Chapter XIII CULTURE - Government of Karnataka

Culture 481
a periodical brought out by the Kannada Sangha of the Central College and
later shifted the publication to Mysore University. S.V.Ranganna, an English
Professor, who had by this time established himself as a Kannada writer
through ‘Ranga Binnappa’, wrote on literary criticism in ‘Shaili’ and ‘Ruchi’.
V.Sitaramayya’s output varied from ‘Hana Prapancha’, an economic treatise, to
‘Pampa Yathre’ a travelogue, to host of writings, from poetry to literary criticism.
R.S. Mugali wrote ‘Kannada Sahitya Charithre’ a succinct and balanced history
of Kannada Literature.
In the mid-forties the Navodaya movement gave way to Pragathisheela
Chalavali. A.N. Krishna Rao was the torch bearer for this. The movement
brought writers from their ivory tower to the common man. Though A. Na.
Kru’s short stories are better examples from this genre of writing, than his
novels, he is mainly noted for his novels such as ‘Sandhya Raaga’, Udaya
Raaga’, ‘Nata Sarvabhouma’, ‘Grihini’ and ‘Kanneeru’. Basavaraja Kattimani,
hailing from North Karnataka, wrote ‘Nee Nanna Muttabeda’, ‘Shivadara
Janivara’ and ‘Nanoo Polisanagidde’ portraying the netherworld behind the
facade of Kaavi and Khaki. Ta.Ra.Su started as a progressive writer with
novels like ‘Hamsageethe’, ‘Masanada Hoovu’ and ‘Munjavinda Munjavu’ found
his forte in historical novels woven around his birth place Chitradurga, and
‘Durgasthamana’ is the finest example of his writing. Niranjana who was an
active communist during freedom struggle wrote such down-to-earth novels as
‘Doorada Betta’ and ‘Rangammana Vathara’ as well as ‘Chirasmarane’ based
on agrarian movement, but his magnum opus is considered to be ‘Mrityunjaya’,
dealing with Egyptian history.
Chaduranga who inspite of his close relationship with the Mysore Royal
family was a rebel and wrote ‘Sarvamangala’ and ‘Uyyale’ both dealing with
extra-marital love. Interestingly, his ‘Vaishaka’ writen many decades later also
deals with extra-marital relationship in a rural setting.
Among the women writers Triveni, whose novels like ‘Bekkina Kannau’,
‘Sharapanjara’ and ‘Mucchida Bagilu’ were essentially psycho-analytical.
Anupama, who drew themes from her rich experience as a medical practitioner
in stories like ‘Aranyadallondu Aragini’, and M.K.Indira whose forte was the
protrayal of Malnad life in novels such as ‘Phaniyamma’ were all offshoots of
the progressive movement.
Next to the progressive movement was the Navya movement. This was
influenced mostly by the post-war writers like T.S.Eliot, Auden, Ezra Pound,
D.H.Lawrence, Sartre and Camus. Gopalakrishna Adiga was the foremost
exponent of the Navya movement and his ‘Bhoomi Geetha’ is said to have been
influenced by T.S.Eliot’s ‘Waste Land’. P. Lankesh’s collection of stories ‘Kurudu
Kanchana’ and his absurd play ‘Teregalu’, Srikrishna Alanahalli’s long story
‘Kadu’, Shanthinatha Desai’s ‘Vikshepa’, Poornachandra Tejaswi’s ‘Nigoodha
Manushyaru’, Nisar Ahmed’s poems like ‘Masthi’ and ‘Ramanu Sattha dina’,
U.R. Ananthamurthy’s stories like ‘Prashne’ and ‘Clip Joint’, Yeshwanth
Chittala’s ‘Shikari’, Vyasaraya Ballala’s ‘Bandaya’ are some examples of the new
writing in Kannada. Chandrashekara Kambara and A. K. Ramanujam widened