Journey towards the 'absolute state'

If contemporary Karnataka celebrates the 12th-century Basavanna as its cultural leader, the medieval Kannada world had placed his contemporary mystic and interlocutor Allama Prabhu at the centre of its imagination. Between the 15th and 16th centuries, five authors—Shivaganaprasadi Mahadevaiah, Kenchveerannodeya (whose text is not available), Gummalapurada Siddhalingadevaru, Halageyadeva and Gulura Siddhaveerannodayara—produced Allama’s life narrative in their respective Shoonyasampadanas. Although successive versions made a few changes to the plot, Shivaganaprasadi Mahadevaiah’s text, the first Shoonyasamapadane, remained a model for them.

During 1965-72, a team of scholars including S C Nandimath, Armando Menezes, R C Hiremath and others produced an English translation of Gulura Siddhaveerannodayara’s Shoonyasampadane in five volumes which consisted of the Kannada text, transliteration, translation, notes, and comments. Indeed, this arduous task served the purpose of scholars. But it would be a daunting task for a layperson to bear the weight of these volumes. Now, eminent Professor of English D A Shankar’s translation of Shivaganaprasadi Mahadevaiah’s Shoonyasampadane fills that gap by catering to the needs of the common reader. This new translation, which runs into 194 pages, features a short introduction, besides three appendices that include introductory essays and a glossary at the end.

Like Harihara’s Prabbhudevara Ragale and Chamarasa’s Prabhulinga Leele, which tell the story of Allama, this text begins with Shiva sending Nirmaya, one of his attendants in Kailasa, to be born as Allama on earth to resuscitate Veerashivachara (the practice of Veerashaivism) in the transient world. Accordingly, Allama, overcoming maye (illusion) after the death of his beloved Kamalate, emerges as a spiritual seeker, enlightening those he meets, especially in the city of Kalyana.

Shedding light on concepts

Each chapter brings forth Allama’s encounter with a shivasharana who seeks self-understanding in his or her dialogue with him. Thus, his debates with Muktayakka, Basavanna, Chennabasavanna, Siddharama, Akkamahadevi and Gorakshak among others shed light on Veerashaiva/Lingayat concepts such as guru, linga, jangama, dasoha, and so on.

As Vachana scholar O L Nagabhushanaswamy observes, though the term shunya (void) does not appear in vachanas, Shoonyasampadanakaras found the idea of shunya at the heart of vachanas and Allama as a representative of this idea. The term ‘shoonyasampadane’ connotes the attainment of shunya, and accordingly, these stories describe Allama and his interlocutors attaining shunya, the absolute state.

As the first chapter, ‘Prabhudeva’s Prose’ in Shoonyasampadane records, “Shivaganaprasadi Mahadevaiah, keeping in view the well-being of the mortals of this world, put together the scattered but self-complete sayings of Sivasharanas…made Sivadvaita known and submitted it to the sharanas…” Many scholars read this stated purpose and the project of Shoonyasampadnas as an indication of Veerashaivism, an open spiritual category during the 12th century, becoming an institutionalised religion by medieval times. Perhaps what was needed in this new translation was an ambitious Introduction that could have recreated the historical eco-system of the 12th-century sharana tradition so that the reader could make sense of medieval cultural politics.

Nevertheless, the singular achievement of the Shoonyasamapadanas has been the rearrangement of vachanas in their plot, which turned them into a literary phenomenon.

As the translator claims, he "did not approach this text as a religious one for the simple reason that he was not born into the Veerashaiva community". Rather, he undertook the task of translation fascinated by its literary merit. Indeed, vachanas contain in their womb not only Veerashaiva/Lingayata theology but a literary structure of their own.

Accordingly, besides capturing the spirit of the source text, the effortless translation of D A Shankar facilitates smooth reading. Therefore, the intensive work of the translator makes Allama and his interlocutors converse with English-speaking readers. No matter how, every act of translation is provisional, and texts keep waiting for finer attempts in the future.