I Keep Vigil of Rudra: The Vachanas

by H.S. Shivaprakash (Translator)

One of the only collections of Vachana poetry in translation—a must read for all poetry lovers

"Here I come, a ferryman without a body
To the great flowing river.
If you pay the price–
Your mind
That grasps and lets go,
I shall take you across”

Vachana poetry in Kannada literature attained its zenith in the twelfth century. Passionate, intensely personal, and ahead of their times, these free-verse poems speak eloquently of the futility of formal learning, the vanity of wealth and the evils of social divisions. The vachanas stress on the worship of Shiva, through love, labour and devotion, as the only
worthwhile life-goal for the vachanakara—the vachana poet.

This collection offers a selection of vachanas composed by a wide range of vachanakaras from different walks of life writing during that period. While some of these poets are well known even today, most have been forgotten. Translated fluidly and with great skill by H.S. Shivaprakash, I Keep Vigil of Rudra is not only an important addition to Vachana literature, but also a must read for lovers of poetry everywhere.

Genres: Poetry

252 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 2010

About the author

H.S. Shivaprakash (Hulkuntemath Shivamurthy Sastri Shivaprakash, born 1954) is a leading poet and playwright writing in Kannada. He is professor at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He heads the Cultural Centre at Berlin, known as the Tagore Centre, as Director run by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). He has seven anthologies of poems, twelve plays, and several other books to his credit. His works have been widely translated into English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Polish, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu. His plays have been performed in Kannada, Hindi, Meitei, Rabha, Assamese, Bodo, Tamil and Malayalam. Shivaprakash is also a well-known authority on vachana literature, Bhakti movements of India, and Sufi and other mystic traditions.


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Reviews

[Nishanth Chakkere Ramesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a native speaker of Kannada, who studied the vachanas as part of the school curriculum, I was impressed by the translation into English of this extraordinary literature. The introduction provides a comprehensive context and overview of the vachana literature, and its contribution to the socio-political narrative of Karnataka and India. Some vachanas are enigmatic, whereas others are uncomplicated. But each vachana has in it the uniqueness of its vachanakara's (vachana poet's) spirit, and their perspective about attaining unity with Shiva, which is a profoundly metaphysical concept, all while being grounded in questioning the injustices of their time.

[Mark Surya]

there are advantages this text has over Ramanujan's translation, but imo none of them are related to poetry as such. still, the wider selection and representation of vachankaras in this collection compared to Ramanujan's is of immense worth to anyone interested in the tradition.

[Channamallikarjun B.Patil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding, Marvellous

One of the finest books on the Vachanas which were written in 12C at the first ever democratic parliament Anubhava Mantapa on earth...

[PTS Books Club · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vachana sahitya is a form of writing in Kannada that evolved in the 12th Century C.E. as a part of the Veerashaiva 'movement'. Vachanas literally means "(that which is) said". These are readily intelligible prose texts.
Madara Chennaiah, an 11th-century cobbler-saint who lived in the reign of Western Chalukyas, is first poet of this tradition and was considered by later poets, such as Basavanna (1160), who was also the prime minister of southern Kalachuri King Bijjala II, as his literary father.

This collection offers a selection of vachanas composed by a wide range of vachanakaras from different walks of life writing during that period.

This books is one of the best translation works of H.S. Shivaprakash is a well-known poet, playwright and translator from Karnataka, in India. His translations and adaptations of Shakespeare are widely staged. He has also translated major European, Latin American and African poets into Kannada and some of the best-known Kannada and Tamil poets into English.