Growing Up Karanth (Hardcover) | Released: 11 Oct 2021

Product DescriptionKaranth, Kuvempu, Bendre-the trinity of modern Kannada literature; the pride of Kannadigas; ? It was Shivarama Karanth who took the culture of Karnataka beyond the shores of India with his dance and music. After Rabindranath Tagore, no one had mastered as many art forms as Shivarama Karanth.-From the Foreword by Dr. Chiranjiv Singh, former Indian ambassador to UNESCOKota Shivarama Karanth was the ultimate Renaissance Man. A giant of world literature, he produced dozens of novels, plays, children?s works, autobiographies, popular science books, translations and much else. In 1977, he was awarded the Bharatiya Jnanpith Award for the novel Mookajjiya Kanasugalu. But Karanth was more than a writer. He also dabbled in journalism and movie-making, ran a publishing house, and campaigned for environmental and political causes. He was instrumental in transforming the ancient dance-drama form of Yakshagana for a modern audience.While a great deal has been written about the man and his genius, there is little material about the intimate details of his life. Through much of his creative career, for instance, Karanth was unflinchingly supported by his wife, Leela. The Karanths had four children. The eldest, Harsha, died in 1961. The other three, Malavika, Ullas and Kshama, came together to present this uniquely personal account of what it was like to be the children of a creative genius. Growing Up Karanth documents their ?rare privilege?, while also detailing the world of Shivarama Karanth through their eyes.Multi-layered and nuanced, critical and affectionate, and filled with revelations that open up new facets of their father?s life, Malavika, Ullas and Kshama reveal Karanth and his times like no one else can.ReviewTo have met Shivarama Karanth was to know one was in the presence of greatness. To learn about his astonishing range of interests, and to read his writings (even in translation), was to recognise that only Rabindranath Tagore ranked alongside him in the scale of his achievement. And yet, as someone who met Karanth and venerates him for his work, I have longed to know more about the human being as distinct from the Renaissance Man. My longings have now been satisfied by this wonderful book, written by Karanth?s three children, each a distinguished professional.Growing up Karanth is at once a biography of a remarkable couple (the sections on Leela Karanth are particularly moving) and a wider cultural history of modern South India.  The book is rich in insight and anecdote, as well as unflinchingly honest, as in the descriptions of their mother?s depression and of their father?s bouts of anger. Growing up Karanth is made more special still through its tender and empathetic foreword, written by that other jewel of modern Karnataka, Chiranjiv Singh.Ramachandra GuhaHere are personal reflections on the great Shivarama Karanth by his three children. Chomana Dudi, Bettada Jeeva, Marali Mannige are a few of the masterpieces of Shivarama Karanth. The legacy of Shivaram Karanth has been woven together by the authors, and personal stories and anecdotes artistically put together.  I really enjoyed reading the book and longed for those astonishing times to return.C.N.R. RAOGrowing up Karanth is an affectionate, honest and objective biography of Karnataka?s first citizen of literature, by his highly accomplished children. It brings out vividly Sri Shivarama Karanth?s multifarious personality-a naughty and curious child among children; a glittering savant among the cognoscenti; and a dynamic and energetic iconoclast standing tall, amidst the ?wimpy? and ?invertebrate? environment of our generation. Reading this unputdownable book brought back vivid memories of my own two-hour meeting with Shivarama Karanth at Kota in 1995. It is a must-read for every English-literate Indian.N. R. Narayana MurthyIn Growing Up Karanth, Ullas Karanth, Malavika Kapur, and Kshama Rau tell the fascinating story of their father