Bengaluru Girish Karnad, the playwright, actor and public intellectual who passed away on Monday, understood Indian culture and tradition in depth and strongly believed that pluralism was ingrained in it, said K. Marulasiddappa, chairman of Kuvempu Bhasha Bharati Authority.
Dr. Marulasiddappa was among the many writers and intellectuals who paid tribute to Karnad on Tuesday at a programme organised by the Kannada Sahitya Parishat. He said Karnad expressed this belief without fear throughout his life.
He expressed regret that the right-wing Hindutva forces, which had targeted Karnad always, continued to do so even after he died by posting abusive comments on social media. “Those celebrating his death do not have an understanding of either the past or the present. I pity them,” said Dr. Marulasiddappa. Vachanakaras of the 12the century and Charvakas of a much earlier time were testimony to the great plural culture of India, he said, adding that those who accepted and revered Vachanakaras were today questioning the values professed by them.
“Those who commented on social media don’t have the broad-mindedness of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who complemented Karnad for standing by what he believed in his life,” he said.
Noting that Karnad remained creative till his last breath, Dr. Marulasiddappa recollected that the writer often said that he would “continue to breathe till I am creative and my breathing would end once I give it up”. He added that Karnad was working on three plays.
Recounting Karnad’s response to attacks on the plural culture of the country, writer Chandrashekar Patil (Champa) said he always led from the front whenever this value was under threat. “He died at a time when freedom of expression and constitutional rights are facing danger like never before,” he said.
Bemoaning how bhakti (devotion), a personal affair, has turned into “street exhibitionism”, writer Baraguru Ramachandrappa said, “Karnad stood in the forefront of the movement to protect the right to one’s food culture.”
In Dharwad
Tributes were also paid in Dharwad, where the writer lived for a long time and where his sensibilites were shaped. Notable among them was a tribute programme held by Manohar Granthamala, the publisher of Karnad’s works. Karnatak Vidyavardhak Sangha (KVS) will organise ‘Nudi Namana’ in honour of the playwright on June 13.
Two documentaries
Scattering Golden Feathers, a documentary on Girish Karnad directed by filmmaker K.M. Chaitanya for the Sahitya Akademi, was widely watched on the day of Karnad’s death.
In the 26-minute documentary, which Mr. Chaitanya shared on YouTube, Karnad speaks about the early influences on his life that shaped his later works, his family background, education and so on. He has also directed a documentary for the Department of Information and Public Relations. Mr. Chaitanya, who worked as an assistant to Karnad for Kanooru Heggadithi, says he shot a much longer documentary but it had to be trimmed to suit the norms of the Akademi and the Department of Information and Public Relations. “I shot the film for 20 days. We took his interview in English and Kannada separately in a slow pace in view of Karnad’s failing health,” he said.
Mr. Chaitanya has footage of 90 minutes in Kannada and English which he might use for a longer documentary later.