E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: Recently, Mysoreans were treated to the grand spectacle of an elephant carrying an ‘epic’ work by one of the contemporary authors.
Escorted by great writers and officials of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat, the elephant majestically strode the avenues of Mysore carrying the heavy tome.
It reminded spectators of “Balarama” carrying the 750 kg golden howda during jambu savari. We don’t know the condition of the elephant after carrying the ‘epic’ volume on its shoulders.
Maneka Gandhi would have come running to Mysore, frothing, had she known beforehand of such an earthshaking event. History doesn’t record whether Homer was given a similar honour for his Greek epics Iliad or Odyssey.
For that matter our own Kuvempu seemed to have missed the bus, er, the elephant, for his Ramayana Darshana!
We don’t even know whether, sage Vyasa’s Mahabharatha was given an elephant ride. Had he wished, Indra from Amaravathy could have easily arranged his ‘Airavatha’ to carry the tome. All the other ‘writers’ of that time like Ganesha, Kumaraswamy, Narayana, Narada et al would have joined in the procession.
Likewise, Valmiki also seems to have missed a similar honour for his Ramayana. It is fairly certain Hanumantha would have definitely offered to carry the Ramayana on his shoulders on the streets of Ayodhya.
What price modesty?
churumuri 
Modesty Mr. Ramachandran?
I don’t think you know this. I have already concluded that I’m one of the finest writers in India just because I write my two bit stuff for Churumuri!!
What modesty are you talking about sir?
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Since we don’t know the background…how about throwing some more light Mr. Ramachandran ? This seems too juicy and quite interesting !!!
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The author is Mysore’s most famous female face, Lata Rajashekhar. The noted writer and critic G.H. Nayak launched into her recently, after the elephant episode, asking how on earth she could write an epic a year, when it took Kuvempu all of a time to write one. But these fine points do not seem to deter Ms Rajashekhar or her “promoters”.
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Thanks Mr. Krishna Prasad for giving the details.
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Thanks KP, for enlightening us. On that note, is it possible for ‘churumuri’ to actually put in a brief history at the bottom of such articles so that people who are far away from Mysore can actually understand and appreciate the writings ? I wouldn’t have had a clue if you hadn’t told us what this was about. Now, I can really appreciate the sarcasm in Mr. Ramachandran’s pen (or keyboard, I should say).
And, I assume KP was sarcastic too when he says “Mysore’s most famous”. That may be true, politically. But, on the truth scale, I would probably put someone like Vijaya Dabbe at the top (even though her love for women lib is waaaay over the threshold).
That said, I ahve to tell you guys about one of my reading experience. A long time back, when Gulvadi was still the Editor of ‘Taranga’, one of Latha Rajashekhar’s novel got published in that magazine. In a nutshell, the story revolves around a married lady with two kids. She happens to fall for another young unmarried guy and starts cheating on the husband. Guess what the ending was ??? She cannot choose between the two men, so both men will stay withe her in the same home (And same bed, I guess).
I don’t have a problem with the story (though, a lot of people may have). But, what amazed me wa how a reputed magazine like ‘taranga’ could publish one fo the worst novels I have ever read in my entire life.
And, after the last episode was published in ‘Taranga’, there was an ‘intellectual discussion’ in Mysore to discuss the novel. I know because I was quite close to the literary circles when I was in Mysore. I didn’t go to the discussion, but was amazed to see such a thign was organized.
And, now this ‘meravaNige’, really ? It’s so sad when such things happen. But, then we ahve to deal with such people all around us everyday anyway. So, I guess this is just one more thing. I would be interested to find out if I am the only ‘churumuri’ fan who has ever read any of ehr writings !!! Pity me !!!
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It’s amazing Ms. Lata Rajashekhar finds time to spin out epics in a row.
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Lata Rajashekhar is not the first to have her “epic” poem ‘Buddha Mahadarshana’ taken out on an elephant. Apparently, Kuvempu’s ‘Ramayana Mahadarshana’ too was given the same honour in 1956. But what is certainly true is her prolificity. The Buddha poem, running into some 600-odd pages, is already out. Her ‘Yesu Mahadarshana’ is ready for publication, and ‘Basava Mahadarshana’ is slated for release by Basava Jayanti next year. D. Javare Gowda has repeatedly said on public platforms that the lady deserves the Jnanpith for her epic efforts.
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….and when did we start believeing whatever de.ja.gow says is true ? It’s far from that, actually.
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I know nothing about these epics. But about the novel in Taranga mentioned by December Stud above…
I still remember that novel… Actually when I saw the name “Lata Raajashekhar”, first thing I wondered was, whether it was the same one. Thanks DS for the input.
In my opinion, it is certainly a very good novel. May be not the best I read… But a lot better than average novels, any magazine prints (or printed in those days). I liked the ending also. It was nicely described and I was not expecting that ending but it did not disappoint me.
If that novel is in print, I would surely buy it and add it to my collection.
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Andu Kuvempu ravara RaamaayaNa darshnavannu Aaneyambaariya mEle
oorellaa meravaNige maaDiddu naanukanDa sathya.
Indu obbaru…haage maaDikonDare neevEke gaavilara haage aaDa bEku?
Avara
Kuvempu ravara kelavu kavanagaLu naau shaaleyalli kalithe.
Jalaggara naatakavannu chkkandininda halvubaari nODiddEne.
RaamaayaNa darshana kondiddEne, thiruvi haakiddEne aadare Odilla….kshamisi. Ivara deshabhakthigeethegaLu, Kalki mainavirELisuvanthe mathyaavuvoo annisilla…nanage.
Adaroo Kuvempu,HombeGoda,Kengal.H. munthaadavara roadgaLu, vithgaLu, doDDa rasthegalu Bengaluru thmbaa irabEkaagithe….antha annisuthe.
P. Mahadevayya, enthaa chief justice(1931-34) aadaroo ivara hesarinalli Enoo illa. Eke yee kannadigaru heege.
KanasoDadedde…saakappaa saaku!
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Andu Kuvempu ravara RaamaayaNa darshnavannu Aaneyambaariya mEle
oorellaa meravaNige maaDiddu naanukanDa sathya.
Indu obbaru…haage maaDikonDare neevEke gaavilara haage aaDa bEku?
Kuvempu ravara kelavu kavanagaLannu naanu shaaleyalli kalithe.
Jalagaara naatakavannu chikkandininda halavubaari nODiddEne.
RaamaayaNa darshana konDiddEne, thiruvi haakiddEne aadare Odilla….kshamisi. Ivara deshabhakthigeethegaLu, Kalki mainavirELisuvanthe mathyaavuvoo annisilla…nanage.
Adaroo…. Kuvempu,HombeGoda,Kengal.H. munthaadavara hesarannu roadgaLu, vrithagaLu, doDDa rasthegaLige, Bengaluru thmbaa ,raajyadallella iDabEkaagithe….antha annisuthe.
P. Mahadevayya, nishthaavantha chief justice(1931-34) aadaroo ivara hesarinalli Enoo illa. Eke yee kannadigaru heege. Thamma magana bhavishya biTTu Hombegowdarige pattakattida aadarsha purusharu, HD familige paTTakaTTuva kannadigarige kaaNuvudE illa!
KanasoDadedde…saakappaa saaku!
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