| K. Shivarama Karantha | |
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© Kamat's Potpourri |
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| Born | 10 October 1902 Saligrama, Udupi district, Karnataka |
| Died | 9 December 1997 (aged 95) Manipal, Udupi district, Karnataka |
| Occupation | Writer, Film director, Journalist |
| Nationality | India |
| Period | 1902–1997 |
| Genres | Fiction, Popular science, Literature for children |
| Literary movement | Navodaya |
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Kota Shivaram Karanth (Kannada: ಕೋಟಾ ಶಿವರಾಮ ಕಾರಂತ) (October 10, 1902 – December 9, 1997) was a major Kannada writer, social activist, environmentalist, Yakshagana artist, film maker and thinker. He was described as the "Rabindranath Tagore of Modern India who has been one of the finest novelists-activists since independence"[1] by Ramachandra Guha. He was the third person among eight recipients[2] of Jnanpith Award for Kannada the highest literary honour conferred by the Govt. of India.[3] He has also been adjudged as one of the ten makers of India in the last 60 years by CNN-IBN. He was conferred Padma Bhushan by Government of India which later he returned in protest against the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi.
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Shivaram Karanth was born in Kota near Udupi in the Udupi district of Karnataka to a native Kannada family. Being the fifth child of his parents Shesha Karantha and Lakshmamma, he completed his primary education in Kundapura and Mangalore. Shivaram Karanth was the younger brother of politician K. R. Karanth who served as minister in the Madras Presidency in the 1940s. Shivaram Karanth was influenced by Gandhi's principles and took part in Indian Independence movement while he was in college. He left his degree half way to participate in the Non-cooperation movement. He worked for khadi and swadeshi for five years, till about 1927. By that time Karanth had already started writing fiction-detective novels, to begin with — as well as plays.[4] He married Leela Karanth when he was well past 30.
Karanth was an intellectual and environmentalist who tremendously contributed to art and culture of Karnataka. He is considered one of the greatest novelist in Kannada. Some of his novels like Marali Mannige, Bettada Jeeva, Alida Mele, Mookajjiya Kanasugalu, Mai Managala Suliyalli, Ade OOru Ade Mara, Shaneeshwarana Neralinalli, Kudiyara Koosu, Svapnada Hole, Sarsammana Samadhi and Chomana Dudi are widely read and continue to be discussed even today. He wrote 47 novels in all and is said to have tried to write at least one novel per year! His contribution to revival of Yakshagana will forever be remembered. Yakshagana-Bayalata (1957) in Kannada, and Yakshagana(1975) are two of his books on Yakshagana. He is the first person to do some serious research in Yakshagana, collecting old Prasangas, searching the roots of yakshagana, its musical heritage etc. He tried to revive this medieval semi-folk art and made some experiments in Yakshagana using Ballet and other modern form of dances. He took Yakshagana troops to European countries, a unique effort in those days. He also made experiments in printing during 1930 - 40s and printed his own novels, but incurred serious financial losses. Interestingly, his earlier novels have cover pages of art work made by himself and this fact, that the novelist drawing the cover page of his own books may be a unique record in modern literature! At the age of 95, he wrote a book on birds (published during 2002 by Manohara Grantha Mala, Dharwad)
Karanth was a prolific writer. Apart from the 47 novels, he also wrote 31 plays, four short stories, six books of essays and sketches, thirteen books on art, including a history of world art in Kannada and a work on Chalukyan sculpture and architecture, a standard treatise on the Yakshagana (with which dramatic form, his name is identified), a three volume book of knowledge for children, a four volume encyclopedia on science for grown ups, 240 children's books, six books on travel, two books on birds, three Travelogues, an autobiography. The list is incomplete. Dr. Karanth has 417 books to his credit.
He was awarded Jnanapith for his book Mookajjiya Kanasugalu (literally "the dreams of a mute grandmother") which tries to unveil the secrets of nature. The story revolves around a Granny and her visions on various aspects of life, from religion to social relationships. Its all about the conversations between granny and Subbaraya alias Subbanna that runs throughout the book on various issues that he encounters in his life. Subbanna being skeptical about blind beliefs that people are having on several religious customs, poses several questions regarding it to his Granny. Granny being a great visionary answers to all of his questions with true substance. Subbanna, to fulfill his desire to know the truth about existence of an old civilization in that village, goes into the surrounding woods in search of any evidence. There he collects bones as part of his evidence from the caves and shows that to his granny. He also explains her, what he had seen in those caves and narrates his horrifying dreams about the same caves. Again his granny reveals the secret behind those bones and caves after looking at them - with shocking facts about the civilization. He has brilliantly carved the story to address many issues like evolution of human life, the origin and after effects of blind beliefs that are being followed in the society, values of human relationships in one’s life. The granny is given a supernatural power to see the past and future, through which she answers to all complex questions about life. Being himself a non science student he has written a series of science related books which are very useful for children of 20th Century, as there were no such books in Kannada during those days.
His main literary works are Mookajjiya Kanasugalu, Marali Mannige, Chomana Dudi[Chomana Dudi was made into a movie],Alida Mele, Bettada Jeeva etc. He has written an autobiography, Hucchu Manasina Hatthu Mukhagaluin earlier days and he wrote second part of his autobiography also which is called "Smrathipataladinda"!
He attempted to improve the lives of common people by entering into politics of his day, by contesting in an election, unsuccessfully, in Karnataka on the issues of environmentalism. His symbol was elephant and although he got substantial chunk of votes, he could not win, as he abstained from canvassing for the election. He led a movement to oppose an Atomic energy plant at Kaiga near Karwar as the plant may pose danger to the lives of people and as it leads to destruction of forest. But the movement failed miserably and ironically, the dome of Kaiga Atomic energy plant collapsed at the time of construction itself! He is also known for strong and sharp tongue and he being a good orator, earned a nickname "Kadala Theerada Bhargava". (Bhargava means Parashurama). He used to raise his voice on several issues ranging from conservation work at Hampi to Art forms of Karnataka to environmental issues.
His Novel "Sarasammana Samadhi" deals with the "sati" system, and the cunningness and hypocrisy of the Indian society. "Marali Mannige" is a novel dealing with three generations and at the end the product of third generation comes back to native place. "Mai Managala Suliyalli" is a fine novel dealing with the lady singer/dance community of Basrur, and though it is wonderfully written, may be due to the delicate nature of the subject, it could not get due importance. "Bettada Jeeva" is one of the finest novels of 20th Century covering the life of old couple living in an arecanut garden surrounded by forest, eternally expecting their son to return from Bombay or some other urban place.
He rescued 2 tiger-cubs from starvation when their mother was killed by poachers. He experimentally built the first children's toy-train in Asia which was later copied in Cubbon Park, Bangalore. His son, Ullas Karanth continues his work in the field of environmentalism with an internationally acclaimed body of research into the ecology, biology and future of the tiger in India.
Shivram Karanth plunged into Politics once but was defeated in the Parliament election from Canara Constituency
National Film Award - (Posthumously)
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