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Tuesday, 20 May 2008 |
Kannada is a south Indian language spoken in Karnataka.Kannada is originated from the Dravidian Language. Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam are the other South Indian Languages originated from Dravidian Language.It is also one of the official languages of the Republic of India. Kannada as a language has undergone modifications since BCs. It can be classified into four types-
Halegannada (from 10th Century to 12th Century)
Nadugannada (from 12th Century to 15th Century)
Hosagannada (from 15th Century)
Kannada has three chief dialects - classical, medieval and modern. Ancient Kannada (Hale Kannada) shows an extraordinary amount of polish and refinement. It has several works written by Jaina scholars and appears to have been in use for literary purposes from at least the 10th to the middle of the 13th century.
Medieval Kannada began to appear as contained in the poetry of Saiva and Lingayat authors. From about the 16th century, medieval Kannada gradually got its present day modern character.
Halegannada(Ancient Kannada)The early (pre 800AD) bits and pieces of Kannada literature are insufficient to lay claims to the literature’s origins. The oldest extant book is king Nripatunga’s literary critique Kavi Raja Marga (circa 840). Jainism being a popular religion at the time, there were some Jaina poets like Srivijaya and Guna Varman I. A new trend began with the ‘Three Gems’ of Kannada literature, Pampa, Ponna and Ranna in the 10th century, where prose and verse were mixed with the campu style. The three poets extensively wrote on episodes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata and Jain legends and biographies.
Starting with the Kavirajamarga (c. 850), and until the middle of the 12th century, literature in Kannada was almost exclusively composed by the Jains, who found eager patrons in the Chalukya, Ganga, Rashtrakuta and Hoysala kings.Although the Kavirajamarga authored during the reign of King Amoghavarsha, is the oldest extant literary work in the language, it has been postulated by some scholars that "prose", "verse" and "grammatical traditions" must have existed earlier.However, other scholars believe the literary tradition in Kannada to have begun with Kavirajamarga itself,and point to the absence of references before the ninth century in the early literary works such as the Sabdamanidarpana of Kesiraja.
Nadugannada(Middle kannada)After the decline of the Vijayanagara empire in the 16th century, Kannada literature was supported by the Wodeyar rulers of Mysore. Later, in the 19th century, the influence of English literature created new literary forms in Kannada, such as the prose narrative, the novel and the short story. Modern Kannada literature is now widely known and recognised: during the last half century, Kannada language authors have received seven Jnanpith awards and 51 Sahitya Akademi awards in India.
Hosagannada(Modern Kannada)This is the last phase of Kannada language and literature. The Kannada works that were produced at the end of the 19th century and also much later are categorized as Hosagannada or Modern Kannada. According to many scholars, however, this phase continued till the beginning of the 20th century. Few literary works in Kannada were produced at this time. Most distinguished among them are the works of renowned poet Muddana. His works may be depicted as the "Dawn of Modern Kannada". Broadly speaking, experts discovered that Indira Bai or Saddharma Vijayavu written by Gulvadi Venkata Raya as the primary literary works in Modern Kannada language development.
When we use the phrase "Modern Kannada Drama and Theatre" it is this period, 1857-1980, that we have in mind. This paper, however, does not present a complete survey of Modern Kannada Drama and Theatre of this period. It is only an attempt to hint at a few significant developments. I only hope that these notes offer some kind of introduction to Modern Kannada Drama and Theatre to non-kannada speakers.
Yakshagana of the Coastal districts, Doddata, Sannata, Krishna Parijatha of the northern districts and the Moodalapaya of the old Mysore area are some living examples of this great tradition. It is significant to note that whereas the Kathakkali of Kerala is predominantly a dance form, Yakshagana, Doddata and Sannata are essentially theatre forms. These Pre-Modern forms have been very mature in their concepts and are popular in Kannada even today. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 15 June 2008 )
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