English Writings of D V Gundappa - 3

This article is part 3 of 14 in the series English Writings of D V Gundappa

Volume Two (1917–1922)

               Journalism today has mostly been reduced to a racy reportage of colourful caprices, half-truths, and open propaganda. These were the precise journalistic evils DVG repeatedly warned against. His standards were exacting, and he made sure that he practised what he preached. His essays and editorials in The Karnataka unceasingly celebrated enduring values such as gratitude, trustworthiness, independence, courage, and candour.

               In 1915 Annie Besant wrote a book titled How India Wrought for Freedom. The book was notable for the conspicuous absence of pre-Congress, pro-freedom stirrings from South India. DVG set out to fill this absence by narrating these stories whilst harbouring great respect for the theosophist. Gratitude drove him to remind his compatriots that their efforts were not without illustrious precedents. He presented detailed accounts of a few historic episodes involving Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty and C Poorooshottum Modaliyar who had laid bare the defects of the Imperial establishment as far back as in the 1840s. Through the Madras Native Association and the periodical Crescent, they had written about critical issues of public interest and campaigned against government-backed Christian missionaries. Credit goes to DVG for recording these little-known nationalistic activities. (pp. 7–106)   

               He wrote a series of richly documented articles on the evolution of political institutions in Mysore during the rule of the commissioners (1831–1881) and after the Rendition (25 March 1881). When readers desired to know the aims and policies that guided the framers of Mysore’s constitution, DVG sourced official dispatches from London that recorded the correspondence between Mysore’s Chief Commissioner, the Governor-General-in-Council, and the Secretary of State for India. He did this in the days of snail-paced communication – only to preserve the trust of his readers. (pp. 172–94)

               S Subramania Iyer (1842–1924) was endearingly called the ‘Grand Old Man of South India.’ He was the first Indian Chief Justice of the Madras High Court and the Vice-Chancellor of the Madras University. A person of high integrity, he renounced his knighthood when Viceroy Chelmsford spoke disparagingly about him. Naturally, DVG had deep respect for him. He wrote a biographical introduction to a collection of Subramania Iyer’s speeches and writings in 1917. The essay is a model of well-crafted interpretive biography. Explaining why we should cherish Subramania Iyer, DVG wrote:

One of the dangers of a nascent democracy lies in its demagogues. When popular excitement runs high, the upstart and the hot-gospeller will surely make their appearance and hurl down their shining shibboleths and fiery rhetoric from a hundred platforms. But a reflective mind will not take long to perceive that under such leadership, the destiny of the nation will be nowhere. The wise friend of democracy is he who early realizes the value of deliberation and study and strives to avert the reign of shallow knowledge and vaporous speech. In this respect, the precept and example of Sir Subramania Iyer deserve to be constantly remembered. (p. 218)  

               Speaking to students who wished to become conscientious social workers, DVG warned them about the “habit of living upon past reputation” and urged them to move out of their familiar orbit and keep themselves well-informed. He recorded his personal conviction thus:

When every intelligent person in the country recognizes active citizenship as part of his daily religion, the State is bound to be well and do well and that will of course be to the material benefit of all. We daily come across persons who grumble about some defect or other in the Government. But if they are not going to do anything further about it, how is the defect to be remedied? The inactive citizen has no right to complain about the shortcomings of the administration any more than the unwashed has to bemoan the stink in his clothing, or the lazy and the gluttonous has to protest against the heaviness in his limbs. Every human institution — and a government is an utterly human thing — is liable to go out of order if its parts are not constantly renovated and its working is not carefully scrutinized. Enlightened self-interest, thus, as well as ethical ratiocination, makes it imperative that every one of us should be an active citizen according to his circumstances and capacity. (p. 248)

               Inspired by W T Stead, DVG published The Indian Review of Reviews between 1921 and 1922. (It was published as The Karnataka and the Indian Review of Reviews from 1922 to 1927.) The monthly magazine focused on subjects of long-term relevance and drew profuse praise from learned quarters for its high standard.

