ಅನುವಾದಗಳು ನಾವು ಕಾಣದ ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಲೋಕಕ್ಕೆ ನಮ್ಮನ್ನು ಪರಿಚಯಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಭಾಷೆಯೊಡನೆ, ಸಮಾಜದೊಡನೆ, ಬದುಕಿನೊಡನೆ ಸಂವಹನವನ್ನು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಬೇರೆ ಭಾಷೆಯಿಂದ ಅನುವಾದಗೊಂಡ ಕೃತಿಗಳು ನಮ್ಮ ಅರಿವನ್ನು ಹಿಗ್ಗಿಸುವಂತೆಯೇ, ನಮ್ಮ ಭಾಷೆ, ನಮ್ಮ ಬದುಕು ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಭಾಷೆಗೆ ಅನುವಾದಗೊಂಡಾಗ ಜಗತ್ತಿನ ಕಿಟಕಿಯನ್ನು ಆ ಕಡೆಯಿಂದಲೂ ತೆರೆಯುತ್ತದೆ.
ಹಿರಿಯ ಚಿಂತಕರೂ, ವಿದ್ವಾಂಸರೂ ಆದ ಸಿ ಎನ್ ರಾಮಚಂದ್ರನ್ ಮತ್ತು ಬಿ ಎ ವಿವೇಕ ರೈ ಅವರು ಹಲ್ಮಿಡಿ ಶಾಸನದಿಂದ ಮೊದಲುಗೊಂಡು ಕನ್ನಡದ ಮಹತ್ವದ ಕೃತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷಿಗೆ ಅನುವಾದಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಆ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಇಂದು ಬಿಡುಗಡೆಗೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಈ ಮಹತ್ವದ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಮುಖಪುಟ ಮತ್ತು ಪುಸ್ತಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿ ಎನ್ ರಾಮಚಂದ್ರನ್ ಅವರು ಬರೆದ ಒಂದು ಪರಿಚಯ ಬರಹ ’ಅವಧಿ’ ಓದುಗರಿಗಾಗಿ.

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ಸಿ ಎನ್ ರಾಮಚಂದ್ರನ್

Major Features of Classical Kannada Poetry: ‘In and Out of the Maze of Binaries’

The first inscription in Kannada script, the Halmidi inscription (450 A. D.) with which this work commences, seems to be highly symbolic in the context of Kannada culture and literature. The inscription contains 54 Sanskrit words and 31 Kannada words, but the entire inscription is written in the Kannada script. The style is poetic-prose, which freely employs side by side Sanskrit words and very indigenous words like ‘bŒaalgalchu’ (‘washing the sword’); it is commissioned by a local king or a king’s officer to publicly acknowledge the bravery and sacrifice of a local soldier, but the practice of establishing edicts is pan-Indian; and the Kannada script of this inscription does not contain either ‘aspirated consonants’ (mahaprana) or ‘aspirate marker’ (visarga) which were borrowed from Sanskrit in a later period. Do all these particulars of the first Kannada edict say anything about the way Kannada consciousness works?
i   Champu Form: Beginning with the first epic poet Pampa, most of the poetic works in the classical period are written in Halagannada ( old form of Kannada) and in the Champu form.
The Champu is a very inclusive form. Although, its primary characteristic is
that it utilises both prose and verse, because of that reason it brings together statement and dramatization (prose introduces a situation and the situation or incident is dramatized through verse forms), the historical and the mythical (many epics equate a historical figure with a mythical/legendary figure and thus impose the contemporary on the past), and this-worldliness and the other-worldliness (  Aadipurana contrasts BŒhubali a symbol of renunciation with Bharata a symbol of earthly power and pleasures, and extols both of them).
The kind of prose used in Champu poetry is called ‘Vachana’ (‘spoken’) and it carries out many functions in the work — to summarise the story or descriptions, to introduce certain incidents, and to link two different episodes of the story. There are occasions when prose is used to express a few tropes like Pun, Hyperbole and Paradox.
