Remembering Gopalakrishna Adiga, the pioneer of Navya literature in Kannada

BENGALURU: Gopalakrishna Adiga, the doyen of modernist literary (Navya) movement in Kannada, was also the first Kannada poet to contest the Lok Sabha elections in 1971. He jumped into the electoral fray just to oppose former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The Kannada Sahitya Parishat is celebrating the birth centenary of the poet who “fought for artistic creativity.” He was born in a coastal village in Udupi district in 1918 and passed away in 1992.
Shamsundar Bidarkundi, critic and chairman of Dr Da Raa Bendre National Memorial Trust, recalled that contesting on a Jan Sangh ticket, Adiga was defeated by Congress candidate K Hanumantaiah. However after the elections, he was appointed the director of the National Book Trust. Later, he was appointed scholar for the Institute of Higher Studies, Shimla. That was the respect Adiga got from even his political opponents, said Bidarkundi.
Bidarkundi recalled that many of his contemporaries were disappointed by Adiga when he became the president of Akhila Bharat Kannada Sahitya Sammelana held at Dharmasthala in 1979. “Being a promoter of Navya poetry, Adiga was silent on Dalit and Bandaaya movements in Kannada literature. This was not because he did not like them but he felt Bandaaya (revolution) should spring from an individual ,’’ he added.
When one of his poems ‘Prarthane’ (Prayer) became the centre of a controversy and he was asked to meet the then chief minister S Nijalingappa. But Adiga wrote back saying he had no work with the CM, and if Nijalingappa wanted, he could meet him.
Adiga fought for artistic creativity even as he promoted dignity of labour. While he was serving at a college in Sagar in Shivamogga district, he took on the management when an attender was targeted.
“He was a regular at the Coffee House and was surrounded by youths. He groomed them with his literary sensibilities. He used to visit the century-old Devaraja Market to buy vegetables,” K N Ramachandra, septuagenarian residing in Mysuru, recalled.
Noted writer K S Bhagavan was a student at Maharaja’s College when Adiga was teaching at St. Philomena’s College. “He was an inspiration for youths, especially for those who loved poetry given that he used metaphors to convey his experiences and thoughts succinctly. Adiga was influenced by legendary writer T S Eliot and employed poetry to achieve different results unlike poets of his age,” he noted.
*He wanted readers to grow to understand his poetry
I was a final year MA Kannada student at Karnatak University when All India Radio, Dharwad, selected me and H M Amarnath of English department to interview Gopalkrishna Adiga for his message to usher in 1980. It was the time when both ‘Navya’ and ‘Navodaya’ forms of poetry were in transition stage. There was also a controversy regarding who was the founder of ‘Navya’ tradition. Some argued that it was V K Gokak.
We asked Adiga why he was writing in the complex ‘Navya’ form which the common reader could not comprehend. He shot back saying he was interested in writing ‘matured’ poetry and for the common man, there’s folk literature. “The reader should grow to understand my poems,” he said.
---Poet B Sukanya
*He tried to veer off trodden path
Adiga was a powerful writer who always sought to tread a new path. Writers like U R Ananthamurthy, Sumatheendra Nadig, P Lankesh and Poornachandra Tejaswi among others were influenced by his Navya poems written between 1950 and 1960. He used to say ‘Navya’ was a continuation of Navodaya. I feel ‘Shrirama Navamiya Diwasa’ is his best poem though ‘Kattuvevu Naavu Hosa Nadondanu’ is the most popular. He was more concerned about the use of correct language
Prof. G S Amur, critic
(With inputs from Gururaj Jamkhandi in Dharwad)