Shivana Dangura by Dr. Chandrashekhara Kambara
Ankita Pustaka, Rs. 250
Shivana Dangura, the fifth novel of Chandrashekhara Kambara, appears superficially to be a new ‘ avatara’ of the early poetic tales and plays of Kambara such as the long poem Heltena Kela and the play Harakeya Kuri. As in all of his works, the locale of the novel is the fictitious Shivapura, and the principal character is the Gowda who epitomizes all the good and evil characteristics of a feudal lord. However, the unobtrusive manner in which this familiar frame subsumes varied themes and contemporary concerns such as casteism, corrupt electoral practices, the machinations of MNCs, and mystic experience is, to put it simply, amazing
The primary story, located in Shivapura, is one of inter-caste love marriage between a Vokkaliga (farming community)young man, Chambasa, and a dalit woman, Shari (the daughter of a devadasi). The first part of the novel describes their mutual love very tenderly and poetically. Later, since it is an inter-caste marriage, problems crop up: Shari is raped and is forced to flee the village, Chambasa avenges her outrage and is jailed, and, at the end of the novel, the husband and wife get re-united.
The plot gets a new dimension with the arrival of Kuntirapa and his ideas of ‘progress.’ It is through the ‘outsider’ to Shivapura, Kuntirapa, that contemporary electoral practices are introduced to Shivapura. Tara, the secretary of the Big Boss, conspires with Kuntirapa to persuade the Gowda to contest the Assembly elections; and to meet the election-expenses, he is lured by Tara’s charms to pledge his entire property to the Big Boss. Later, the Gowda is shocked to learn that it is Kuntirapa who gets the party ticket and wins in the election. The Gowda suffers a fatal stroke and dies.
The novelist introduces the aspect of mysticism through the character of one Namahshivaya, an ascetic, who has renounced everything but love of Man. He functions in the novel as a friend, philosopher and guide to Chambasa and the rest of the village. A man of immense altruism, he takes Shari when Chambasa is in prison to the orphanage run by a woman on Gandhi principles. At the end of the novel, it is he who sends Chambasa to ‘ Ammana Betta’ (‘the Mother’s Hillock’), and thus enables him to listen to ‘the drum-beats of Shiva,’ which uphold ‘Truth’ and impress upon Chambasa to build a new Shivapura on the basis of Truth and Love.
Since the novel moves simultaneously at two levels – realism and symbolism – many incidents and characters achieve symbolic significance, of which the two outstanding ones are the character of ‘Yakshi’ and Madevi’s running race. Yakshi in Indian mythology is an aerial being, extremely attractive, and one capable of taking any form she wishes for. Consequently, she becomes an apt symbol of profit-oriented and competitive ‘progress’. When she appears in Tungavva’s dream, she is pictured as a monster sucking the blood of all those who come near her.
Madevi, the deformed child of Bhagirti given to the care of Shari, is a touching symbol of love and altruism. Once, in her school competitions for the ‘differently abled’ children, when she is about to reach the winning post she hears another child falling down behind her. Madevi pauses, comes to the aid of the fallen girl, and then walks to the winning point with her, followed by all the other contestants. Naturally, the Yakshi, who stands for competitive spirit, disappears at the sight of Madevi.
It is an extraordinary narrative of Shivapura, which, fallen due to the machinations of the Big Boss and Kuntirapa, rises again rejuvenated with the life-giving qualities of Madevi, Chambasa and Shari.
