Experiment 01 — Translating Bendre & other Kannada poetry
Poetry
Notebook entry — the poetry that wouldn’t leave me alone until I carried it into English. Kannada, Hindi and Sanskrit originals, ancient and modern, each set beside the English it became.
Manku Timmana Kagga →
DVG's seminal work, twenty verses to a page.
Bhagavad Gita →
All eighteen chapters.
Vachanas →
Sharana verse by poet — Akkamahadevi, Lakkamma, Kalavve, Remmavve.
Vachanas
Twelfth-century Sharana verse — short, radical, unsparing.
Akkamahadevi
About the SharanaI dress up for my Linga, I
KannadaOne husband for now? One for the
KannadaKeep your meals small, O’brother, keep it
KannadaO’ honey bees, O’ mango tree, O’
KannadaO’ Sister listen, I saw a dream
KannadaHear me, You are my father; then,
KannadaThe form became formless, when One with
KannadaThe body, invoking the Linga, became One
Kannada
Aydakki Lakkamma
About the SharanaJanapada songs
Anonymous Kannada songs carried down by oral traditions.
Poetry
Modern and classical verse, poet by poet.