The Story of Sankamma -Part 3

(Still not satisfied, Neelegowda sadistically spreads big thorns on the ground; and being a sorcerer, creates two magic figures.  He stations them to guard the door, with the orders to them that if anybody enters the hut or tries to go out, they should immediately kill such persons.  Then he goes out and joins his clan-men.

     Sankamma, moaning and writhing in pain, mentally prays to many gods and goddesses to come to her aid, but to no avail.  Finally, in desperation, she prays to Madeshwara.)

 

The Story of Sankamma -Part 2

Shiva, Shiva!  O Mother Earth!  O Sky above!
Master, what are you saying?
To go to the desolate place where three mountain peaks meet,
To the silent valley near it,
To build a lonely hut in a tiny tribal hamlet there,
And to live there, far away from everyone –

                       ‘THE STORY OF SANKAMMA’   -Part 1

             

Invocation:

In the very beginning, I revere your feet;

O Madeva, grant me wisdom.

I am ignorant of metre, rhyme and rhythm;

O godly Guru, grant me salvation.

O you, who sport on the branches of fluttering mango leaves,

Who dance to the rhythm of cymbals and tamburi,

O Mother!  Mother Sharada!

Sing the words in apt measure,

O Mother!

                                **********

              

                 

Kannada Oral Epics: Women And Society

INTRODUCTION:

     Women that inhabit the world of Kannada oral epics are at the very center of ambiguities and contrary pulls that give those epics their distinct form.  On the one hand, these women in these narratives are proud of their womanhood and are more assertive  than their counterparts in the written tradition; on the other hand, they also hold the classical Sita as their role-model.  Consequently, they constantly oscillate  between fierce assertion of their womanhood and pativratya, fidelity to their husbands in mind and body.

Review of "Kannada Kadambari Lokadalli" by M.S.Nataraj

M. S. Nataraj, ed.  Kannada Kadambari Lokadalli

                 N. J., USA: Kannada Sahitya Ranga, 2009   pp. 400;  price: 250/-

                              “ Commendable Diasporic Writing”

     One of the major characteristics of Diasporic experience is biculturism, an attempt to retain cultural bonds with the homeland, which is both an emotional necessity and a means of distinct identity.  The Ameri-Kannadigas are a fine instance of this experience.

Review of "Odanata" by S.R. Vijayashankara

S. R. Vijayashankara, ODANATA

Anandakanda Granthamale, 2007                        pp. 224; price: 120/-

               “Warm Portraits of Great Men”

     ‘Odanata’ in Kannada means ‘companionship’; and Vijayashankara  has had the fortune of intimate companionship with many men of extra-ordinary talents.  The gallery he presents in this work contains the portraits of 27 men from different walks of life:  great writers, men of theatre, administrators, cartoonists, journalists, and rationalists.  

Review of "Shatamanada Kavi Yeats" by Dr. U.R.Ananthamurthy

Dr. U. R. Ananthamurthy, SHATAMANADA KAVI YEATS

Bengaluru: Abhinava, 2008                                   pp. 128; price: 75/-

                   “A Valuable Contribution to Yeats-Studies”

William Butler Yeats (1845-1939) was an unbelievably complex person: he was a great poet-playwright, leader of the Celtic Renaaissance, and a believer in Spiritualism and Occultism.    His love for the fiery revolutionary, Maud Gonne, is legendary; though she consistently refused to marry him, he couldn’t forget her, and she figured in many of his famous poems.