               DVG’s respect for Gandhi did not make him blind to his defects. Admonishing him for siding with the Ali Brothers on the bigoted Khilafat issue, he commented:

We deplore the necessity — political expediency or whatever else it be — which has induced Mr. Gandhi to make the devout Maulanas a hinge, as it were, for the cause of Swaraj to turn upon. To them, since they are Mussalmans first, Khilafat is the chief end, and Swaraj is merely the means for it. (p. 307)  

               When the Congress appointed Gandhi as its sole executive authority, DVG wrote a piece of scathing disapproval. He made the following timeless observation:

There may arise moments in the history of a democratic body when it must feel that it is not adapted for efficient action and that concentration of authority in a single strong individual is necessary. Such a moment is a crisis in the history of that particular democratic body or party, as well as in the general history of the country … It is well for a democracy to remember, in any case, that the extent to which it feels compelled to resort to the dictatorship of a single person is the measure of its confession of its own helplessness.  (pp. 318–19)   

               He inveighed against Gandhi for tacitly promoting the Moplah genocide. It is impossible to overstate the importance of this critique:

We dare say we shall know some day why this Moplah episode has so far not been given the benefit of his [Gandhi’s] characteristic heart-searching and plain-speaking … It should be no small surprise if the leaders of a movement of national unity and self-purification and non-violence who must be presumed to know their countrymen, first lit the fire of fanatical fury on the altar of native ignorance, and then when the inevitable conflagration was up, tried to wriggle out of the responsibility by casting the blame on the sufferers themselves. (p. 322)

               Bemoaning the leaderless Hindu community, DVG directed his darts at the Mutts as well: “The wholesale conversions and terrible sufferings of the Hindus in Malabar have not disturbed the death-like slumber of the great Mutts.” (p. 324)    

               Henry Whitehead, a Christian missionary, published a book on our Grama Devatas titled The Village Gods of South India. His avowed motive was to clear the ground for the propaganda of the Church. DVG took him to task with sardonic severity and elucidated the Vedantic vision behind the conception of the Devatas:   

It does not lie in the mouths of beef-eating Europeans to call buffalo-slaughter a sin or a crime. To put it at the worst, the fault of the Indian rustic is that, making no secret of his love of meat, he seeks to purity it (if possible) by making an offering of the dish first to the Divine as he could conceive of it … The Devata-cult may at first have been prompted by fear and then confirmed by superstition; but Vedantic theology will only view it as man’s first crude manner of recognizing an agency superior to himself. It is man’s first confession of the littleness of his apparent, physical self. It is homage semi-consciously paid to the principle of Cosmic Energy which moves winds and waves and lends lustre to sun and moon – and which assumes a small local form as the epidemic of plague or cholera and puts on a terrible imperial form as war or earthquake. It is, in short, that which works in an “act of God” – that which is above the control of man. (p. 348)

               DVG had an abiding interest in education. He served as a member of the Executive Council of the Mysore University in later years and played a vital role in its development. In 1921 he suggested administrative reforms to the incipient Indian Institute of Science. Speaking on the need to empower the Institute to grant degrees to its students, he observed that it would “prevent the misappropriation by professors of the credit that is due entirely to the originality and industry of students officially supposed to be under their guidance” (p. 358). DVG had not passed the Matriculation exam. I am at a loss to imagine how he grasped the elusive perils of studenthood!

               He wrote informed book reviews for The Indian Review of Reviews. Assessing Dr Lingesha Mahabhagawat’s monograph, The Heart of the Bhagawad-Gita, he admirably summarized the Gita’s teaching in a single phrase: practising the omnipresence of God (p. 364). He gave it a memorable Sanskrit form in his award-winning work on the Gītā in later years: bhagavat-samakṣatā-abhyāsa.

