Bendre Beragu, an evening dedicated to Bendre’s poetry, saw literature and music lovers from across the City participating in the event.
| Photo Credit: THE HINDU
The month of Shravana brings a string of festivals and also memories of the beautiful poetry of Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre, the celebrated Kannada poet more popular as Da. Ra. Bendre. His poem Shravana bantu kadige bantu nadige... is a celebration of the spirit of the season.
On Monday, Bengalore International Centre (BIC) in Domlur provided an opportunity for the people in the City to savour the poetry of Bendre.
Bendre Beragu, an evening dedicated to Bendre’s poetry, saw literature and music lovers from across the City participating in the event. The event was a double bill lecture concert with Dr. Basavaraja Kalgudi speaking on Bendre, followed by a musical rendition of Bendre’s poetry by Ramachandra Hadapad and Sparsha R.K.
The talk was an attempt to identify the subtle relationships between love and creativity captured by Bendre’s poetry.
| Photo Credit:
THE HINDU
Spirit of the times
The talk was an attempt to identify the subtle relationships between love and creativity captured by Bendre’s poetry. Interacting with the audience at BIC, Dr. Kalgudi said that the time when Kannada’s most prominent poet Bendre created literature was a time when the Kannada language was looking for new forms of literature.
“It was a time when a new discovery had to be made not only in terms of linguistic expression but also in terms of material. At a time when the Kannada language was losing its existence between Marathi and Urdu in North Karnataka, there was not only a need to bring this language into social, educational usage, but also to take the language to a new height of creativity,” he said.
It is significant that Bendre created a new language and style in his poetry that was very relevant to that time. New poetic language was essential for Bendre because he strongly believed that the new form was necessary not only for himself but also for the surrounding life, Dr. Kalgudi observed.
The event was a double bill lecture-concert with Dr. Basavaraja Kalgudi speaking on Bendre.
| Photo Credit:
THE HINDU
Love and suffering
A new rhythm was possible for Bendre only because of his affiliation with the desi (native) Bhakti tradition as Bendre knew the importance of intense love. “For Bendre, life here is also paramartha. His poetry had the rhythm of adopting the essence of love in life. But his poetry knew the difficulty of this process because he knew that the sufferings of this world are enormous,“ said Dr. Kalgudi.
“Love in this loukika (temporal) world is possible in the effective union of the two principles. For Bendre, male and female, prakriti and purusha, are the two most important elements. His poetry shows that the source of creativity lies in their harmony. The question of what kind of essential touch is needed for words to become poem, is an intense question of Bendre’s poetry. It is the firm belief of the poet that the origin of creativity is in the companionship or intense love between male-female, prakrathi-purusha,“ he added. Dr. Kalgudi also says that the influence of femininity in nature plays a huge role in Bendre’s life and literary works, as in his personal life.
“Bendre’s main philosophy is that the world without the association with nature is incomplete. A symbol of nature, ‘the female’ is a central and philosophically important element in his poetry. This sentiment is expressed by the poet in calling himself Ambikatanaya Datta which translates to Datta, son of Ambika,“ Mr. Kalgudi added.
“For Bendre, life here is also paramartha. His poetry had the rhythm of adopting the essence of love in life,” says Dr. Kalgudi.
| Photo Credit:
THE HINDU
A musical treat
The event was followed by a musical rendition of Bendre’s poems by music director and singer Ramachandra Hadapad, singer and actor Sparsha R.K., along with music by Dushyanth on the keyboard, Harish on the mandolin, Jaleel Pasha on tabla and percussion, Shivamannu on the rhythm pad.