The Indian prudishness towards sexuality is often blamed on Victorian mores, but economist author Gurucharan Das, presently working on a fictional memoir Kama argued that the prudishness pre-dated Victorian age by many centuries. He was speaking at the Bangalore Literature Festival on Sunday.
“The beginning of Rig Veda starts with desire (kama) of the maker to create. But why did we become prudish? Like Vatsayana who wrote the Kama Sutra, there were many Kama Optimists, but early on there were the renouncers, ascetics, the Kama pessimists. We did have two parallel strands. The Kama Pessimists were threatened by desire that is uncontrollable. There was then a compromise between the two camps and the compromise was that sex was acceptable as long as it was within marriage. Then came Manu, who wrote one of the Dharma Shastras that blamed the woman for Kama, pushing us into this prudishness,” argued Gurucharan Das. He also added the creation of characters like Sita and Savitri were done to rein in the women. “If Dharma is one’s duty to another, Kama is duty to oneself,” he added.
Rosalyn D’Mello, author of a recent memoir A Handbook for my Lover , said that writing erotica was a very good vent and instrument especially for women to regain agency of their bodies. She pointed out to the absence of women narratives on their sexuality, without the veneer of fiction.
K.V. Tirumalesh awarded Atta Galata award
Senior Kannada writer and poet, recent Kendra Sahitya Akademi award winner K.V. Tirumalesh, was awarded the Atta Galatta award for achievement in Kannada literature. This is the second year the city-based book store Atta Galatta is giving out awards.
Mr. Tirumalesh, after receiving the award termed it only a “happenstance” and said he often felt “ parakeeya ” to Kannada as he lived for most parts in Hyderabad and felt happy to receive an award in Kannada.
Pyre , a translation of Tamil writer Perumal Murugan’s Tamil novel, won the best fiction work in English in 2016. Viay Sitapati’s Half-Lion: How P.V. Narasimha Rao transformed India , was adjudged the best non-fiction work in English for the year. The two authors were not present to receive the award.