               DVG delineated the achievements of Joseph Mazzini as a nationalist and internationalist in a meticulously crafted essay (pp. 381–92).

               John Keats’ Ode on the Grecian Urn identifies Truth with Beauty. The following lines are well known to the students of literature:

Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty; that is all

Ye know on earth and all ye need to know.

               DVG’s spirited defence of Keats’ philosophical position is a fine example of discursive exposition:

To ask that Beauty should always satisfy the intellect and Truth the emotions, is like asking that the scent of the rose and the colour of the rose shall, before we can believe the sweetness of the scent or the beauty of the colour, be each perceptible to both our sense of smell and our sense of sight. This is not wise … Man is both intellect and emotion, and only through both can he get at the fullest idea that is possible to him here of the Highest and the Ultimate. (pp. 420–21)

               He eventually wrote a full-length poetic work in Kannada on the equivalence of Truth and Beauty (Śṛṅgāra-maṅgalam, 1970).

To be continued.

Author(s)

About:

Shashi Kiran B N holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a master's degree in Sanskrit. His interests include Indian aesthetics, Hindu scriptures, Sanskrit and Kannada literature and philosophy.

Prekshaa Publications

Among the many contributions of ancient Indians to world thought, perhaps the most insightful is the realisation that ānanda (Bliss) is the ultimate goal of human existence. Since time immemorial, India has been a land steeped in contemplation about the nature of humans and the universe. The great ṛṣis (seers) and ṛṣikās (seeresses) embarked on critical analysis of subjective experience and...

One of the two great epics of India and arguably the most popular epic in the world, the Ramayana has enchanted generations of people not just in Greater India but the world over. In less than three hundred pages The Essential Ramayana captures all the poetic subtleties and noble values of the original and offers the great epic in an eminently readable form that will appeal to the learned and...

The Bhagavad-gītā isn’t merely a treatise on ultimate liberation. It is also a treatise on good living. Even the laity, which does not have its eye on mokṣa, can immensely benefit from the Gītā. It has the power to grant an attitude of reverence in worldly life, infuse enthusiasm in the execution of duty, impart fortitude in times of adversity, and offer solace to the heart when riddled by...

Indian Perspective of Truth and Beauty in Homer’s Epics is a unique work on the comparative study of the Greek Epics Iliad and Odyssey with the Indian Epics – Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata. Homer, who laid the foundations for the classical tradition of the West, occupies a stature similar to that occupied by the seer-poets Vālmīki and Vyāsa, who are synonymous with the Indian culture. The author...

Karnataka’s celebrated polymath, D V Gundappa brings together in the sixth volume of reminiscences character sketches of prominent public figures, liberals, and social workers. These remarkable personages hailing from different corners of South India are from a period that spans from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Written in Kannada in the 1970s, these memoirs go...

An Introduction to Hinduism based on Primary Sources

Authors: Śatāvadhānī Dr. R Ganesh, Hari Ravikumar

What is the philosophical basis for Sanātana-dharma, the ancient Indian way of life? What makes it the most inclusive and natural of all religio-philosophical systems in the world?

The Essential Sanātana-dharma serves as a handbook for anyone who wishes to grasp the...

Karnataka’s celebrated polymath, D V Gundappa brings together in the fifth volume, episodes from the lives of traditional savants responsible for upholding the Vedic culture. These memorable characters lived a life of opulence amidst poverty— theirs  was the wealth of the soul, far beyond money and gold. These vidvāns hailed from different corners of the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom and lived in...

Padma Bhushan Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam represents the quintessence of Sage Bharata’s art and Bhārata, the country that gave birth to the peerless seer of the Nāṭya-veda. Padma’s erudition in various streams of Indic knowledge, mastery over many classical arts, deep understanding of the nuances of Indian culture, creative genius, and sublime vision bolstered by the vedāntic and nationalistic...

