>BrownHairedGirl at 18:26, 29 April 2021

2021-04-29T18:26:13Z

New page

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox writer
|name = H S Shivaprakash
|image = Prof Shivaprakash.JPG
|birth_date = {{birth year and age|1954}}
|birth_name = Hulkuntemath Shivamurthy Sastri Shivaprakash
|nationality = Indian
|occupation = Writer, editor, translator, professor, former Director-Tagore Centre, Berlin
|movement = Navya and [[Bandaya movement]]
|genre = Poetry, play, criticism
|subject = [[Indian theatre]], [[Kannada literature]], [[Vachanas]], [[Oral traditions]], [[Mythology]]
}}

'''H.S. Shivaprakash''' (Hulkuntemath Shivamurthy Sastri Shivaprakash, born 1954) is a leading poet and playwright writing in [[Kannada]]. He is professor at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, [[Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi|Jawaharlal Nehru University]], New Delhi. He heads the Cultural Centre at Berlin, known as the Tagore Centre, as Director run by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). He has seven anthologies of poems, twelve plays, and several other books to his credit. His works have been widely translated into English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Polish, [[Hindi]], [[Malayalam language|Malayalam]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and [[Telugu language|Telugu]]. His plays have been performed in [[Kannada language|Kannada]], Hindi, [[Meitei language|Meitei]], Rabha, Assamese, Bodo, Tamil and Malayalam. Shivaprakash is also a well-known authority on [[vachana]] literature, [[Bhakti movement]]s of India, and [[Sufi]] and other mystic traditions.<ref>''Transmutations of Power and Desire in Bhakti Expressions''</ref>

==Life and career==
Shivaprakash was born in [[Bangalore]] in June 1954. His father Shivamurthy Shastri was an eminent [[Lingayat]] scholar and served under the erstwhile [[Maharaja of Mysore]]. After obtaining his MA in [[English literature]] from [[Bangalore University]], Shivaprakash joined the [[Karnataka]] government service as an English lecturer and taught for over two decades at various colleges in [[Bangalore]] and [[Tumkur]]. In 1996, he was appointed the editor of ''[[Indian Literature (journal)|Indian Literature]]'', the bimonthly journal of [[Sahitya Akademi]] in New Delhi. Shivaprakash joined the School of Arts and Aesthetics in [[Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi|Jawaharlal Nehru University]] as [[Associate professor]] in 2001, where he is professor of [[Aesthetics]] and [[Performance studies]]. In 2000, he was selected for the International Writing Program of the School of Letters, [[University of Iowa]], and is honorary fellow of the school. Professor H. S. Shiva Prakash has been appointed Director of Tagore Centre in Berlin. The appointment is for three years

==Poet==
Shivaprakash published his first anthology of poems ''Milarepa'' in 1977, when he was still 23. It was immediately recognized as a fresh voice in [[Kannada poetry]].<ref>Ki. Ram.Nagaraj, ""Milarepa" Kuritu", in ''Milarepa'', Kannada Sangha, Christ College, Bangalore, 1977</ref> But Shivaprakash gained popularity and acclaim only with his second anthology, ''Malebidda Neladalli'' in 1983. The poem "Samagara Bhimavva" became an instant hit, which brought him to the centre-stage of post-Bandaya Kannada poetry.<ref>''Malebidda Neladalli, Kannada Sangha, Christ College, Bangalore, 1983</ref> Since then Shivaprakash has published four collections of poetry, ''Anukshana Charite'', ''Suryajala'', ''Maleye Mantapa'' and ''Matte Matte'' and two anthologies of poems in translation, ''Maruroopagalu'' and ''Nanna Mainagara'', and edited the translation of contemporary [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] poetry, ''Samakaleena Gujarati Kavitegalu'' and [[Malayalam poetry]] ''Manasantara''. Shivaprakash's poems make use of [[Mysticism|mystic]] [[symbol]]ism, dream-images, [[archetypes]] and motifs from everyday life to portray the nature of power and the contradictions of modern life.

==Playwright==
Shivaprakash published his first play ''Mahachaitra'' in 1986. The stage-adaptation of the play by C.G.Krishnaswamy for the troop ''Samudaya'' became a major hit. The play was based on the life and times of the 12th century [[Lingayat]] saint [[Basavanna]] and narrated the struggles of the artisan saints of the city of Kalyana (now [[Basavakalyan]]) through a [[Marxist]] analytic. The play received rave reviews and was acknowledged as a landmark in [[Kannada literature]].<ref>Mahachaitra, Sneha Prakashana, Bangalore, 1991, p. 94</ref> ''Mahachaitra'' is recognized as one among the three greatest plays out of the 25-odd plays on [[Basavanna]] written in Kannada, the other two being [[P. Lankesh]]'s ''Sankranti'' and [[Girish Karnad]]'s ''[[Taledanda]]''.

