Is the 16th Century Saint-poet Kanakadasa relevant in the 21st century? This is the question that persistently occupies the mind of K.T.Chikkanna, Co-ordinator of the National Saint Poet Kanakadasa Study and Research Centre in Bangalore. If we look at Kanakadasa as a saint who, through his pristine devotion, achieved spiritual enlightenment, his relevance tomany socio-economic and political aspects of the 21st century may be limited. But a thorough research of his works would reveal many insights into his personality which in turn would provide answers for many burning issues currently, says Chikkanna. This quest has led to a project to translate the works of Kanakadasa into 15 Indian languages. K. T. Chikkanna shares his views about the project.
What was the inspiration behind the research centre and undertaking the task of translating Kanakadasa’s works?
Historically, Kanakadasa has been seen as one of the foremost devotees in the Haridasa parampara, who, in spite of belonging to a socially backward community, cut through the shackles of the society through his intense devotion towards Lord Krishna. While this perception is quite right, I always felt that it was not complete. There was more to Kanakadasa than his devotion. His poetic qualities aside, there is also a social perception that he embedded into his works that would be very relevant today. The National Saint Poet Kanakadasa Study and Research Centre, an autonomous body funded by the Government of Karnataka, was established to bring to fruition the vision of exploring the different facets of Kanakadasa through his works and its relevance to the current times. The way our centre aims to achieve this is through academic research and cultural outreach. The research also explores other saint-poets of our country.
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Under this programme, we decided to translate his works –
Not many know that he has written four great poetic compositions too.While devotion may be embedded in them, they also provide a path for Kanaka to channel his poetic explorations and thoughts about society. For example, in Ramadhanya Charite , using paddy and ragi symbolically, he discusses the oppression of the lower castes! Paddy is a grain that is acceptable to all classes and especially the upper classes. It is also used during many auspicious occasions. But Ragi was meant for consumption by the lower castes only. By an anthropomorphic portrayal of their tussle, he mocks the societal tendencies and the caste system. The whole philosophy behind that was to establish that a person’s stature is not determined by his caste, but by his values, actions and beliefs.
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One thing to bear in mind is that Kanakadasa was not just a person who was born into a lower class. He was a chieftain and subsidiary of the Vijayanagar Kings. Due to this, he was well educated. Kanakadasa’s works are simple and scholarly. Translating them into another language without diluting their essence is not an easy task. What were the challenges you faced ? It is definitely no small task to be translating his works into other languages. For one, people in other parts of the country – especially in places like Assam are barely familiar with the personality of Kanakadasa, let alone his works. People who were involved in the translation had to obviously be excellent in their native language, but they also needed to have some exposure to Kannada literature. To this extent, we could easily find editors who fulfilled these criteria from almost all parts of India. We gave a free hand to them to pick and choose the translators for their respective languages. Now, the actual process of translation is going on. Another issue we faced was in the grammatical structure of the compositions themselves. Kanakadasa’s compositions are in shatpadis (six- lined lyrical meters) or Saangatya formats. These forms of grammatical poetic compositions may not be available in other languages. Why do you feel that Kanakadasa’s compositions is not as popular as other composers amongst the classical singers?
There may be several reasons behind this including his caste. Many feel that Kanaka’s compositions are like Bhajans and even Kanakadasa composed many songs to folk tunes which singers may find difficult to adapt to a classical setting. Although, I don’t think it is impossible to adapt. In fact, through our centre we are undertaking several programmes to promote the compositions of Kanaka. It is heartening to see that great singers like Pt. Venkatesh Kumar have started to sing Kanakadasa’s compositions in their concerts. We are also conducting programmes such as “Muttu Bandide Kerige” which promotes Kanaka’s compositions and showcases their lyrical and musical qualities. We provide fellowships and financial support for people who are interested in exploring the musical qualities of his compositions.
There are several groups that are vying to claim ownership over Kanakadasa. Your thoughts on this?
You see, Kanakadasa cannot be usurped by any one group or class. He belongs to everyone – only because he rose beyond these classifications spiritually. “Dasa” does not mean servant. In the spiritual realm he is one who has surrendered himself to God!And that surrender comes only when he transcends the limitations of social classifications. This must be understood by everyone. Instead, we are now focussing on how best to utilise him for our selfish means. Not only is this inappropriate, but it is an insult to the the stature of Kanakadasa and his philosophy.