Kannada Kampu: Savour the Kannada Culture

India is a land of diverse cultures; it's also true that every land has its own culture. A famous Kannada poet, Jnanpith recipient Kuvempu  wrote,

 “Jaya Bharata jananiya tanujate 

Jaya he Karnataka Mate”

Meaning victory to Karnataka Mate, the daughter of Mother India, a proud child of India and its cultural heritage.

Kannada is the second oldest language of all the Indian languages following Tamil.  It has a documented history of more than 1500 years. Inscriptions, old Kannada poems, prose, the literature of the medieval era,  epic poets, hundreds of Vachanakaras,  Haridasas, as the folk song or folk tradition and modern literature have praised, sung, demonstrated, written, achieved, honoured the cultural heritage of Karnataka.

The culture of Karnataka includes various art forms, music, dances, literature, sculptures and inscriptions. 

An inscription found in Halmidi village in Hassan district of Karnataka is the first Kannada inscription. Dates back to 15-century a.d. 

It is a 14 line inscription engraved to honour the bravery of two young citizens of a Kingdom near Hassan who saved a village from cow theft (a sin in that period). And hence the story of two brave lads protecting the kingdom from one such sin finds a great mention. Today the Halmidi inscription rests securely the Museum in Mysore and sings silent songs of the glory of Karnataka.

As time passed, many important poets and reformers contributed to the cultural and literary growth of Karnataka. 

Four important poets of the 10th century (old Kannada period) Pampa, Ponna, Ranna and Janna made a great contribution by writing 8 epics in total. Their epics majorly deal with social reform and propagation of the Jaina religion. 

The period of the 12th century has a great importance in the history of Karnataka. 12th century was the period of Vachana movement. Basaveshwara was an important Vachana writer and a social reformer.   The Vachanas preached equality and Social Justice and talked of women empowerment. Another important aspect of the Vachana movement at the concepts of Kayaka and Dasoha, i.e., the principles of work is worship and philanthropy being a means of serving God. They also spoke of moral values and emphasized on contentedness.

Palm leaf with Vachanas (11th - 12th century).

Dasa tradition is another important tradition which was started by Raghavendra Swamy around 16-17th centuries. The Divine force started another cult which was propagated and popularised by Vijayadasaru, Gopaladasaru, Jagannathdasaru and many such spiritual saints.  Through their songs, they told people about love spirituality kindness, etc.

Karnataka also has many great kingdoms few of them to be named are: Rashtrakutas, Chalukyas, Kadambas. Vijayanagar Empire was another great Kingdom which was at its peak during the 15th century. This was the last Hindu empire of our country.  The kings of this kingdom were great patrons of art and architecture. The stone sculptures, monuments in Hampi which were carved out of single stone stand as proof today.

Stone Chariot In Courtyard of Vittala Temple - Hampi Karnataka

This land faced great loss during the invasions by Muslim rulers and the British.  but this did not deter the courage of brave people and many fought back.  a few to be named are, the Kittur Rani Chennamma of Keladi Kingdom,  Sangolli Rayanna, Balasaheb Nargund. 

Though India gained independence in 1947, the area of Hyderabad Karnataka was still under the clutches of Nizam rule. The culture of this area was influenced by the Muslim rulers or   Nizam and that's the reason why the culture of this area is strikingly different from rest of Karnataka. The rule of these rulers served as a disadvantage and lead to this region’s cultural isolation.

This did not stop Karnataka from producing gems, and the rich literary tradition continued even during the 20th century in the form of D R Narasimha Rao, Kuvempu, Bendre,  DVG an important Kannada poet gave birth to a new form of poetry called Kagga and rose to high fame due to this Mankuthimmana kagga.

Kannada version:

ಹುಲ್ಲಾಗು ಬೆಟ್ಟದಡಿ, ಮನೆಗೆ ಮಲ್ಲಿಗೆಯಾಗುಕಲ್ಲಾಗು ಕಷ್ಟಗಳ ಮಳೆಯ ವಿಧಿ ಸುರಿಯೇಬೆಲ್ಲ ಸಕ್ಕರೆಯಾಗು ದೀನ ದುರ್ಬಲರಿಂಗೆಎಲ್ಲರೊಳಗೊಂದಾಗು ಮಂಕುತಿಮ್ಮ

Meaning :

be a (gentle) blade of grass at the foot of the mountain, and jasmine flower at home, Be (strong) like a rock when fate pours (torrential) rains of difficulties on you, Be sweet like sugar and jaggery to the poor and weak, Be one among all, Mankuthimma

The sculptures of Belur, Halebidu to Shravanabelagola and indicators of the architectural excellence of Karnataka and the musicians Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hangal speak volumes about the great musical tradition.

The State has its own famous theatre form called Yakshagana and many other such traditional forms called veeragase, bayalata etc.

Today the Government of Karnataka has a special department called Kannada and culture department which is dedicated to taking care of the wonderful legacy.