S Settar: A scholar who explored obscure realms

Professor S Settar was undoubtedly the finest historian from Karnataka. The insightful exploration into hitherto neglected areas and equally original revisiting of much-explored areas to arrive at interpretations not imagined by previous scholarship have been his great strengths.

At the same time, he diligently eschewed the flaws of some original thinkers who think that it is sufficient to offer flashes of insight and leave it to other scholars to pursue them. Settar was a scholar in the classical mould and his practice was to gather up all the relevant evidence, data and archival material and to juxtapose them in such a way that a new interpretation emerges.

He equipped himself by foraying into several fields such as archaeology, architecture, the study of inscriptions, art history, the history of religions and extraordinarily sensitive readings of literature. He was also a fine translator whose translations of some Sangam poems into Kannada rank among the finest in the language. Settar had the ability to reinvent himself as a scholar by taking up devoted pursuits in several different areas. He authored a four-volume history of art, which won him international recognition.

Thereafter, he began an intensive study of Jaina religions, which resulted in the two volumes - Inviting Death and Pursuing Death. These books presented a new model of the historiography of the Jain religion. He went beyond the exegesis of Jain theological works and did an archaeological study of sites connected with the rituals around death. The books also throw light on the impact of the Jain religion on Karnataka.

Many of the insights found in these books returned recently in his works when he explored the relationship between Sanskrit, Prakrit, Kannada and two religions - Buddhism and Jainism. Both religions practised preaching in the language of the place and the people. This eventually led to the Jaina epoch in Kannada literature, which produced the canonical works of Pampa, Ranna, Ponna and Janna. His study of the Sangam poets of Tamilagam led him to the discovery that some of them were from the Kannada 'nadu' of ancient times. He was also able to argue brilliantly that some of the smaller linguistic communities living in the border areas fought a cultural battle to retain their linguistic and cultural identity against both Tamil and Kannada.

Long before interdisciplinarity became a buzz word, Settar performed multidisciplinary research of the highest standard. His research flows effortlessly from theology to art and from linguistic analysis to temple architecture. He also broke the invisible wall between professional/academic history and the informed common reader.

His work Sangam Tamilagam Mattu Kannada Nadu-Nudi went into several editions and reprints, virtually becoming a bestseller. His Prakrit Jagadwalaya sold out in less than a week. The two reasons for this phenomenon are Settar's prose and his ability to engage with the central aspects of ‘Kannadaness’ and Kannada traditions. Every one of his works has pushed the boundaries of the imagined Kannada community.

As H S Shivaprakash pointed out, Settar did not subscribe to an essentialist view of Kannada and Karnataka. As a historian, he believed that these were fluid and porous categories without boundaries with the result that their history is one of endless intertextuality and constantly changing negotiations with other languages, regions and cultural worlds.

This aspect of Settar’s writings has in a subtle way impacted the major debates in Kannada society. Many of the discourses on Kannada are fixated on certain idealistic notions and these have at times given a chauvinistic tinge to the debates. By constantly expanding the boundaries of Kannada culture, Settar’s works have set the tone for a more nuanced debate. For example, the debate on the word ‘isila’ went in a new direction with his intervention. His writings have been enriched by his inwardness with the knowledge of the developments in the conceptualisation of historiography.

They have brought historical scholarship in Kannada far away from the imperialist and nationalist frameworks. He has also in his unique urbane dialogic style taken up several contentious issues. For example, his masterpiece Halegannada has deconstructed the model of Sanskritisation by demonstrating how literacy and sophisticated knowledge existed among the scribes who made the inscriptions but did not belong to the higher Varna that alone was supposed to have hegemony over literacy and knowledge. His distinctive use of the terms ‘literization’ and ‘literarization’ has also helped us in better understanding the history of Kannada orthography. His study of the architects, artisans and the sculptors from the Buddhist period onwards has helped in reconstructing the cultural/artistic greatness of some of the subaltern classes in Indian history.

At a time when histories of languages have become the object of bitter controversies, Settar published Prakrit Jagadwalaya, which questions why the presence of the Prakrit cosmopolis does not receive the attention that the Sanskrit cosmopolis received (a la Sheldon Pollock). Do we not need a more fleshed out history of the interrelationship between the vernaculars, Sanskrit and Prakrit, especially since Prakrit dominated the linguistic world in India for over a millennium? Settar has also explored the sociopolitical relationship between the Varnas and languages. For example, the Brahmins - the most literate class - were the last to take to writing. In the ancient world, linguistic choices were political in the broad sense of the word.

When I heard the news that Professor Settar had passed away, memories of seeing him as a student came back to me. A suave, handsome, impeccably and stylishly dressed man, he was the most attractive individual on campus. For us, he had the aura of literally being brought back from the Dharwad railway station by the Vice-Chancellor to continue teaching at the University. A witty conversationist, a charming reciter of anecdotes and ‘the last gentleman’, Professor Settar was a guru and friend to hundreds of writers like me.

(The writer is director, Manasa Centre for Cultural Studies, Shivamogga. He is a literary and cultural critic)