)
for some years he ran an e(perimental school with its own #itchen) fields) and menagerie.
The children were all boarders and paid no fees. /uch time was spent outside the
classroom) in the forests and on the river or sea) and in watching or participating in
theatre and music. The great &annada writers) singers and dancers would all come
visiting. In the school &aranth himself was always accompanied by a huge red /alabar
s>uirrel) its tail stylishly draped around his nec#.
;i#e Tagore) again) &aranth was an environmentalist before the time of
environmentalism. 8e) too) was made by the gorgeous landscapes in which he was
reared. I am in love with my region) and dote on its landscape') he once wrote.
I could not understand why such a green stretch of land was made so grey in books of
geography . . . The beach at /arwar would ensla0e anyone. The crowning glory of
Malnad is the 1og Falls. I ha0e not kept count of the number of times I ha0e 0isited it. 2
he gorge and the precipice are unfailingly alluring. I ha0e sat, soaked, eaten and slept on
the banks of the 3hara0ati, and romped on the sand. I ha0e lo0ed the 0iolet$coloured
moss on the boulders there.
In the 19I6s &aranth wor#ed for the plantation and preservation of trees and forests.
In the 19@6s and 19D6s he launched campaigns against polluting industries) destructive
dams) and=the ultimate threat to human and natural life=the nuclear establishment. In
19@9 &aranth inspired a popular movement against a hydroelectric project on the .edthi
River) in Cttara &annada. The dam would have inundated much rich farmland) and also
thousands of hectares of rich tropical forests. *haracteristically) &aranth was not content
with opposition< if they thought the dam harmful) he told the agitating farmers) they must
reform their own wayward agricultural practices) must be more sparing in their use of
chemicals and more conserving in their use of water and energy.
In 19D7 he translated the first *iti2ens' Report on the Indian 9nvironment. Then) after
the *hernobyl disaster of 19DE) he led a popular movement against the siting of a nuclear
plant in 0orthern &arnata#a. &aranth even stood for a ;o# %abha election on an
independent green' tic#et: although he did not ma#e a single campaign speech) and lie
had not the money or muscle power of the established political patties) he still got E6)666
votes.
&aranth's ecological sensibilities also found their way into his fiction. The first pages
of The %oman of 'asrur spea# of the landscape and of how man has made and unmade
it. The town of .asrur had reservoirs built by the pious of an earlier age. They are fed by
the monsoon rains) but in summer they turn yellow=or green) when the moss shows
through. +nd the stone steps around them are in disrepair) loo#ing li#e the misshapen
teeth of the aged. The river that flowed clown the hills and past the town had palms
growing in profusion for miles together on both ban#s) li#e unmarried girls lined up to
welcome a bridal couple) swaying in the winds) unconscious of their own comeliness.'
1nce a thriving port) trading to "ortuguese !oa and beyond) the town was now
derelict.
+ll the glory chat remains in .asrur is the glory of green=the bright green of the tops
of palms) the light green of paddy s>uares which stretch from the outs#irts of the town up
to the sea) the deep green of the patches of sweet-potato and chilli. . . . ) and the still
deeper green of the copal trees which stand stately) loo#ing down upon bush and thorn.
The parallels between the lives continue. ;i#e Tagore) &aranth e(perienced acute
personal sorrow=the death of a beloved child) the suffering of his wife from depression.
&aranth too accepted honours from the state and) in a moment of principled anger)
returned them. Tagore gave bac# his #nighthood after the massacre at Jallianawala .agh.
?irty-si( years later) &aranth returned his "adma .hushan in protest against the
imposition of the 9mergency. +s he wrote to the president of India)
In 2455, I like many others, joined &andhiji in the 6on$Cooperation Mo0ement in
order to ser0e my motherland. I felt I was doing my bit m righting for the freedom of
India.
%e all felt happy when freedom came to India in 2478 and our land became a
democracy. Its Constitution ga0e me joy. 'ut k was not co last long. .s years passed, the
Fundamental 9ights assured to the people were remo0ed bit by bit, through amendments,
negating the assurance gi0en by the 0ery leaders who took oaths to maintain them . . .
Today, at the age of 87, I hang my head in shame at the turn of e0ents. I don,t belie0e
that a single soul has a right to bypass human freedoms under any cloak.
Though for decades I ha0e refrained from acti0e politics, I feet impelled to protest
against such indignities done to the people of India. .s such, to calm my own conscience
at least, I feel impelled to surrender the title to your &o0ernment.
May truth pre0ail o0er untruth.
.oth Tagore and &aranth travelled widely abroad and wrote about their e(periences.
41ne had family money and generous patrons) the other did what he could with a lean
purse.5 .oth were always e(perimenting with new ideas) new careers. +ll their geese did
not turn out swans. ,here Tagore failed or e(ceeded himself is for the .engalis to say.
.ut of &aranth it can be safely said that he was a lousy painter and a worse film-ma#er.
8e made what is possibly the first &annada feature film) in the 19A6s=fortunately
perhaps) the cans of film perished in a fire at the end of the shooting. :ears later he made
another feature. + young &annada writer who otherwise reveres &aranth and his wor#s
told me simply that it was a horrible film=horrible. +pparently) &aranth would shout
action') and turn his eyes away from the shot. 8e would call stop' when he felt the
dialogue had run its course. ,hen I first compared Tagore to &aranth) I thought I was
being novel. .ut then 8.:. %harada "rasad alerted me to the fact that another writer had
long ago made the same claim. +s it happens) this writer was a .engali) and a rather
learned one=%uniti &umar *hatterji. 8owever) as %harada "rasad points out) while the
two men were ali#e in the many-sidedness of their genius) they differed in one respect.
There was a grandeur about both) but Tagore was the sage) a modern-day rishi, a man
who gathered disciples around him and relished his title of !urudev. &aranth remained a
fierce individual) a lone tus#er who sought no followers) built no sect or ism or
institution) and spurned the role of a preceptor.'
Recalling his student years) &aranth wrote that his mind then was full of %wadeshi)
social reform and %hantini#etan'. ,here the prescribed te(ts in college were the wor#s of
&ipling) he chose to read Tagore instead. 8e wrote to *.?. +ndrews) as#ing whether he
should study in %antini#etan. +ndrews encouraged him to go) but his father vetoed the
idea) apparently on the grounds that .engali .rahmins were so degraded that they even
ate fish. + peculiar reason) but perhaps in the end we should be grateful that &aranth did
not go to %antini#etan. ?or he might have fallen fatally under the spell of Tagore) to
become a faithful disciple instead of what he became unaided: his own man.