Out of the many catastrophes predicted for humankind, recurring warnings about the death of literature reverberate the most among readers. Indian publishing has braved them all with an array, including a steady focus on contemporary writing. Yet, it must be lamented that the greats of the yesteryears find few takers today. To address this, and to enable newer readers to rediscover literary giants who have redefined Indian Sahitya, the collection finds its provenance.
The best way to read any book is in the original. The second best is to find a decent translation and dive in. The Essential UR Ananthamurthy, although a treasure trove for those who are fascinated by Karnataka, but have no access to its literature, is more of a handbook of necessity. Certainly an honour to the memory of the writer, the compendium, however, leaves gaps. Here, each chapter represents a quartet of Ananthamurthy’s finest novels, and that is inadequate. It is meant as a sampler, intended to spark a vaster quest.
Between his seashore village Udupi, and the place of his birth Thirthahalli, at an elevation of almost 2,000 ft, are some of the most pristine vistas of Karnataka. The unique culture of the region is the lifeblood of the author’s works: the localities and their histories, its people, modes of living, and elements of their human experience. Despite the fact that both the craft and imagination are urbane, they are at par with the best of world literature. The dilemmas, while rooted in native soil, are intrinsic to all mankind. The conventional settings of small localities within rural areas transcend linguistic boundaries and touch chords across cultures.
In the extract from Bharathipura, Jagannath wishes to break the shackles of his Brahminism. He plucks the saligram stone from the family altar and takes it to the peasant class, Holeyas, to touch. Cowed by centuries of subjugation and mistrustful of all Brahmins, the men are overcome by fear, and can’t. What happens next sets off deep inquiry within Jagannath’s mind about religion, caste structures and his own vulnerabilities.
The poems in the collection are stylistically unique. Largely political in nature, they mark epochs in the poet’s lifetime, though the poem, Mithuna, is both timeless and erotic. Its poetic diction is more cerebral than aesthetic, spare and factual than evocative. The British government in India, Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and Lord Krishna in union with Radha all feature in his verse.
The introduction to the novel, Samskara, deals with the dilemma around the death rites for Naranappa, a lapsed Brahmin who brought a low-caste prostitute home to cohabit, drank liquor, and brought Muslim friends into the village to defile the temple ponds and eat the sacred fish they caught. No one wishes to fall foul of the larger Brahmin community by performing his death rites. Yet, no Brahmin among the group could eat or drink until his funeral, putting the community in a fix. They go to the great scholar, Praneshacharya, for guidance.
The excommunication of a pregnant widow; a benefactor who sponsors the education of a promising young lad; a man unmoored by devotion for a young novitiate––all weave into tapestries of a social life where characters and milieus come alive. The author’s deeper scholarship and observations take centre stage in political writings and essays on literature and its craft.
The fiction plots mostly weave around the lives of the Madhvas, a Vaishnavite Brahmin community to which the author belonged. That he is steeped in this way of life and is familiar with its ceremonies and daily rigours is evident in the ease with which each character is etched out. But, these are not Brahminical texts as much as a critique on the limitations of caste hierarchies and of its inevitable obsolescence in an evolving society.
Neither his liberal, reformist tone nor his politics have gone unnoticed by mainstream religious leaders and political parties. Despite his towering intellectual pursuits, winning accolades, both nationally and internationally, Ananthamurthy also encountered opposition to his brand of iconoclasm.
The featured translations have been contributed by a host of translators, and this group endeavour also imparts a special flavour; for, each reinterprets the author’s works, rendering them both timeless and versatile.