Bhārata has been a land of plenty in many ways. We have had a timeless tradition of the twofold principle of Brāhma (spirit of wisdom) and Kṣāttra (spirit of valour) nourishing and protecting this sacred land. The Hindu civilisation, rooted in Sanātana-dharma, has constantly been enriched by brāhma and safeguarded by kṣāttra.
The renowned Sanskrit poet and scholar, Śatāvadhānī Dr. R...

ಛಂದೋವಿವೇಕವು ವರ್ಣವೃತ್ತ, ಮಾತ್ರಾಜಾತಿ ಮತ್ತು ಕರ್ಷಣಜಾತಿ ಎಂದು ವಿಭಕ್ತವಾದ ಎಲ್ಲ ಬಗೆಯ ಛಂದಸ್ಸುಗಳನ್ನೂ ವಿವೇಚಿಸುವ ಪ್ರಬಂಧಗಳ ಸಂಕಲನ. ಲೇಖಕರ ದೀರ್ಘಕಾಲಿಕ ಆಲೋಚನೆಯ ಸಾರವನ್ನು ಒಳಗೊಂಡ ಈ ಹೊತ್ತಗೆ ಪ್ರಧಾನವಾಗಿ ಛಂದಸ್ಸಿನ ಸೌಂದರ್ಯವನ್ನು ಲಕ್ಷಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ತೌಲನಿಕ ವಿಶ್ಲೇಷಣೆ ಮತ್ತು ಅಂತಃಶಾಸ್ತ್ರೀಯ ಅಧ್ಯಯನಗಳ ತೆಕ್ಕೆಗೆ ಬರುವ ಬರೆಹಗಳೂ ಇಲ್ಲಿವೆ. ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರಕಾರನಿಗಲ್ಲದೆ ಸಿದ್ಧಹಸ್ತನಾದ ಕವಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಸ್ಫುರಿಸಬಲ್ಲ ಎಷ್ಟೋ ಹೊಳಹುಗಳು ಕೃತಿಯ ಮೌಲಿಕತೆಯನ್ನು ಹೆಚ್ಚಿಸಿವೆ. ಈ...

Karnataka’s celebrated polymath, D V Gundappa brings together in the fourth volume, some character sketches of the Dewans of Mysore preceded by an account of the political framework of the State before Independence and followed by a review of the political conditions of the State after 1940. These remarkable leaders of Mysore lived in a period that spans from the mid-nineteenth century to the...

Bharatiya Kavya-mimamseya Hinnele is a monograph on Indian Aesthetics by Mahamahopadhyaya N. Ranganatha Sharma. The book discusses the history and significance of concepts pivotal to Indian literary theory. It is equally useful to the learned and the laity.

Sahitya-samhite is a collection of literary essays in Kannada. The book discusses aestheticians such as Ananda-vardhana and Rajashekhara; Sanskrit scholars such as Mena Ramakrishna Bhat, Sridhar Bhaskar Varnekar and K S Arjunwadkar; and Kannada litterateurs such as DVG, S L Bhyrappa and S R Ramaswamy. It has a foreword by Shatavadhani Dr. R Ganesh.

The Mahābhārata is the greatest epic in the world both in magnitude and profundity. A veritable cultural compendium of Bhārata-varṣa, it is a product of the creative genius of Maharṣi Kṛṣṇa-dvaipāyana Vyāsa. The epic captures the experiential wisdom of our civilization and all subsequent literary, artistic, and philosophical creations are indebted to it. To read the Mahābhārata is to...

Shiva Rama Krishna

சிவன். ராமன். கிருஷ்ணன்.
இந்திய பாரம்பரியத்தின் முப்பெரும் கதாநாயகர்கள்.
உயர் இந்தியாவில் தலைமுறைகள் பல கடந்தும் கடவுளர்களாக போற்றப்பட்டு வழிகாட்டிகளாக விளங்குபவர்கள்.
மனித ஒற்றுமை நூற்றாண்டுகால பரிணாம வளர்ச்சியின் பரிமாணம்.
தனிநபர்களாகவும், குடும்ப உறுப்பினர்களாகவும், சமுதாய பிரஜைகளாகவும் நாம் அனைவரும் பரிமளிக்கிறோம்.
சிவன் தனிமனித அடையாளமாக அமைகிறான்....

