Anupama Niranjana

Anupama Niranjana (Kannada: ) (19341991)[1] was a doctor in India and writer of modern Kannada fiction and non-fiction. She advocated the woman's point of view and was one among such writers in Kannada, which includes others like Triveni and M. K. Indira. Her novel Runamuktalu has been made into a successful film by Puttanna Kanagal.[2] Born Venkatalakshmi, Anupama practiced as a physician, spending her spent her career in Dharwad and Bangalore. Anupama took to writing early in life and wrote several novels and stories dealing with social issues, particularly women's issue.[3] She was married to the Kannada writer Niranjana, a leading novelist of the Progressive school of modern Kannada literature. Their daughters Tejaswini and Seemanthini are well known academicians. Anupama died of cancer. An award has been instituted in her name for women writing in Kannada.[4]

Major works

Anant Geeth Shwetambari Sneh Pallavi Runamuktalu Seve Pushpak

Kanmani Odalu Nenapu: Sihi-Kahi Kallol Aala Moolamukh

Akka Mahadevi

Akka Mahadevi was a prominent figure of the Veerashaiva Bhakti movement of the 12th century Karnataka.[1] Her Vachanas in Kannada, a form of didactic poetry, are considered her most notable contribution to Kannada Bhakti literature.[2] In all she wrote about 430 Vachanas which is relatively fewer than that compared to some other saints of her time. Yet the term 'Akka' (elder Sister), which is an honorific given to her by great Veerashaiva saints like Basavanna, Chenna Basavanna, Kinnari Bommayya, Siddharama, Allamaprabhu and Dasimayya, speaks volumes of her contribution to the movement that was underway. She is in hindsight seen as a great and inspirational woman for Kannada literature and the history of Karnataka. She is said to have accepted the god Shiva ('Chenna Mallikarjuna') as her husband, traditionally understood as the 'madhura bhava' or 'madhurya' form of devotion (similar to how 8th century Andal declared herself marriable only to lord Vishnu or as centuries later Meera, a 16th-century saint, considered herself married to Krishna). Born in Udutadi (or Udugani) near the ancient city of Banavasi (in Shikaripura taluk Shimoga district).[3] She was born in 1130CE and lived until 1160. She worked for the welfare of women. She is a prominent figure in the field of female emancipation and a person of mystical vision. A household name in Karnataka, she had said that she was a woman only in name and that her mind, body and soul belonged to Lord Shiva. During a time of strife and political uncertainty in the 12th. century, she launched a movement that made her an inspiration for woman empowerment and enlightenment. It is commonly known that she took part in many gatherings of learned at the Anubhavamantapa in Kudala sangama to debate about philosophy and attainment of enlightenment (or Moksha, termed by her as "arivu"). In search for her eternal soul mate, she made the animals, flowers and birds her friends and companions, rejecting family life and worldly attachment. The time was marked as height of foolishness of varnashrama dharma which only supported the three upper castes of Hindu society in India and suppressed the shudras and women. Akka was a revelation here in that she not only rose for emancipation but also has sung vachanas which are so simple but of highest order. It is said that Mahadevi was married by arrangement to Kausika but later did not as the king disrespected some conditions set by her. There were immediate tensions, however, as Kausika was a Jain, a group that tended to be wealthy and was, as a result, much resented by the rest of

the population. Akka's poetry explores the themes of rejecting mortal love in favor of the everlasting love of God. Her vachanas also talk about the methods that the path of enlightenment demand of the seeker, such as killing the 'I', conquering desires and the senses and so on. She rejected her life of luxury to live as a wandering poet-saint, traveling throughout the region and singing praises to her Lord Shiva. She went in search of fellow seekers or sharanas because the company of the saintly or sajjana sanga is believed to hasten learning. She found the company of such sharanas in Basavakalyana, Bidar district. Akka utters many vachanas in praise of them. Her non-conformist ways caused a lot of consternation in a conservative society and even her eventual guru Allama Prabhu had to initially face difficulties in enlisting her in the gatherings at Anubhavamantapa. A true ascetic, Mahadevi is said to have refused to wear any clothinga common practice among male ascetics, but shocking for a woman. Legend has it that due to her true love and devotion with God her whole body was protected by hair.