Mysore Literature - Developments Up To The Mid-20th Century

Developments Up To The Mid-20th Century

In 1881, the British handed back administrative powers to the Wodeyar family. Up to 1947, when the kingdom acceded to the Union of India, the incumbent Maharaja was assisted by a Diwan (Prime minister), the administrative chief of Mysore. These were times of positive social and economic change, the independence movement and modern nationalism, all of which had an impact on literature.

Kannada literature saw the blossoming of the Navodaya (lit. "New beginning") style of writings in genres such as lyrical poems, drama, novels and short stories, with the strong influence of English literature. B. M. Srikantaiah's English Geetagalu ("English songs", 1921) was the path-breaker in the genre of modern lyrical poetry. The earliest stalwarts in the field of modern historical drama and comedy were T. P. Kailasam and A.N. Swami Venkatadri Iyer (also called "Samsa"). Kailasam sought to critique social developments by producing plays that questioned the utility of the modern education system in Tollu Gatti (1918, "The Hollow and the Solid") and the dowry system in Tali Kattoke Cooline ("Wages for tying the Mangalsutra"). Samsa's ideal king, Narasaraja Wodeyar, is the protagonist of the play Vigada Vikramarya ("The Wicked Vikramarya", 1925).

Initial development in the genre of historical novels, in the form of translations and original works, sought to re-kindle the nationalistic feelings of Kannadigas. Venkatachar (Anandamatha) and Galaganath were among the first to write such novels. Galaganath's Madhava Karuna Vilasa (1923) described the founding of the Vijayanagara empire, while his Kannadigara Karmakatha ("Kannadigas Fateful Tale") described the empire's decline. In 1917, Alur Venkata Rao wrote the famous Karnataka Ghata Vaibhava, a summary of earlier works by Fleet, Rice, Bhandarkar and Robert Sewell, appealing to the Kannadigas to remember their glorious past, their ancient traditions and culture, their great rulers, saints and poets. Other well-known works were Kerur Vasudevachar's Yadu Maharaja describing the rise of the Wodeyar dynasty, and Vasudevaiah's Arya Kirti (1896). The tradition of novels started by Gulvadi Venkata Rao (1899) reached maturity in 1915 with M.S. Puttanna's Madidunno Maharaya ("Sir, as you sow, so you reap"), a historical novel written in flowing prose and whose theme is set in the times of Maharaja Krishnaraja III. To Puttanna also goes the credit for writing the earliest modern biography, Kunigal Ramashastriya Charitre ("The story of Kunigal Ramashastri"). The genre of short story made its initial beginnings with Panje Mangesh Rao, M.N. Kamath and Kerur Vasudevachar, but it was Masti Venkatesh Iyengar who stole the limelight with and set a trend for others to follow in his Kelavu Sanne Kathegalu ("A few short stories", 1920) and Sanna Kathegalu ("Short stories", 1924).

The efforts of these early pioneers were to become a forerunner for the golden age in the decades to follow. A long list of noted poets and writers followed: D. R. Bendre (Gari, "The Wing", 1932) and Govinda Pai (Gilivindu, "Parrots", 1930), perhaps the most acclaimed writers of lyrical poems that synthesised the work of the English romantics with native traditions; K. Shivaram Karanth, the noted novelist and author of Chomana Dudi ("Choma's Toil", 1933); Kuvempu, one of Kannada's doyen poets who showed his brilliance in using the blank verse in his masterpiece epic and magnum opus, Sri Ramayana Darshanam (1949); V. K. Gokak, a writer of drama, criticism, songs and epic (Bharata Sindhu Rashmi, 1940); D. V. Gundappa, the philosopher-writer to whom is ascribed writings in just about every genre, though his most notable work is the Mankuthimmana Kagga ("Dull Thimma's Rigmarole", 1943), which closely compares with the wisdom poems of the late medieval poet Sarvajna.