The OG Voices
Notebook entry — the poets, Sharanas, thinkers and storytellers whose work is gathered in The Lab. Some are named; some come to us through anonymous traditions. Each has left language, thought and memory a little different.
Akkamahadevi
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada8 Vachanas
A 12th-century woman who walked out on the world, singing.
Aydakki Lakkamma
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada2 Vachanas
A farmhand's voice asking God for very little.
Bheemayya
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada1 Vachana
A Sharana speaking of vows and spiritual resolve through the image of battle.
Chennabankeshwara
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada1 Vachana
A Sharana voice celebrating devotion as praise of Shiva himself.
D. V. Gundappa
1887–1975 · Kannada329 Kaggas
A wise old sceptic shrugging at life, four lines at a time.
D. V. Gundappa
Kannada67 works
Da Ra Bendre
1896–1981 · Kannada10 works
The volcano of Kannada poetry — ecstasy, mathematics and song.
Dr. Waman Bendre
1935–2016 · Kannada1 essay
The custodian of Bendre's papers, on the poet and science.
Duggale
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada2 Vachanas
A working woman's sharp, salty speech — 800 years ahead of its time.
Kadasiddheshwara
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada1 Vachana
Kalavve
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada1 Vachana
A weaver whose single surviving song spins thread into a vow.
Kamamma
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada1 Vachana
A rope maker binding work, discipline and devotion into one image.
Kamanna
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada1 Vachana
A leaf-plate maker finding mortality and devotion in an ordinary leaf.
Kuvempu
1904–1994 · Kannada1 work
The grand modern voice of Kannada — forests, rivers and the human spirit.
Lakshmamma
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada1 Vachana
A Sharana voice measuring devotion against the keeping of a vow.
Lord Krishna
Ancient · Sanskrit3 Adhyayas
The Gita — philosophy of yoga; a roar, a call for action, asked on a battlefield.
Malalubavi-Soma
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada1 Vachana
Marulasiddheshwara
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada1 Vachana
Masti Venkatesh Iyengar
1891–1986 · Kannada1 work
The storyteller of old Karnataka — gentle, exact, unforgettable.
Panditaradhya
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada1 Vachana
A Sharana tracing rumour back to the people who first set it loose.
Rekamma
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada1 Vachana
An uncompromising Sharana voice on vows, conduct and conviction.
Remmavve
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada4 Vachanas
She spun yarn by day and spent it all on wandering ascetics.
Sankavve
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada1 Vachana
A woman speaking from the margins with startling directness.
Somanna
Sharana · 12th century · Kannada1 Vachana
A store-keeper asking what sacred symbols mean without understanding.