Chandrashekhara Kambara

Chandrashekhara Kambara
ಚಂದ್ರಶೇಖರ ಕಂಬಾರ

Chandrashekhara Kambara during a talk about "Kannada in Technology" in a meeting in Bangalore
Born (1937-01-02) 2 January 1937
Ghodageri, Hukkeri taluk, Belagavi district, Bombay Presidency, British India
Occupation Poet, Playwright, Professor
Nationality Indian
Alma mater PhD from Karnatak University, Dharwad[1]
Period 1956–present
Genre Fiction
Notable awards Jnanpith Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Padma Shri
Pampa Award
Spouse Satyabhama
Children 4

Chandrashekhara Kambara (born 2 January 1937) is a prominent Indian poet, playwright, folklorist, film director in Kannada language and the founder-vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi.[2] He is known for effective adaptation of the North Karnataka dialect of the Kannada language in his plays, and poems, in a similar style as in the works of D.R. Bendre.[3]

Kambara's plays mainly revolves around folk or mythology interlinked with contemporary issues,[4] inculcating modern lifestyle with his hard-hitting poems and has become a pioneer of such literature.[5] His contribution as a playwright is significant not only to Kannada theatre but also to the Indian theatre in general as he achieved a blend of the folk and the modern theatrical forms.[6]

He has been conferred with many prestigious awards including the Jnanpith Award in 2011 for the year 2010,[7] Sahitya Akademi Award, the Padma Shri by Government of India,[8] Kabir Samman, Kalidas Samman and Pampa Award. After his retirement, Kambara was nominated Member of Karnataka Legislative Council, to which he made significant contributions through his interventions.[9]

Early life

Chandrashekhara Kambara was born in Ghodageri village in Belagavi district. He was the third son in the family, with brothers Parasappa and Yallappa who still reside in the small house belonging to the Kambara family in the village.[5] From an early age he was interested in folk arts, local culture and ritual.[1] His favourite Kannada writers include Kumara Vyasa, Basavanna, Kuvempu & Gopalakrishna Adiga and among English writers, it is W. B. Yeats, Shakespeare and Lorca.[10]

Popularly known as Shivapur Kambar Master in his native district, Kambara had his schooling in Gokak and returned to Belagavi for higher education at Lingaraj College. Owing to poverty, he had to drop out of school[10] but Jagadguru Siddaram Swamiji of Savalagi Matha blessed Kambara and took care of all his primary and high school educational expenses which is the reason why Kambara honours the seer in many of his writings.[5] After his post-graduation, he did his PhD thesis on Uttara Karnatakada Janapad Rangbhumi ("The Folk Theatre of North Karnataka") from Karnataka University, Dharwad.[11]

Career

After a brief stint in teaching in the University of Chicago, he taught in Bangalore University for over two decades and was a Fulbright scholar.[1]

He served as the chairman of National School of Drama Society, New Delhi from 1996 to 2000 and as the president of Karnataka Nataka Academy from 1980 to 1983. He started using north Karnataka dialect of Kannada in his poems and plays which is not very common in Kannada literature.

Kambara is the founder vice-chancellor of the Kannada University at Hampi. His grand vision of Kannada literature and Karnataka culture is reflected in the way he showed commitment to build it. The architecture, the choice of the subjects that cover the diverse variety of culture and society of Karnataka, selection of place, faculty or academic activities, the scholars whom he drafted from different parts of the state and the Nadoja honorary award instead of the honorary doctorate which he introduced, show Kambara's native vision which was evolved in his literary works for decades.[6]

As the first vice-chancellor of the University, Kambara served two terms of three years each, during which he could shape it in a unique manner, compared to other traditional universities. All the constructions during his tenure as the vice-chancellor are on hillocks, with huge stone structures resembling the Vijayanagara period architecture. He also created a separate publication unit for publishing the results of research and project works going on in Kannada University.[12]

