In Translation–Kannada
By Kuvempu. Translated from the original Kannada by Vanamala Viswanatha
Translating 760 pages or more of intricate detailing of human lives and the vicissitudes of Malnad natural environs that enfold these lives is no mean task. Kuvempu is first and foremost a poet, therefore he and his work have to emerge poetic, vibrant, and buoyant in another language. The immediacy with which Kuvempu engages with Malnad life and the multiple patterns that he weaves, while straddling the caste, class, gender differences of a region have to be sustained in the translation and that again is not an easy task.
Reviewed by: Chitra Panikkar