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,