He is a strong supporter of imparting school education with Kannada language as the medium of instruction.[13] His justification for this stance is that only mother tongue can provide an "experience," which is an integral part of learning and learning through any other language only gives people "information," which makes them less competent.[14] This concurs with UNESCO's recommendation that "providing education in a child's mother tongue is a critical issue."[15]

Works

Kambara has to his credit 25 plays, 11 anthologies of poems, 5 novels, 16 research works and several scholarly write-ups on folk theatre, literature and education.[1] Some of his popular plays include "Jokumaraswamy", "Jayasidnayaka", "Kadu Kudure", "Nayi Kathe", "Mahamayi", "Harakeya Kuri" and others. He was conferred with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1991 for another popular play Sirisampige.[16]

He was a pioneer in introducing Bailahongal's famous Sangya Balya (bayalata) and Jokumaraswamy, a traditional ritual of his native district, to the literary world[1] which have seen thousands of performances, not only in Kannada, but several other Indian languages as well.[17] His most recent novel, Shikhar Soorya, is rated among the best Kannada novels.[11]

Many of his works have been translated to English and several other Indian languages. The play Jokumaraswamy has been translated to English (Seagull Books, Calcutta in 1989), Marathi (Abholi Prakashan, Solhapur in 2000), Hindi (Vidya Prakashan Mandir, New Delhi in 1985), Telugu (Mudrika Printers, Kurnool in 1993), Tamil, Punjabi and Malayalam among others. The Sahitya Akademi Award-winning play Sirisampige has been translated to English (Seagull Books)[18] and to Tamil, Hindi, Marathi and Rajasthani by the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. Kulothe Chingaramma, which was translated to Malayalam by C Raghavan, is one of his works that has become popular in Kerala.[19]

Apart from his literary career, Kambara has been associated with direction of feature films. His directorial work in many movies on the plays scripted by him; he has directed films such as Karimayi, Sangeeta and Kadu Kudare. Jeeke Maastara and Pranaya Prasanga two of his plays which have been made into television serils. His contributions include many documentaries for the Government of Karnataka and Government of India.[3] His "Kaadu Kudure" entered into the Indian Panorama and won the National Award. His film "Sangeeta" won the Best Feature Film State Award in the year 1981. He has also adopted his play G.K. Maasthara Pranaya Prasanga for television.

Besides his voluminous works, Kambar has presented papers on Indian Folklore and theatre in the University of Chicago, American Oriental Centre, New York, International Theatre Institute – Berlin, Moscow, and Jade: Akita Japan and many Universities and cultural organizations in India. The Folklore Dictionary he compiled for Kannada Sahitya Parishad is a monumental work.

Themes

In his lengthy narrative poem Helatena Kela ("Listen, I will tell you") in the early 1960s, Kambara introduced some of the recurring themes which he would often return to in his later works. Themes of tradition and modernity, crises of feudalism, native identities, colonialism, march of history, sex, loss of faith, the death of God and several related themes explored later in his plays, novels and poetry had found metaphorical expression in the narrative poem.[6] The eponymous, long narrative poem has the musicality and rhythm of the Lavani form and uses rich earthy imagery.[20]

Shivapura is an imaginary utopian village which continues to be a character, a metaphor and the locale in most of his works. It forms the locus of his poems and tales.[21] In his characterisation, Lord Shiva and Parvati visit the place and bless the villagers. Even Rama, when he was going to Sri Lanka in search of Sita, visits the village en route.[11]

Awards and honours

Five of his books have been awarded by the Karnataka Sahitya Academy. His well known play Jokumaraswamy has won the "Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya Award" of Natya Sangh as the "Best Play of the Year" in India in the year 1975. Another popular play Jaisidanayaka won the Vardhamaana Prasasti as the "Best Book of the Year" – 1975 in Karnataka.

