A scholar’s diverse contributions

“What I have given up is the award, reluctantly given by the academy, and not my views on some of the religious leaders in my novel Dharmakarana,” said P V Narayana, when his novel was banned by the government. The celebrated Kannada writer, activist and translator, PVN (as he was affectionately called by his admirers and readers), had made a detailed study of Vachana literature, which was his forte.

Post his study of Vachana literature, he wrote Dharmakarana, in which he denounced religion overriding political structure in the 12th century. PVN also cautioned against such risks in the contemporary political scenario, using history as an example. But unfortunately, the novel became the target of religious fundamentalists.

They fought against the opinions expressed in the book and were successful in getting the book banned. In response, a group of writers under the leadership of P Lankesh and others protested against the government’s decision. They even approached the court of law. The court felt that the ban could be revoked only if the objectionable parts could be withdrawn by the author. But the author refused to do so. 

The novel bagged the Karnataka Sahitya Academy (KCA) award. PVN refused the award, taking a stand to ban the said work. Till the end, PVN was a votary of freedom of expression and declared that he would not accept any literary award.

Though PVN’s novel was banned, he was not disheartened. He continued his research on the different aspects of Vachana literature and published over 10 books.

The writer taught Kannada at Vijaya College in Bengaluru for nearly 32 years. He retired in 2000, and passed away last week, at the age of 82.
In addition to editing some classical texts like Pampa’s Adi Purana, Vikramarjuna Vijaya’s poems, Kumara Vyasa’s Bharatha and Basava Purana, PVN was also interested in translation. He brought out more than 20 books, translated from English and Telugu. He even translated a few texts of Shakespeare, Hardy and Tolstoy. He was the first to translate Bertrand Russel into Kannada. This was highly useful for the students for whom Russel is a tough nut to crack.

PVN was also a creative writer, with nine Kannada novels to his credit. He was also the president of the B M Sri Smaraka Pratishtana, for two terms. He helped arrange literary, cultural and research events. PVN  played a pivotal role in making it a premier cultural, literary and research institution, says R Lakshminarayan, his successor. His contribution as the Dean of Studies at the Udaya Bhanu Kala Sangha in Bengaluru was equally significant.

Four dictionaries were compiled by the scholar. They are on Pampa, the Champu poetic style, old Kannada vocabulary and the Jain religious texts.
PVN belonged to the family of Pradhan Venkappaiah, who was the Dewan during the reign of Hyder Ali. Hence, the epithet Pradhan is added to the names of his family members. In a way, PVN remained the ‘Pradhan’ in scholarship and talent through his characteristic contributions to the Kannada literary cosmos.