Bhakti blazes the vernacular

The book in four sections does not disappoint.

Schelling's book has four sections, each representing a geographical zone. It covers poets from 1BCE to the 20th century. Each poet is introduced with his/her fascinating life legend. “Bhakti took birth in Dravidian lands/ ripened in Karnataka, came to/ womanhood in Maharastra,/ grew crone-like in Gujarat/ Reaching Vrindavana she re-emerged/ a nubile young woman.” Sensual, defiant, and experimental, Bhakti blazed the vernacular, shattering Sanskrit hegemony. Schelling admits that “there exist, hundreds, even thousands of poets”, and wonders whether other creeds should not also be included.

South
Shaivite poets abound. Tipputollar's Muruga incantation is a maturing germ. “This is the hill of the Red one/ of red glory lilies/ flowers of blood”, followed by Nakkirar (6c) “The women/wear wreathes of buds/ fingered and forced to blossom/ so they smell differently/../ in leaf skirts/shaking/ on their jeweled mounds of venus/../ the shaman/ is the Red one himself” on to Manikkavasakar (9c) “I wept/ danced, and cried aloud,/ I sang and I praised him”. The Vira Saiva poets emerged in the 10{+t}{+h} century. Mahadeviakka is implacable (12c) “My lord, white as jasmine, is my husband./ Take these husbands who die/ decay, and feed them/ to your kitchen fire!' (Tr.Ramanujam). Among the 12 Alvars, Antal,(9c) rules. Krishna is her husband. “The gnat entering the woodpile/ hollows it-/ the lord entering me/ has taken all/ consumed my woman hood.” (Tr. Dehjia). Ksetrayya's (7c) fascinating poems on Muvva Gopala's love-making, are jointly rendered by Ramanujam, Rao, and Schulman.

Full report here Hindu

Kanakadasa’s literary works hailed

Bhakti movement saint-poet Kanakadasa was a unique personality having a combination of philosophy, economics, sociology and music, Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said on Sep 21.

Inaugurating a two-day national seminar ''Saint-poet Kanakadas''s Literary Contribution towards Bhakti Movement in India'', Mr Moily said the 16th century poet was a person who combined "the intellect and the heart" to send across his message.

"Today, Kanakadasa has been launched to the world. Even before Karl Marx came out with a class struggle (theory), I think a seed of the caste struggle was injected by Kanakadasa through his works," Mr Moily said.

Full report here Mangalorean

Within and without

The release of Mukunda Rao's novel In Search of Siva came with an interesting discussion on the purpose of poetry

The Bhakti Movement and Sufism are probably among the most significant movements of the Indian sub-continent; both these movements saw a huge creative upsurge. While the Bhakti Movement spanned across the country and was a powerful voice against all forms of authority, Sufism, an offshoot of Islam, was more pointed in critiquing religious authority. And hence, both these modes of protest, finding their flow in poetry, upheld the secular values of love and devotion.

Move to the 21st century and it translates to prose: Mukunda Rao's latest work, In Search of Shiva published by Dronequill, uses fiction to bring alive the socio-cultural movement that took place in Karnataka, way back in the 12th century, when poetry came armed with the power of reform. Fittingly, Mukunda Rao's book was released with a discussion on “Poetry as reform”. The discussants were former principal secretary Chiranjeevi Singh and professor Narendra Pani, National Institute of Advanced Studies.

Full report here Hindu