His Saavirada Neralu won the "Ashan Award" (Kerala) as the best collection of poems in 1982. He won the K.V. Shankare Gowda Award for Theatre in 1990. He is the recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, New Delhi,[17] for playwrighting in the year 1983 and the Sahitya Akademi Award, New Delhi, for the play Siri Sampige in 1991.[22]

Kambara received the eighth Jnanpith Award for the Kannada language, the highest literary honour conferred in India, in September 2011 for the year 2010.[16] The prestigious award which was instituted in 1961, carries a cheque for ₹750,000, a citation and a bronze replica of goddess Vagdevi.[23] The Chief Minister of Karnataka, D. V. Sadananda Gowda was among the many dignitaries who wished him on the occasion of receiving this award.[24] At a felicitation ceremony held a week after winning the award, the Government of Karnataka announced that it will reprint all works of Kambara, including his plays and make them available at all government school libraries. His works will also be translated to different languages. A drama festival featuring his plays will be staged to honour the laureate.[25]

List of works

His rich contribution to Kannada literature in the field of poetry, plays, novels and stories, and on his research and political perceptions are listed below.[3]

Poetry

Plays

Novels and stories

Research and critical perceptions

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Jnanpith award: Deccan Herald – Kambar realised the universal in indigenous, native culture in modern times". Deccan Herald. 20 September 2011.
  2. ↑ "Giri Seeme: The Tribal Village". Department of Tribal Studies, Kannada University. Kannada University, Hampi. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
  3. 1 2 3 "Senior Kannada Writer Dr Chandrashekhara Kambara gets Jnanpith Award, 8th for Kannada Language". Samvada. 19 September 2011.
  4. ↑ "IBN Live – Kambar does Karnataka proud with Jnanpith". Ibnlive.in.com. 20 September 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 "Times of India – Home village Ghodageri erupts in celebration". The Times of India. 20 September 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 The Hindu – Speaking from Shivapura Archived 25 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ "Jnanpith for Kambar". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 20 September 2011.
  8. ↑ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 November 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  9. ↑ "The living bard". Deccan Herald.
  10. 1 2 SEETHALAKSHMI S (21 September 2011). "Times of India – Kambar's next is a comedy on thieves". The Times of India.
  11. 1 2 3 "The New Indian Express – Eighth moment of glory for Kannada". Ibnlive.in.com. 21 September 2011.
  12. ↑ A Murigeppa (21 September 2011). "Times of India – Kannada varsity has Kambar stamp all over". The Times of India.
  13. ↑ "Nationalise school-level education, says Kambara". Deccan Chronicle.
  14. ↑ "Kambar bats for Kannada in schools". Deccan Herald. 24 September 2011.
  15. ↑ "Results of the 7th consultation of member states on the implementation of the Convention and Recommendation against discrimination in education (Para. 41)" (PDF).
  16. 1 2 Prasad (19 September 2011). "ಡಾ. ಚಂದ್ರಶೇಖರ ಕಂಬಾರರಿಗೆ ಜ್ಞಾನಪೀಠ ಪ್ರಶಸ್ತಿ". Thatskannada.oneindia.in.
  17. 1 2 Special Correspondent (20 September 2011). "Jnanpith for Kambar". The Hindu.
  18. ↑ Modern Indian Drama, ed. G.P. Deshpande, Sahitya Akademi, 2004]
  19. ↑ Gayathri Sasibhooshan (21 September 2011). "Times of India – Kambar deserves Jnanpith: M Leelavathy". The Times of India.
  20. ↑ Frontline Magazine – Modern myth-maker
  21. ↑ "Times of India – Shivapur, his magical world". The Times of India. 21 September 2011.
  22. ↑ "Sri Chandrashekar B. Kambar". Official website of Karnataka legislature. National informatics center. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
  23. ↑ "Kannada poet, playwright Kambar gets Jnanpith". Deccan Herald. 20 September 2011.
  24. ↑ "CM Greeted to Gnanapeeta Awardee Sri Chandra Shekar Kambara in Bangalore". Sadanandagowda.com. 20 September 2011.
  25. ↑ "Karnataka govt to popularise Kannada litterateurs". DNA India. 27 September 2011.
  26. ↑ "Play set in the Basavanna era". Express Buzz.
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