MAHADEVIYAKKANA VACHANAGALU
1.
ಮಹಾದೇವಿಯಕ್ಕನ
ವಚನಗಳು (Mahadeviyakkana Vachanagalu)
2.
mahAdEviyakkana vacanagaLu
3.
The
Vachanas of Akka
Mahadevi
4.
Akka Mahadevi (akka
mahAdEvi)
5.
12th
Century
6.
Udutadi in Shivamogga district,
7.
Veerashaiva
8.
Nil.
(Married to King Kaushika?)
9.
Nil
10.
Poetry
11.
Vachana
12.
Palm leaf and
Manuscripts collected by P.G. Halakatti and others
13.
1927 (181 Vachanas)
14.
P.G.Halakatti
15.
Bijapur
16.
1.
Udutadiya Mahadeviyakkanavara
Sahitya, Ed. by T.H.Sadashivaiah,
1960,
2. Mahadeviyakkana Vachanagalu, Ed.
by R.C.Hiremath, 1973,
3. Shivasharane Mahadeviyakkana Vachanagalu, Ed. by Chennakka
Eligara, 1986, Muru Savira Matha,
Hubballi.
4. Shivasharaneyara Vachana Samputa, Ed. by Veeranna Rajura, 1983, Department of Kannada and Culture,
5. Akkana Vachanagalu Ed. by
L.Basavaraju, Geetha Book House,
17. The Vachanas or more
aptly the lyrical outbursts of Akka
Mahadevi are among the most beloved poetical compositions in Kannada
irrespective of the constraints of time and space. Not all of this admiration has
sprung from her life which was an adventurous saga of courage and conviction in
a society ruled by the dominant male. Her poems are absolutely subjective and lyrical
even though they have not deserted the general frame work of the
Vachana movement. The philosophy undergoes an ordeal by fire because
each and every tenet is tested on the basis of personal expeience.
The poems have embodied a vision, an yearning for its
fulfillment and a sense of deep anguish caused by the delay in the
realisation. However she shows the social envirnement
in its true nature with an unerringly feminist perception. Her
vachanas are neither diadectic nor
philosphical. Essentially she is in a conversation with herself in
a world that has turned a deaf ear to her plight. She is totally alienated even
among her peers because they too are motivated by
very strong gender bias. The vachanas
are a in a perpetual dilemma because she relinquishes her sensual longings in the
proximal world and the self same yearnings are experienced during her search for
Mallikarjuna. The vachanas
are totally silent about the fulfillment of her dreams. She is on a journey of eternal
search till the very end and the vachanas themselves
do not give us any clue to the fulfillment. Consequently her vachanas
are enveloped by an aura of tragedy. They are not mystical in the sense that they
take us beyond the pale of human experience. Even the emotion of
Bhakti is not predominat because she treats
Chenna Malikarjuna as her
over and hence her equal. Her poems contain all the elements that go to make great
poetry. Intensity of feelings, an inborn ability to transform personal experiences
in to enduring and beatiful metaphors and images and
a style that captures the very essence of Kannada have made her poetry out live
her times and the compulsions of the literary movement that surronded
her. It is not possible to do justice to her vachanas
in this short introduction. However one has to assert that any reading of Kannada
literature will be incomplete without an exposure to the vachanas
of Akka Mahadevi.
18. References and Criticism:
There are many
creative works based on the life of Akka
Mahadevi. They include five medeival and
early modern works by writers such as Harihara, Shunyasampadanakaras, Chennabasavanka
and Rachappayya. Three plays, four novels and innumerable
poems are written in the twentieth century. There is a huge body of analytical and
critical writings composed on her life and works. They include eleven Ph.D. dissertations,
thirty books and many articles. There are seven studies on Akka
Mahadevi and her works in English. Some of the important
ones are listed here. For a more detailed survey please see the article by T.M.Usharani in reference number 4 :
1.
Gurulinga Kapase, ‘Akka
Mahadevi’,
2.
Javali B.C., Mahadeviyakkanavara
Sahitya, sahitya
Prakatanalaya, Davanagere,
1963.
3.
Vijayakumara Mahanubhavigalu, ‘Akkamahadeviyavara
Vachana Vykhyana,
Prabhu Printers and Publications,
4.
‘Akka Mahadevi
Vachanagalu’ – Samskritika Mukhamukhi,
Ed. by Rahamath Tarikere,
5.
T.N.Srikantaiah, Kavyasameekshe, 1947
6.
Krishnamurthy
M.G., ‘Aidu vachanagalu’,
Adhunika Bharateeya Sahitya‘1970
7.
Giraddi Govindaraja, ‘Akkamahadevi’,
1997
8.
Chennaiah H.M. ‘Akkamahadeviya vachanagala Pratimavidhana’,
1974
9.
Basavaraja Kalgudi, ‘Anubhava:
Samskritika Samasye mattu Hudukata’, 1997 (Reprint)
10.
Basavaraju L. The preface to “Akkana
Vachanagalu’ 1990
11.
Rajendra Chenni, ‘Mahadeviyakka
mattu Vachana
Sampradaya’, Adhyayana, 1984.
12.
Vijaya Dabbe
‘Akkana Sampadane:
Ondu parisheelane’1985
13.
A.K. Ramanujan, ‘On Women Saints’, 1999
14.
Vijaya Ramaswamy, ‘ Walking Naked’
1997
15.
Vijaya ramaswamy,
‘Devinity and Deviance, Women in
Verashaivism’ 1997
16.
Shouthen, ‘The Revolution of the Mystics’ 1999, (Kannada translation
by T.R.Chandrashekhara)
17. Vachanas of Akkamahadevi ------------------------- Vijaya
Dabbe, Masterpieces of Indian Literature
Ed. K.M.George, Pub. : National Book Trust, Kannada Editor: G.S.Shivarudrappa
19. Translations:
1. ‘Speaking of Shiva’ (Penguin classics).
Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1973 Penguin classics). Harmondsworth,
Penguin,1973
- This includes 48 of Mahadevi's poems translated by A.K.Ramanujan, with an essay on Varasaiva
poetry
2.
Vacanas of Akkamahadevi,
with the original text in Kannada / translated from Kannada into English by Armando
Menezes, S.M. Angadi. Dharwar: M.A. Adke, 1973.
(xix, 173, 119 p.: ill.)
3. Songs for Siva: vacanas
of Akka Mahadevi / translated
by Vinaya Chaitanya; with
a foreword by H.S. Shiya Prakash
(The sacred literature series).
4. Vachanas, Ramachandrasharma
B.C., Ancient Indian
Literature,
volume 1,
Ed. T.R.S. Sharma,