Can poetry lead to reform? That was the question that was up for debate at the launch of Mukunda Rao’s new book, In Search of Shiva.
Can poetry lead to reform? That was the question that was up for debate at the launch of Mukunda Rao’s new book, In Search of Shiva.
The discussion was attended by Chiranjjiv Singh, retired bureaucrat, Dr Narendra Pani, professor at National Institute of Advanced Studies and Prasanna Chandrasekar, teacher of English and lover of literature and Jamuna Rao, MD of Dronequill Publishers.
The evening began with the launch of the book and Jamuna Rao reading excerpts from it. Mukunda Rao teaches English at Dr Ambedkar Degree College, Bangalore and is well known for his earlier novels like Confessions of a Sanyasi, The Mahatma: A Novel, The Death of an Activist, Trials with Truth and Chinnamani’s World.
In Search of Shiva is set in the midst of the social turmoil of the 12th century northern Karnataka when a socio-cultural movement was launched to annihilate caste and create a new egalitarian order. The reform inspired a cultural renaissance and the poetry that emerged pulsates with life even to this day. Mukunda Rao uses the freedom of fiction to make this period come alive.
The theme of the book provided the backdrop to the discussion and both Chiranjiv Singh and Pani expressed their views on the subject. Singh felt that poetry in India had been largely didactic but it was important not to look at Indian poetry through Western glasses. “Many poets were reformers in the truest sense,” he said. “Poetry, in fact, was meant to be a vehicle of reform.”
After Singh’s elegant opening speech, Pani took over and spoke at length about poetry that could move people enough to agitate or take action. “Likely impossibility is always in the realm of poetry,” he said.
Mukunda Rao came up to say a few words about his book and spoke of the Bhakti movement and how he crafted the book. “I used vachanas to get under the skin of the characters,” he added.
The debate was then thrown open to the audience and what emerged was that the belief that poetry could be a vehicle of change was as pertinent as ever.
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