There are contradictory views among scholars on whether the Champu form is a native form of Kannada or borrowed from Sanskrit. For the first time in Kannada, we come across major works written in this form in the 10th century; and poets like Pampa, Ponna and Ranna exploit this form ingeniously in their works. But it is also argued, on the basis of certain verses of the works (now lost) by Gunavarma the first (Harivamsha) and Shudraka of the ninth century, that their works were also written in the Champu form. Even in Sanskrit, Champu works such as Trivikrama’s Nala Champu and Somadeva’s Yasastilaka Champu were written only in the 10th century; and both the poets were from Karnataka. Dandi, a rhetorician from South India, describes the features of Champu, for the first time in the seventh century, in his treatise on poetry, Kavyadarsha (gadyapadyamayi  kachit champurityabhidiyate—‘the work which contains both prose and verse is called Champu). Based on these points, scholars have argued that the Champu form originally belongs to Karnataka.
ii) mŒarga x desi / the pan-Indian x the local:
The term ‘mŒarga’ means ‘classical / Sanskritic / pan-Indian’ and ‘desi’ means ‘contemporary / Kannada / indigenous’; and it is fascinating to see the different ways through which the Kannada poets have negotiated through these binaries.
a) Localising the pan-Indian: Interestingly, almost all Kannada works up to the modern times are ‘adaptations of earlier pan-Indian Sanskrit or PrŒkrit works. (The exceptions in this history spanning a millennium seem to be only a handful: Nemichandra’s LeelaŒvati Prabandham, Andayya’s Kabbigara KaŒva, etc.) All the major works are based on pan-Indian myths or ancient epics.
However, when a Pampa or a Ranna takes up a pan-Indian narrative as the subject of his work, he goes on consciously localizing it at every level. He freely selects and rejects many incidents and characters of the ‘original’ work (the localizing mind is so free that Pampa makes Draupadi the wife of only one Pandaava, Arjuna; he depicts Krishna not as a god but only as a tactful politician); he focuses on those characters and issues that appear to him important (Pampa, in his summing-up verse –“chaladol duryødhanam …,” 14: 64 –names five Kauravas and only three PŒandavas and forgets Krishna; and, most importantly, in the Kurukshetra war, while describing the heroics of the great kings he has time to describe the feelings of common soldiers and their wives, and the misery of widowed and orphaned women after the 18-day war ). Consequently, the better term than adaptation to describe the genius of Kannada classical poets seems to be ‘trans-creation.’
b) Coming to versification, we find Kannada poets utilizing both Sanskrit verse forms along with indigenous verse forms. The Sanskrit verse-forms widely used by classical Kannada poets are: Champakamala, Utpalamala, Matteebhavikreedita, Sragdhara and Mahasragdhara. These verse-forms (quatrains based on the number of syllables in each of the four lines –akshara or matra) are so widely used by classical Kannada poets that they are together called ‘Khyata Karnataka’ (famous Karnataka) stanza forms.
However, besides these Sanskritic verse-forms, many native Kannada verse-
forms based on ‘mŒatra’ ( ‘quantity’) like Kanda (rhymed quatrain), Tripadi (triplet) and Piriyakkara based on amsa are used. Another verse-form called Ragale (similar to blankverse but rhymed ), based on quantity, is also used occasionally, but the thirteenth century on wards, all the variations of this form (lalita ragale, utsŒha ragale, and mandŒnila ragale) are widely used; and, in the modern period, sarala ragale (similar to blankverse) has become the most important poetic vehicle.
It is also significant that the poetic medium gets more and more localized with the passage of time. The use of native verse-forms goes on increasing to such an extent that, by the late 16th century, RatnŒkara Varni writes his epic, Bharatesha Vaibhava, entirely in a verse-form called saŒngatya which is a form of folk poetry (a four-line stanza form in which the third line repeats the second line). In other words, the movement with the passage of time is from the pan-Indian towards the local, and from the literary Kannada to folk Kannada.
c) Coming to vocabulary, all the three forms — Sanskrit words, derivative words from Sanskrit (tadbhava) and native Kannada words –are used without any friction. Poets use, especially in prose works, plenty of local Kannada sayings, proverbs and witticisms. And, ¸Andayya, coming in the middle of the 13th century, declares that Kannada poetry should be written employing only Kannada vocabulary, and illustrates his dictum in his work Kabbigara KaŒva.
But, in general, the principle most poets followed appears to be the one inunciated by KavirŒajamaŒrga:
“If such Kannada words which easily intermingle with similar Sanskrit words are used, they yield delight, like the pleasant drum-beats that easily fuse with great music. (1 : 55)
“ When the rich and established Sanskrit poetic tradition is followed, with critical discretion, poetry in Kannada becomes charming and faultless” (1:57)
iii Structure of Early Kannada Epics: Usually, poetical works in the classical period are very long. For most of the early classical poets were Jains and the core doctrine of Jainism is that a soul evolves through a series of rebirths to finally reach the state of ‘Total Liberation’ from the cycle of birth and death. Consequently, the poets had to narrate the stories of their heroes’ previous births (bhavavali) in detail. Depending on the particular stage of the story, the poetical work is divided into many parts called aswasa/ sandhi / avatara/ adhikara, and such (Book / Canto / Part).
