Mogeri
Gopalakrishna
Adiga
( 1918–
1992) was one
of the majors
figures in
modern Kannada
poetry . He is
known as the
"pioneer of New
style " poetry. [1]
Early life
Born in an
orthodox,
scholarly,
Brahmin family
in the coastal
village of Mogeri,
Udupi district, in
Karnataka State.
After primary
education in
Mogeri and
Baindooru, he
went to high
school in
Kundapur , 14
miles away from
his village. His
education would
have ended after
high school, but
for the foresight
of his aunt,
who, against the
will of other
family members,
gave moral and
monetary
support for his
college studies.
Thus, Adiga went
to Mysore and
earned his BA
(Hons) in English
from Maharaja
College,
University of
Mysore .
After several
minor jobs in
Karnataka, Adiga
worked at
Sarada Vilas
College in
Mysore as
lecturer in
English from
1948 to 1952,
during which
time he
completed a
master’s degree
from Nagpur
University. He
also served at St.
Philomena
College in
Mysore for ten
years. In the
mid 1960s, he
became Principal
at the newly
created Lal
Bahadur Shashtri
College in
Sagara , and
later at Poorna
Prajna College in
Udupi .
As editor of
Saakshi
magazine he
helped bring
Kannada
literature to the
masses.[2]
Family
Adiga's wife,
Lalita, currently
lives in
Bangalore. She
is survived by 5
children and 9
grandchildren
Work
In the early
1950s and '60s
Adiga was a
teacher in
Mysore .[3] From
1964 until 1968
he was the
principal of Lal
Bahadur College
in Sagara , and
from 1968 until
1971 he was
Principal of
Poorna College
in Udupi . [4] He
later worked as
the Deputy
Director for the
National Book
Trust of India.
Adiga was a
prolific poet,
uncompromising
critic and a
profound
thinker. Through
his essays,
translations and
poems, Adiga’s
influence on the
modern Indian
literature has
been felt for
over five
decades. He has
been rightly
called the doyen
of the "naveena
saahitya
chaluvali" (the
“modernist
literary
movement”).
Although Adiga
taught English
literature, he
wrote almost
exclusively in
Kannada, except
for a single
poem in English
on Rabindranath
Tagore in 1961.
It seems that he
wrote this at the
request of
M.N.Roy for the
Radical
Humanist
magazine.
Style
His style has
been described
as a response to
the
independence of
India from
British rule in
1947. The style
called Navya
was generally
about the new
times. Inspired
by modern
Western
literature and
Indian tradition,
he set out to
portray the
"disillusionment
and angst of the
times". [4] His
work illustrated
the dreams and
thoughts of the
middle class and
the beginning of
an individual
spirit.
Translating Adiga
into any
language
remains a
daunting
proposition,
undertaken only
by a few
scholars, such as
A. K.
Ramanujan, M.
G.
Krishnamoorthy,
Rajeev Taranath,
Sumateendra
Nadig, and M. K.
Anil. Recently,
Dr. Nadig
brought out
Selected Poems,
Gopalakrishna
Adiga (2007), a
work
commissioned by
Bharatiya
Sahitya Parishat
(Indian Academy
of Literature.)
Besides the
rarity of his
translated works
into English,
Adiga’s
anonymity is in
part be due to
his unique,
uncompromising
personality. He
loathed self
promotion and
propaganda.
Honest to the
core, Adiga was
most
comfortable
“behind the
leaves” rather
than in the
limelight. In life,
as in his poetry,
Adiga never
promoted
himself. His
never-bending
stance in life
and poetry is
revealed in his
1957 poem
Prarthane
(Prayer).
Prayer
Lord,
plying the well-
known pumps of
heraldic praise
your hirelings
bend double;
others, gouty
wagtails,
lick the land for
crumbs; one
snuffs his candle
out
and seeks like a
eunuch leech
the warm
marshes in the
cracks of light;
another sissy
gives his back to
the time-fed
rumps
and sheathes his
dagger deep.
Lord,
I am not of
these.
—In Prarthane
(Prayer, 1957)
Works
Bhavataranga
- 1946
Ananthe -
1954 (novel)
Bhoomi
Geetha - 1959
Mannina
Vasane (book
of essays) -
1966
Vardhamana
- 1972
Idanna
Bayasiralilla
(poems) - 1975
Samagra
Kavya
(collection of
poems) - 1976
[1] Sakshi
(Magazine) -
1962
Quotes
"ಇರುವುದೆಲ್ಲವ
ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಇರದುದರೆಡೆಗೆ
ತುಡಿವುದೆ
ಜೀವನ" (Iruvudellava
bittu
iradudaredege
tudivude
jeevana)
To leave behind
everything we
have and to
yearn towards
freedom from
the bondage of
life and mind.
ಮೌನ
ತಬ್ಬಿತು ನೆಲವ" (mouna
tabbitu
nelava) [5]
0 comments:
Post a Comment