May 2021
Kāleju Baravaṇigè (‘College Writings’)
Rajarathnam gave ample opportunities to his students to showcase their talents through publications like Namma Bendre, Namma Nammavaru, and Bāla-sarasvati.
One among his many achievements was to inspire students to write, followed by editing and polishing their articles, finally leading to the publication of Kāleju Baravaṇigè. The finesse he demonstrated in teaching also showed up in organizing and...
5. The next day when Somaprabhā came back Kaliṅgasenā during her interaction with her said, ‘It is certain that my wedding with Prasenajit would happen; my mother has told me; you say that he is an old man; My heart is now partial to Vatsarāja since I’ve heard that he is young and handsome; so you take me with you to first show me Prasenajit and then to Vatsarāja; let us ignore my parents’ words!’ Somaprabhā replied, ‘Let us go by the vimāna-...
Recognition of Self
Understanding and responding to the tender minds of children needs a kind of dissolution of Self. It needs an assessment of our self from a perspective outside of us. This came to Rajarathnam somewhat by nature. (After his graduation he worked in śiśu-vihāra—kindergarten—among children for some time). The following extract from his work Hattu-varuṣa that is presently relevant, which can be considered as a part of his...
Janab Muhammad Buḍan Khān was the inspector of Urdu schools. He would come to inspect the Anglo-Hindustani school in our town[1] once or twice a year.
Muslims citizens were a sizable minority[2] in our town, so they had a separate school. In that school, there were two Hindu teachers who taught Kannada. The strength of the school was about a hundred. The headmaster of the school was a person by name Janab Mustafā. He was known for his...
ಭವಭೂತಿ “ಉತ್ತರರಾಮಚರಿತ”ದ ಕಡೆಯ ಅಂಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಗರ್ಭಾಂಕತಂತ್ರವನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿ ಸೀತಾ-ರಾಮರ ಪುನರ್ಮೇಲನವನ್ನು ಸಾಧಿಸಿದ್ದಾನೆ. ಇದನ್ನು ವಾಲ್ಮೀಕಿಮುನಿಗಳ ರಾಮಾಯಣದ ಕಡೆಯ ಭಾಗವೆಂಬಂತೆಯೂ ಕಲ್ಪಿಸಿದ್ದಾನೆ. ಅವನ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಶ್ರವ್ಯಕಾವ್ಯವಾದ ರಾಮಾಯಣದ ಮುಗಿತಾಯವು ದೃಶ್ಯಕಾವ್ಯದ ಮೂಲಕ ಆಗಬೇಕೆಂದು ವಾಲ್ಮೀಕಿಯದೇ ಸಂಕಲ್ಪ. ಆದುದರಿಂದಲೇ ಕಡೆಯ ಭಾಗವನ್ನು ರಂಗಕ್ಕೆ ತರಲು ಭರತಮುನಿಯ ನೆರವನ್ನು ಕೋರಿ ಅವನಿಗೆ ಹಸ್ತಪ್ರತಿಯನ್ನೂ ಕೊಡಲಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಹೀಗೆ ಸಜ್ಜುಗೊಂಡ ರೂಪಕವು ರಾಮನ ಸಾನ್ನಿಧ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ, ಅಶೇಷ ಕೋಸಲಪ್ರಜೆಗಳ ಸಮಕ್ಷದಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಯುಕ್ತವಾಯಿತು. ಈ ರೂಪಕದಲ್ಲಿ...
Bhāmaha writes the following in his Kāvyālaṅkāra
“upeyuṣāmapi divaṃ sannibandhavidhāyinām|
āsta eva nirātaṅkaṃ kāntaṃ kāvyamayaṃ vapuḥ ||”
“Many people who wrote excellent poems have gone to the svarga. However, their beautiful, poetic body will remain here for ever.”
The above statement is quite popular in scholarly circles.
Reminiscent of this statement, Prof. S.K. Ramachandra Rao’s yaśaḥ kāya –body of fame has remained with us through his...
4. As Kaliṅgasenā stood on her balcony watching Somaprabhā fly away, a vidyādhara called Madanavega saw her and was awestruck by her beauty. But he thought it was not appropriate for him to be smitten by a mortal woman. He remembered Prajnapti, the goddess of intellect who appeared before him and told him that she was an apsaras born on the earth due to a curse. While this made him happy, no matter how much he wanted, he couldn’t just carry her...
Sincerity to Values
There are several institutions, which received Sharma’s ‘dohada’ (instigation for healthy growth) – Rashtrotthana Parishat, Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Samskrita Bharati, Sura-sarasvatī-sabhā, and many more. Many maṭhas that belong to different traditions have also received Sharma’s immense contribution.
Sharma displayed the same kind of dedication towards the Rashtrotthana Parishat for decades. He never turned down any request...