Again, since the early poets in Kannada like Pampa and Ranna were Jains, most of the works in the classical period were based on Jaina pur¹ªas. But, Pampa composed a secular work, also, Vikram¹rjuna Vijaya (a re-telling of the entire VyŒsa BhŒrata), besides ¸dipur¹ªa (the story of ¸dinŒtha, the first t´rthankara); and thus he set up a tradition of composing one religious/ spiritual work and one secular work, which tradition was followed by his successors for a long time. However, in the 13th century, Janna combined both the forms in his Yashodhara Charite, which is both religious and secular.
iv Epic conventions: Dandi, the Sanskrit rhetorician of the 7th century, lists the epic conventions in his work KaŒvyŒdara as follows, based on the practice of Sanskrit epic poets like KŒalidŒasa, MŒagha and Bana:

That is, according to Dandi, an epic should contain the descriptions of the following: city, ocean, mountain, seasons, sunrise and sunset, garden, watersports, drinking of liquor, union and separation of the lovers, marriage, birth of a son, consultation with ministers, advice, journey, war, and victory in a war. These constitute the 18 types of description (ashtadasha varnanaŒ) enumerated by Dandi, and arguably his reason for this enumeration could be that an epic, being the most ambitious work of a poet, should give expression to all possible human emotions and experiences. Whatever be the reason, almost all the ambitious Kannada poets, from the first epic poet Pampa through KumŒravyŒsa and Lakshmisha to RatnŒkaravarni (15th -16 th centuries) followed this dictum as a rule and introduced all these 18 types of description, in their works.
Other epic conventions are: invocation in the beginning, introduction of the epic subject, the nature of the Hero, the use of a new stanza-form at the end of each canto/ part, and such. It is very interesting to see the way Kannada poets have moulded these epic conventions to suit their needs.
In the beginning of his secular epic, VikramŒrjuna Vijaya, Pampa utilizes the first five verses to eulogise his patron, Arikesari, in the guise of eulogizing Hindu gods like NŒaraŒyana, Ishwara, and Sooya. Next, he talks about himself and his work. Most of the later poets follow his model and talk about their lineage, their teachers, and (occasionally) earlier great poets. Usually, the poet records the date of his birth and the period of his compostion following the shalivahana calendar. (A few poets give these details at the end of their works also.) Each canto or ‘Book’ ends with a eulogy of the hero or the poet’s Guru or patron; and the work ends with the poet listing the benefits accruing to the reader or listener of his work.
More importantly, the way the poets exploit the introductory parts of their epics to make profound comments on poetics is amazing. To consider only a few examples:
Pampa, in the introductory part of  Adipurna, declares that ‘poetry, like the ocean, is ever new’ (‘idu nichcham posatu arnavambøl’). This is a paradoxical statement since the ocean remains the same for ever; but it is also new in the sense that every moment fresh water joins it. That is, poetry is always both old and new. The same story of MahaŒbhŒrata or RŒamaŒyana has been retold countless times, but each re-telling is a new interpretation. As Ramanujan says, “in this sense, no text is original, yet no telling is a mere re-telling –and the story has no closure, although it may be enclosed in a text”
(Coll. Works, p.158)
In the same epic, Pampa makes another major point about the difference between discursive writing and poetic expression (‘arivudu kŒvyadharmamum dharmamumam’). This juxtaposition of ‘dharma and kŒvyadharma’ registers the fact that whereas ‘dharma’ makes magisterial dictates about life and values of life, kŒvyadharma lies in examining an idea, an experience from different and often contradictory perspectives. If we consider Adipurana, a work supposed to be ‘a handbook of Jainism,’ Pampa allows almost all forms of religions to stake their claims and each one is as convincing as the other (‘The Story of MahaŒbala,’ Canto 2); of the ten previous births of  AdinŒtha, only three are narrated elaborately and all the three, especially the story of Vajrajangha, describe the way Vajrajangha and others were drowned in sensual pleasures (bhøga); and even after the renowned verse which registers the total renunciation of BaŒhubali, the epic continues to describe the military conquests and pleasures of Bharata. That is, as this epic illustrates, kŒvyadharma or the nature of a great poetical work is to explore from different perspectives the experiences and ‘values’ the work upholds.
