M'lore varsity to bring out 5 volumes on Kanakadasa

A series of five volumes portraying the life of the 15th century poet and social reformer Kanakadasa, in a comprehensive manner will be brought out by the Centre for Research on Kanakadasa of Mangalore University shortly.

Five volumes will cover 4,000 to 5,000 pages. The first volume will be released during a conference on Kanakadasa at the university scheduled to be held in the last week of March.

The Centre coordinator Prof B Shivaram Shetty said that Mangalore University will be the first university in the State to make an effort on the same.

Five volumes will include more than 350 articles on Kanakadasa, both in English and Kannada, published in various periodicals since 1873. The centre began collecting the articles since 2006. Authors of many articles had analysed the life and work of Kanakadasa from various angles.

The articles include ‘Karnataka Vaishnava Dasas’ written by Rev Fr Kittel published in the journal ‘The Indian Antiquary’ in November, 1873, ‘The Rise of Vaishnava Literature’ by Edward P Rice published in the journal ‘History of Kanarese Literature’ in 1915; and an article on Kanakadasa from the book ‘Kelavu Sathpurushara Kathegalu’ by Hosakere Chidambaraiah which was published in 1931.

He said “the first volume should have been released during January 2012. However, with the delay in sanctioning of the money and administrative procedure, the process was delayed. The volume will be of a great help to those who make a study on Kanakadasa.”
The first volume will include 108 articles on the caste, religion and the life of  Kanakadasa.

There were different views as to whether Kanakadasa belonged to Beda or Kuruba community. The second and third volume will include articles on the analysis of four major kavyas of Kanakadasa. This will have 128 articles. The four major kavyas of Kanakadasa were ‘Mohana Tarangini,’ ‘Nala Charitre,’ ‘Ramadhanya Charite’ and ‘Haribhakthisara.’

The fourth volume will have 77 articles and will highlight the keerthanas of Kanakadasa and a comparative study of the keerthanas and writings of other saints and dasas from his period. The fifth volume will include 49 articles on the life and achievements of Kanakadasa, Dr Shetty said.

“Kanakadasa Research Centre head and other researchers had collected the articles by travelling all over Karnataka in the last seven years,” he said.

Funds

The State government had deposited a sum of Rs one crore in the name of Centre for Research on Kanakadasa.  The work on the Centre is being carried out by availing the interest from the deposit. The centre gets a sum of Rs nine lakh as interest every year from the deposit.  A sum of Rs five lakh is being utilised for the salary of the staff of the centre. The remaining Rs four lakh is being used for research and publication of books, said the coordinator.