KARNATAKA: Hough Kannada was recently accorded the classical status, history of the language dates back to 2,000 years. The first inscription in Kannada was found at Halmidi and is from the fifth century.
In seventh century, the Kappe Arabhatta Badami inscription was found, It has Kappe Arabhatta’s description of Kannadigas of that time.
According to historians, this is the first inscription found in Kannada with literary characters.
The first book in Kannada Kaviraj Marga was found in the ninth century. Srivijay, the writer, was in the court of Nripatunga, a Rashtrakoota dynasty emperor.
Srivijay gives details of the names of the Kannada writers — both poets and prose writers — of pre-Kaviraj Marga period.
At the same time, Shivakotyacharya wrote Vaddaradhane that contains 19 Jain stories. This is the first book in Kannada in prose.
Kannada scholar Dr R S Mugali has divided Kannada literature in four parts, namely pre-Pampa period, Pampa period, Basava period and Kumarvyasa period.
The tenth century is said to be the golden period of Kannada literature as Pampa, Ranna, Ponna, Nagachandra, Nagavarma, Chavundaraya, Brahmashiv, Durgasimha took Kannada literature to new heights.
These writers used Champu, a form that mixed prose and poetry, in their works. Pampa wrote about Mahabharath and portrayed his King Arikesari as Arjun.
Ranna’s Gadayuddha, Nagachandra’s Mallinath Puranam, Ponna’s Shanti Purana, Nagvarma’s Karnataka Kadambari, Durgasimsha’s Panchatantra and Brahmashiva’s Samaya Parikshe were important works of this century.
The 12th century was dominated by Basaveshwara and his followers who took literature to the common man through Vachana sahitya. This century was considered as a phase of social reformation.
The literature written in this period was known as Vachana literature. The works of Vachanakars depicted the socio-religious values of the period. Basaveshwara inspired people coming from lower castes to be part of his movement.
People like Allam Prabhu, Akka Mahadevi, Siddarameshwar, Ambiger Chavudayya, Dohar Kakkayya, Channabasavanna, Madar Channayya , Aaydakki Marayya , Lakkamma , Soole Sankawwe, Kalawwe made Kannada literature of that century rich.
The 12th century Vachanakars became heroes for the poets of next genaration like Harihar and Raghavanka. They wrote on the life and works of Vachanakars.
Kumaravyas (Karnataka Bharath Katha Manjiri), Chamaras (Prabhulinga Leele) and Laxmish (Jaimini Bharath) were the landmarks of 14th century.
The 16th century is dominated by Dasa Sahitya in which Vyasaraya, Purandara Dasa and Kanaka Dasa wrote Keertanas and Bhaktigeethas, Mundiges, Ugabhogas. Critics say these dasas saved the Hindu religion through their Keerthanas at a time when the region saw aggression by Muslim kings.
In the 18th century, Sarvjna and others contributed to literature through their tripadi and other forms of poetry.
The British rule in India and the world literature also influenced the Kannada literature to a great extent. Literature and culture got a new face under the British Rule. The start of modern literature can be marked with the writings of B M Srikanthaiah who translated English Poems into Kannada — English Geethegalu — in 1922.
Later, poets like Govind Pai , Panche Mangeshrao, Hattiangadi Narayanrao came up and thousands of lyrics were written in this period.
Then, Kuvempu and Da Ra Bendre entered the literary scene and made Kannada literature rich. Both worked in all forms of the literature. Both depicted the values of Gandhi, Aravinda Ghosh and Ramkrishna Paramhamsa philosophy through their works.
In 1950, the progressive movement started in Karnataka with writers like Adya Rangacharya (Sriranga), Basavaraj Kattimani, Niranjan, AN Krishanaraya, Tarasu and Anupama Niranajan. They wrote in prose and tried to reach out to the common man.
In the 1960s, V K Gokak, Adiga, Lankesh, Shantinath Desai, A K Ramanujam, Yashavant Chittal, K P Poornachandra Tejaswi, Sumathindra Nadiga, Shankar Mokhashi Punekar, H M Channaiah, Chandrakant Kusnur and Chandrashekhar Kambar were the important writers.
Poet Laureate G S Shivarudrappa and Channaveer Kanavi used both the forms - Navodaya and Navya.
Then came the Bandaya and Dalit forms. Baragur Ramachandrappa, Chandrashekhar Patil , Siddalingaih, Devnur Mahadev, Kalegouda Nagawar, Kum Veerbhadrappa, Channana Walikar, Buddanna Hingamire, Geetha Nagabhushana , Satyananda Patrot, Ramzan Darga, Satish Kulkarni, Jambanna Amarchinta and Aravind Malagatti are some of the writers.
There have also been writers like S L Bhairappa, Vyasrao Ballal, Jayant Kaikini who are not identified with any movement.
Kannada Literature has the highest number of Jnanpith Awards in the country. Kuvempu, Da Ra Bendre, Shivaram Karanth, Masti Venkatesh Iyengar, V K Gokak, U R Ananthamurthy and Girish Karnadhave all received the award.