To take just one more example, in his LeelaŒvati Prabandha, Nemichandra, in the introductory verses, states the difference between scientific truth and poetic truth in these words: ‘In real life, the monkeys may or may not have built the bridge (RaŒmaŒyana); VŒamana may or may not have measured the sky with his foot  . . . (but the poets have achieved all this) and that is the greatness of Poetry.  In other words, what we have to look for in poetry is not scientific and verifiable truth but truth born out of experiences, not what is ‘possible’ but what is ‘probable’ as Aristotle put it.
Iv Narrative Innovations:
a) in medias res: As a rule, all Sanskrit epics (with the exception of  Bana’s KaŒdambari), begin with the birth of the hero and narrate all the incidents pertaining to him chronologically. In contrast to this tradition, all the Western Epics ( Greek, Latin, Italian, and English epics) begin ‘in the middle of the story’ (in medias res) and then narrate the past incidents through flashbacks.
. Even the first major Kannada poet, Pampa, follows this tradition of chronological narration in both of his works. However, many other poets who come after him have attempted strikingly innovative ways of narration.
The first poet who draws our attention from the point of view of narration is Ranna, the younger contemporary of Pampa. He begins his SŒhasabheema Vijaya, a free adaptation of the Sanskrit VyaŒsa BhŒrata, from the end, the last day of the 18-day Kurukshetra war; and then, he recounts the earlier story through a series of flashbacks. Ranna calls this technique ‘simhŒvaløkana’ –like a lion looking back. When we consider the fact that Ranna had no model of this kind in Sanskrit or Kannada to follow, his giant leap in narrative technique (which makes his work very dramatic) is indeed amazing, to say the least. Later, many other poets follow him: Janna, the famous writer of Yashodhara Charite begins his epic with the story of Yashødhara’s grand children, and then they, the children, narrate the story of their grand parents.
b) Multiple Narrators and Narrative Nesting: If we ignore the fact that NaŒgavarma’s KŒadambari is an adaptation of a Sanskrit work, we find the poet employing multiple and varied narrators to present his work. To start with, we have a parrot that begins the story, then it is continued by a sage called BharadwŒja, and then MahaswetaŒ continues the narration, and then others take it up; no one person tells the whole story. Owing to this technique, the poet can throw light not only on what is narrated but also on the narrators (the pitiable state of a parrot, the rueful feelings of Mahasweta and such).
Similarly, Durgasimha’s KarnŒataka Panchatantra (again, ignoring the fact that his work is also an adaptation) is a brilliant example of ‘narrative nesting.’ In each section of the work, there are one or two verses in the beginning which explain the objective of the story of that section. Then follows a Sanskrit shløka (couplet) giving the gist of the entire story. Then begins what can be called the main or ‘frame’ story (in the translated story, the story of the monkey and the crocodile is the frame story), within which we find an ‘inset’ story (the story of a foolish donkey), which may frame another ‘inset’ story. Thus, one story framing another which frames another, the entire work becomes a veritable ‘narrative nesting.’ Similarly, ChŒvundararŒya Purana is a collection of embedded frame-inset stories.
c) Introduction of Varied Genres:
This period is astonishingly rich in the use of varied genres: we find full-length epics based on religious as well as secular myths/ themes, religious and secular stories, Romance, Exemplum and Allegory. Whereas the two epics of Pampa (AdipurŒana and VikramŒrjuna Vijaya) are the greatest examples of epics, Nemichandra’s LeelaŒvati Prabandham is a wonderful Romance, and Andayya’s Kabbigara KaŒva is a fancipul allegory. VaddaŒrŒdhane, the first prose work in Kannada, is a collection of stories, each one of which is in the form of an Exemplum (drushtantha kathŒ). Each story, written in a pre-determined frame, begins with an epigram (gaha) in Prakrit, followed by an explication of that epigram in Kannada. Then follows the entire story which is narrated to support or illustrate the religious / moral principle succinctly expressed in the initial Prakrit epigram. The stories of Panchatantra, purely secular in nature, analyse different forms of human relationships.
All the issues discussed so far register the paradoxical nature of classical Kannada poetry: though they are seemingly adaptations, in truth they are transcreations; each poet moulds the earlier work to suit his contemporary needs; and, in the fields of narration and versification, they have shown remarkable innovative spirit.
To return to the question raised in the beginning, the Halmidi inscription appears to be an appropriate metaphor of an ideal and creative relationship between the two components of all the binaries that have haunted Kannada consciousness for a millennium if not more. It is an image the Kannada consciousness has created to concretise the ‘ideal resolution’ of all binaries in literature as in life.

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