K N RAMACHANDRAN (1937 – 2015)

Important Private Collection, Bengaluru

K. Shivaram Karanth (1902–1997) stands among the most versatile and prolific figures in modern Karnataka as a novelist, playwright, encyclopaedist, art historian, and pioneering conservationist whose creative output spanned nearly seven decades. Historian Ramachandra Guha, who met Karanth twice noted that "a certain Kota Shivaram Karanth was arguably as great an Indian as Rabindranath Tagore," arguing that Karanth was, career for career, every bit Tagore's equal. He further notes his inclination to think of Rabindranath Tagore as “Bengali Karanth”.
- “In the Presence of Greatness”, Ramachandra Guha, The Telegraph, 2014)

Karanth's literary achievement rests chiefly on his forty-five novels, of which several, including the landmark Chomana Dudi (1933), are considered today as classics of the Kannada literary canon. An uncomparable scholar of the arts, Karanth authored the definitive English-language study of Yakshagana, Karnataka's traditional folk theatre form. He worked for decades to revive and modernise the art through his own touring troupe. In 1977, Karanth received the Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honour, cementing his stature as one of Kannada's greatest writers.

This portrait of K. Shivaram Karanth was made a year after his demise, as the artist’s deeply personal tribute to the magnanimous personality that he was. This portrait honours a life devoted, above all, to the relentless pursuit of knowledge.

Published in 'Ananya Kalasinchana' Magazine; Pramila Lochan, October 2016