Kannada litterateur S.L. Bhyrappa said here on Sunday that a sound grounding in local culture, tradition, and philosophy lends a solid foundation to literature.
Delivering the valedictory address of the two-day literary festival held in his honour, he strongly refuted suggestions that a novel should provide solutions to society’s problems. People do not read literature to find answers to problems nor should they expect them, he added. However, Mr. Bhyrappa pointed out that he was confronted with issues and concepts that prevailed in society and his novels explored and reflected some of them.
Citing the example of TabbaliyuNeenadeMagane , he said he was aware of the conflict of vegetarianism and non-vegetarianism, and pointed out that vegetarianism took strong roots in India under the influence of Jainism and influenced Vedic religion too. Since all Indian religions believe in reincarnation, a natural corollary was that souls of our ancestors could manifest in different forms, including animals, and hence they should not be consumed, he said.
Mr. Bhyrappa said there is a belief that all animals have life and soul, and perceive pain. So those who call for abstaining from beef and do not eat beef, should also not eat meat of other animals in tune with this belief.
However, the West had no problem with it as animals are considered as a source of food. He said these arguments troubled him and were the backdrop in which he wrote the novel and they get reflected and analysed in his works. He also cited a few other novels to highlight this aspect.
Talking at length on the criticism of his writings, the Saraswathi Samman winner said it was his strong foundation in philosophy, arts and aesthetics that helped him stand his ground against the onslaught of such criticism. In this context he cited the example of his work Daatu , which dwells on caste system, and said his awareness, knowledge, experience rooted in Indian traditions lent strength to it.
Mr. Bhyrappa said he espoused pure literature and did not believe in various strands of literary activism that prevails in the present times in Karnataka. “There are chaluvali litteratteurs whose writings are based on social and political context of the day but do not have long-lasting values, unlike pure literature,” he added.
In Karnataka, there were progressive, rationalist, Dalit, and bandaya forms of literature, but he preferred to eschew these forms, said Mr. Bhyrappa. He also took a dig at Communists and said certain writers he knew to espouse Marxism performed homas and yagnas .