ऋतुभिः सह कवयः सदैव सम्बद्धाः। विशिष्य संस्कृतकवयः। यथा हि ऋतवः प्रतिसंवत्सरं प्रतिनवतामावहन्ति मानवेषु तथैव ऋतुवर्णनान्यपि काव्यरसिकेषु कामपि विच्छित्तिमातन्वते। ऋतुकल्याणं हि सत्यमिदमेव हृदि कृत्वा प्रवृत्तम्। नगरजीवनस्य यान्त्रिकतां मान्त्रिकतां च ध्वनदिदं चम्पूकाव्यं गद्यपद्यमिश्रितमिति सुव्यक्तमेव। ऐदम्पूर्वतया प्रायः पुरीपरिसरप्रसृतानाम् ऋतूनां विलासोऽत्र प्रपञ्चितः। बेङ्गलूरुनामके...

The Art and Science of Avadhānam in Sanskrit is a definitive work on Sāhityāvadhānam, a form of Indian classical art based on multitasking, lateral thinking, and extempore versification. Dotted throughout with tasteful examples, it expounds in great detail on the theory and practice of this unique performing art. It is as much a handbook of performance as it is an anthology of well-turned...

This anthology is a revised edition of the author's 1978 classic. This series of essays, containing his original research in various fields, throws light on the socio-cultural landscape of Tamil Nadu spanning several centuries. These compelling episodes will appeal to scholars and laymen alike.
“When superstitious mediaevalists mislead the country about its judicial past, we have to...

The cultural history of a nation, unlike the customary mainstream history, has a larger time-frame and encompasses the timeless ethos of a society undergirding the course of events and vicissitudes. A major key to the understanding of a society’s unique character is an appreciation of the far-reaching contributions by outstanding personalities of certain periods – especially in the realms of...

Prekṣaṇīyam is an anthology of essays on Indian classical dance and theatre authored by multifaceted scholar and creative genius, Śatāvadhānī Dr. R Ganesh. As a master of śāstra, a performing artiste (of the ancient art of Avadhānam), and a cultured rasika, he brings a unique, holistic perspective to every discussion. These essays deal with the philosophy, history, aesthetics, and practice of...

Yaugandharam

इदं किञ्चिद्यामलं काव्यं द्वयोः खण्डकाव्ययोः सङ्कलनरूपम्। रामानुरागानलं हि सीतापरित्यागाल्लक्ष्मणवियोगाच्च श्रीरामेणानुभूतं हृदयसङ्क्षोभं वर्णयति । वात्सल्यगोपालकं तु कदाचिद्भानूपरागसमये घटितं यशोदाश्रीकृष्णयोर्मेलनं वर्णयति । इदम्प्रथमतया संस्कृतसाहित्ये सम्पूर्णं काव्यं...

Vanitakavitotsavah

इदं खण्डकाव्यमान्तं मालिनीछन्दसोपनिबद्धं विलसति। मेनकाविश्वामित्रयोः समागमः, तत्फलतया शकुन्तलाया जननम्, मातापितृभ्यां त्यक्तस्य शिशोः कण्वमहर्षिणा परिपालनं चेति काव्यस्यास्येतिवृत्तसङ्क्षेपः।

Vaiphalyaphalam

इदं खण्डकाव्यमान्तं मालिनीछन्दसोपनिबद्धं विलसति। मेनकाविश्वामित्रयोः समागमः, तत्फलतया शकुन्तलाया जननम्, मातापितृभ्यां त्यक्तस्य शिशोः कण्वमहर्षिणा परिपालनं चेति काव्यस्यास्येतिवृत्तसङ्क्षेपः।

