Artist’s ardous work brings Muddana alive here

The Alumni Association of Kundapura Board High School, known as Government PU College, Kundapura now, is all set to install the busts of Kannada literary stalwarts Nandalike Lakshminarayanaiah (Muddana), Kota Shivaram Karanth and Mogeri Gopalakrishna Adiga as part of the 135th-anniversary celebrations of the school.

“The busts will be unveiled soon,” said Alumni Association member Narayana Kundapur.

The busts are made by artist Janardana Havanje with the help of co-artistes, including Anil G B, Shrinivas Kondadi, Ramesh Ambadi, Rajesh Havanje at Bhaasa Gallery and Studio in Havanje, Brahmavar.

Havanje recollects that it was a challenging task to select an image of Muddana as no authentic photograph or picture of Muddana was available.

Nandalike Balachandra Rao, president of Muddana Prakashana, was also consulted in this regard.

The search for an authentic photograph of Muddana lead Havanje to Christian High School in Udupi, where the poet had served from 1898 to 1900 as a Kannada Pandith.

After an extensive search, his efforts yielded results as he came across a photo of Muddana in a group picture of the faculty of Christian High School taken probably in 1898.

This is the only clear photo of Muddana available today, says Havanje. Studying the photo, the artist prepared a sketch and developed a three-dimensional image. The bust of Muddana was prepared based on the image. All three busts are made of fibreglass material.

About Muddana

Nandalike, a tiny village in Karkala taluk in the present Udupi district, got its name immortalised in Kannada literature, thanks to Nandalike Lakshminarayanaiah, popularly known as ‘Muddana’.

Nandalike Lakshminarayanaiah (Muddana) was born to Patali Thammaiah and Mahalakshmi, in Nandalike, on January 24, 1870.His major poetic works are ‘Sri Rama Pattabhishekam’ and ‘Sri Ramashwamedha’.

Earlier, he had authored ‘Adbhuta Ramayana’ and also two Yakshagana plays ‘Ratnavati Kalyana’ and ‘Kumara Vijaya’. In all his literary works, he intentionally hid his real name and wrote under different names.

Muddana was constantly hounded by a fear of his literary works being rejected by the publishers. During his lifetime, he had to battle poverty and deteriorating health.

Tuberculosis (TB) claimed Muddana’s life on February 16, 1901, when he was only 31 years old.

Tribute to the stalwarts

Narayana says the memories of Muddana, Karanth and Adiga are remembered on the school campus.

Muddana is the senior among them. He had worked as a gymnastic instructor at the school from 1892 to 1894, after getting a transfer from Udupi Board Middle School (he had joined the school as a drillmaster in 1889).

While working in these two schools, Muddanna took guidance in Kannada prose and poetry from his senior colleagues Malali Subbarao and Airodi Shivaramaiah. Both Shivarama Karanth and M Gopalakrishna Adiga are alumni of the school.

Association’s dream

Narayana told DH that a hall was also built in a traditional way to compliment the original structure of the school.

The Alumni Association, under its president Salomon T Soans and secretary Ananta Krishna Kodgi with the help of other members and donors, has succeeded in realising the dream of installing the busts.