Essays

Here are some thoughts on a few of Ananthamurthy’s critical essays by the writers of this blog.

1) The Fragmented Vision: Dilemmas of Indian Writer

In this essay, Ananthamurthy contemplates over the question, “What is it to be a modern writer in India choosing for his theme contemporary life?” He writes about the difficulty experienced by the Indian writer of today, trying to find their identity in a world where it is nearly impossible to differentiate between what is local and global. He says that it is easy to get lost and be swallowed up by a culture as rich as ours and lose one’s individuality. It almost comes naturally to Indians, becoming an advocate of Indian culture while talking to a European. But rebelling against the culture is not an answer either, one can lose all means of relevance and communication with their culture in doing so. Thus, it is wisest to be an observer who is sensitive to the culture but refuses to merge in it completely.  

2) What does translation mean in India?

Ananthamurthy in this piece emphasizes the importance of translation in a nation with a plurality of languages; warning us from becoming a part of the homogenized modern world system. He questions the meaning of ‘text’ in the Indian context where we have one text written in several languages. Taking the example of Kalidas’ Shakuntala, and Shishunal Shareif’s poems where the first line is in Kannada, second in Telugu and third in Urdu. This kind of cultural inclusion and synthesis has existed in India for more than a thousand years now. He also critiques the politics of translation, where what is ‘good’ and ‘translatable’ is decided by the literary ethos of the language that it is being translated in.

3) The Search for an Identity: A Kannada Writer’s Viewpoint

“It was written by Mohammed, and Mohammed, as an Arab, had no reason to know that camels were especially Arabian” (Ananthamurthy 66)

In this essay, Ananthamurthy argues that as a result of dialectic, there as an emergence of a new Indian identity in contemporary literature. The essay deals with themes such as the impact of western influence on Indian writing, why our major influencers are the thinkers from the West, and what does that do to Indian writers and Indian literature. It also delves into the differences among Indian writers. Ananthamurthy speaks of the two generations in Kannada literature. The ‘insiders’ who celebrate Indian traditionalism, and the ‘outsiders’ of which he himself is a part. The ‘outsiders’ write in Indian languages but allow themselves to search the West for ideas and forms. In spite of English education and western influence in all forms, Ananthamurthy chooses to write in Kannada, the language of his childhood, calling this a moral choice. He also refutes the claim that the Indian writer is within the confines of western rationality, and thus fails to see local subjectivity. He says that there are three kinds of relations between literature. “First, the relation of the master and the slave; second, the relation of equals; third, the relation between a developed country like Europe or America and a developing nation like ours.” (Ananthamurthy 74). Expanding on the complexity of the third relation, he says that he refuses the notion that he must connect more with writers of his own country such as Pampa, than Tolstoy or Shakespeare, just because he belongs to India.

4) Compassionate Space

“Nehru, with the red rose in his buttonhole, represented the ‘desire’ of a whole generation for modernization, whereas Gandhi represented the ‘dream’ for an alternative to the West” (Ananthamurthy 19)

In this essay, Ananthamurthy discusses the difference between the ‘Gandhian’ and ‘Nehruvian’ Indian political thinkers, and their imagination of future India. The above quote from the essay aptly describes the differences between the two. To convey his idea of a ‘compassionate space’ he narrates an incident of when India gave asylum to the Tibetan monk, Dalai Lama. The monk was in Delhi, and while giving a speech and talking about the question of autonomy of Tibet, he noticed an ant on his robe. He paused, deposited the ant safely on the table, and then continued. Ananthamurthy was touched by the monk’s compassion for a tiny ant. He also wrote a beautiful poem inspired by the incident “The Dalai Lama and History”. In the end, while addressing a bunch of young writers, he spoke about the importance of preserving ancient culture and wisdom, and not lose it to modernization and nationalism. Thus, emphasizing on the significance of pluralities of Indian language and culture.

5) Words and World

In this essay, Ananthamurthy speaks of the growing hegemonic trends in language and literature. In India, there are several languages in the environment, and people often switch from one language to other unconsciously. But this trend is declining and today, “the more literate you are, the fewer languages you know” (Ananthamurthy 3). He talks about the disadvantages of a highly refined language. He points out that when language become too refined, the emotions get ‘sanitized’ and sound less genuine.

As a student of Literary and Culture Studies, I do resonate with Ananthamurthy’s concern regarding the over-refinement of language. This language does not then remain any more of the masses and alienates itself being accessible to very few. Often when I learn literary concepts and critical theories, I learn and understand them in the words that I read them. There are two reasons behind that, first, I am in a constant discussion through seminars where we speak the language that we are reading, and secondly, since these concepts are complex in themselves, it is difficult, though not impossible, to convey those ideas in a simplistic way.

Ananthamurthy describes the phenomena of ‘vernacular anxiety’ that haunts almost every Indian. He also lays emphasis on using the word ‘bhashas’ instead of vernacular, since the definition of ‘vernacular’ is insulting to what ‘bhashas’ mean to us.

He says that “every language has a ‘front yard’ and a ‘backyard’” (Ananthamurthy 10). He explains this through the example of his own house in the village where in the front yard, his father used to receive friends, and he used to work and discuss the freedom struggle. Whereas in the backyard, women of all castes came together to chat and discuss various issues. In the backyard, the caste identities that were strong in the front yard got diluted.

 

Works Cited

Ananthamurthy, U. R., Suketu Mehta, and Sharath Ananthamurthy. “Compassionate Space.” India International Centre Quarterly 35.2 (2008): 18-23.

Ananthamurthy, U.R. “The Search for an Identity: A Kannada Writer’s Viewpoint.” Asian and Western Writers in Dialogue. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 1982. 66-78.

Ananthamurthy, U. R. “What Does Translation Mean in India?.” Culture and the Making of Identity in Contemporary India (2005): 129.

Ananthamurthy, U. R. “Words and the World.” India International Centre Quarterly 36.1 (2009): 2-13.

Ananthamurthy, U. R., and N. Manu Chakravarthy. Rujuvathu: Selected Essays of U.R.
Ananthamurthy. Prism Books, 2014.