Nipunapraghunakam

इयं रचना दशसु रूपकेष्वन्यतमस्य भाणस्य निदर्शनतामुपैति। एकाङ्करूपकेऽस्मिन् शेखरकनामा चित्रोद्यमलेखकः केनापि हेतुना वियोगम् अनुभवतोश्चित्रलेखामिलिन्दकयोः समागमं सिसाधयिषुः कथामाकाशभाषणरूपेण निर्वहति।

Bharavatarastavah

अस्मिन् स्तोत्रकाव्ये भगवन्तं शिवं कविरभिष्टौति। वसन्ततिलकयोपनिबद्धस्य काव्यस्यास्य कविकृतम् उल्लाघनाभिधं व्याख्यानं च वर्तते।

Karnataka’s celebrated polymath, D V Gundappa brings together in the third volume, some character sketches of great literary savants responsible for Kannada renaissance during the first half of the twentieth century. These remarkable...

Karnataka’s celebrated polymath, D V Gundappa brings together in the second volume, episodes from the lives of remarkable exponents of classical music and dance, traditional storytellers, thespians, and connoisseurs; as well as his...

Karnataka’s celebrated polymath, D V Gundappa brings together in the first volume, episodes from the lives of great writers, poets, literary aficionados, exemplars of public life, literary scholars, noble-hearted common folk, advocates...

Evolution of Mahabharata and Other Writings on the Epic is the English translation of S R Ramaswamy's 1972 Kannada classic 'Mahabharatada Belavanige' along with seven of his essays on the great epic. It tells the riveting...

Shiva-Rama-Krishna is an English adaptation of Śatāvadhāni Dr. R Ganesh's popular lecture series on the three great...

Bharatilochana

ಮಹಾಮಾಹೇಶ್ವರ ಅಭಿನವಗುಪ್ತ ಜಗತ್ತಿನ ವಿದ್ಯಾವಲಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಮರೆಯಲಾಗದ ಹೆಸರು. ಮುಖ್ಯವಾಗಿ ಶೈವದರ್ಶನ ಮತ್ತು ಸೌಂದರ್ಯಮೀಮಾಂಸೆಗಳ ಪರಮಾಚಾರ್ಯನಾಗಿ  ಸಾವಿರ ವರ್ಷಗಳಿಂದ ಇವನು ಜ್ಞಾನಪ್ರಪಂಚವನ್ನು ಪ್ರಭಾವಿಸುತ್ತಲೇ ಇದ್ದಾನೆ. ಭರತಮುನಿಯ ನಾಟ್ಯಶಾಸ್ತ್ರವನ್ನು ಅರ್ಥಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಇವನೊಬ್ಬನೇ ನಮಗಿರುವ ಆಲಂಬನ. ಇದೇ ರೀತಿ ರಸಧ್ವನಿಸಿದ್ಧಾಂತವನ್ನು...

Vagarthavismayasvadah

“वागर्थविस्मयास्वादः” प्रमुखतया साहित्यशास्त्रतत्त्वानि विमृशति । अत्र सौन्दर्यर्यशास्त्रीयमूलतत्त्वानि यथा रस-ध्वनि-वक्रता-औचित्यादीनि सुनिपुणं परामृष्टानि प्रतिनवे चिकित्सकप्रज्ञाप्रकाशे। तदन्तर एव संस्कृतवाङ्मयस्य सामर्थ्यसमाविष्कारोऽपि विहितः। क्वचिदिव च्छन्दोमीमांसा च...

The Best of Hiriyanna

The Best of Hiriyanna is a collection of forty-eight essays by Prof. M. Hiriyanna that sheds new light on Sanskrit Literature, Indian...

Stories Behind Verses

Stories Behind Verses is a remarkable collection of over a hundred anecdotes, each of which captures a story behind the composition of a Sanskrit verse. Collected over several years from...