Shivaprakash won the [[Karnataka]] [[Sahitya Akademi]] award for this play. His other plays include ''Sultan Tipu'', ''Shakespeare Swapnanauke'', ''Manteswamy Kathaprasanga'', ''Madari Madayya'', ''Madurekanda'', ''Madhavi'', ''Matrika'', ''Makarachandra'', ''Sati'', ''Cassandra'' and ''Maduvehennu''. He has also translated [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[King Lear]]'' and adapted [[Federico García Lorca]]'s ''The Shoemaker's Prodigious Wife'' into Kannada under the title ''Mallammana Mane Hotlu'' and [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Macbeth]]'' under the name ''Maranayakana Drishtanta''. ''Manteswamy Kathaprasanga'', a play about a 16th-century Dalit saint was made into a successful stage adaptation by director Suresh Anagalli and produced over 300 shows. It kindled interest in this obscure saint and the life of Manteswamy has since been a major area of research in Kannada academia. Most of Shivaprakash's plays are inspired by Marxism and [[Shaiva]] [[mysticism]], particularly Lingayatism and [[Kashmir Shavism]]. The plays also employ motifs from [[Sufism]] and other forms of mysticism like [[Mahayana]] and [[Zen]] [[Buddhism]]. Structurally, the plays are inspired by Japanese [[Noh theatre]] and [[Brecht]]'s [[epic theatre]].

==The Mahachaitra controversy==
''Mahachaitra'' was prescribed as a textbook for undergraduate courses in three universities of Karnataka. In 1995, nearly a decade after its publication, when it was prescribed as a textbook in [[Gulbarga University]], it caused a heated controversy. A section of [[Lingayats]] under the leadership of the nun [[Shri Shri Jagadguru Mate Mahadevi]] accused the work of portraying [[Basavanna]] in poor light and urged the [[Government of Karnataka]] to ban the play. It led to a legal battle and the play was eventually withdrawn from the university syllabus.<ref>Vijayakumar M. Boratti, "Understanding Collective Interpretation" in ''Journal of Karnataka Studies'', Vol.2, No. 1, p.13-51. Also see relevant reports in the 1995 issues of ''[[Kannada Prabha]]'', ''[[Prajavani]]'' and ''[[Deccan Herald]]''</ref> The ''Mahachaitra'' controversy seems to have inspired [[Githa Hariharan]]'s English novel ''In Times of Siege'' (2003), which narrates the story of a professor in an [[open university]] in [[Delhi]], who finds himself in the midst of a controversy over a chapter on [[Basavanna]] which he wrote for an undergraduate textbook.

==Major works==

===Poetry===
* ''Milarepa''
* ''Malebidda Neladalli''
* ''Anukshana Charite''
* ''Suryajala''
* ''Maleye Mantapa''
* ''Matte Matte''
* ''Mabbina Haage Kanive Haasi''
* ''Maruroopagalu'' (Kannada translation of poems from various languages)
* ''Nanna Mainagara'' (Kannada translation of the Malayalam poems of K. [[Satchidanandan]])
* ''Navilu Nagara'' (songs from his plays)
* ''Maatu Mantravaaguvavrege''
* ''Maretuhoda Dombaraake''(Kannada translation of Spanish poems by Zingonia Zingone)
* ''Kavite Indinavarege'' (Collected poems)
* ''Autumn Ways'' (Haiku in English)
* ''Maagiparva'' (Kannada Haikus)
* ''I Keep Vigil of Rudra'' (English translation of Kannada Vachanas)

===Plays===
* ''Mahachaitra''
* ''Sultan Tipu''
* ''Shakespeare Swapnanauke''
* ''Manteswamy Kathaprasanga''
* ''Madari Madayya''
* ''Madurekanda''
* ''Madhavi''
* ''Matrika''
* ''Makarachandra''
* ''Sati''
* ''Cassandra''
* ''Maduve Hennu''
* ''King Lear'' (Kannada translation of [[Shakespeare]]'s play)
* ''Maranayakana Drishtanta'' (Kannada adaptation of ''[[Macbeth]]'')
* ''Mallammana Mane Hotlu'' (Kannada adaptation of [[Federico García Lorca]]'s ''The Shoemaker's Prodigious Wife'')
* "Nataka Illiyavarege 2011 (C0llected Plays)

===Others===
* ''Sahitya mattu Rangabhoomi'' (a treatise on literature and theatre)
* ''Modala Kattina Gadya'' (a collection of essays)
* ''Yuganta'' (Kannada translation of [[Irawati Karve]]'s book of the same name)
* ''Batteesa Raaga'' (Spiritual autobiography)
In English:
* ''Incredible India: Traditional Theatres'' (New Delhi: Wisdom Tree, 2007)
* ''I Keep Vigil of Rudra: the Vachanas'' (New Delhi: Penguin India, 2010)
* ''Everyday Yogi'' (New Delhi: HarperCollins India, 2014)

==Awards and honours==
* Kusumagraja Rashtriya Puraskar-2017.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kannada litterateur Shivaprakash selected for YCMOU award |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/kannada-litterateur-shivaprakash-selected-for-ycmou-award-117060601494_1.html |website=business standard |accessdate=16 July 2018}}</ref>
* [[Karnataka Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry]]: ''Malebidda Neladalli'' (1983), ''Suryajala'' (1995)
* Four Kannada Sahitya Akademi best book prizes
* Sangeeth Natak Akademi Award (1997)<ref>{{cite web |title=H. S. Shiva Prakash Profile |url=https://www.veethi.com/india-people/h._s._shivaprakash-profile-3396-25.htm |website=Veethi |accessdate=16 July 2018}}</ref>
* Satyakama award for 2003
* [[Ministry of Human Resource Development]] fellowship for [[Kannada literature]]
* Honorary Fellow of the School of Letters, [[University of Iowa]], since 2000.
* Karnataka [[Rajyotsava Prashasti]], 2005.<ref>{{cite web |title=127 persons get Rajyotsava Award |url=https://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/30/stories/2005103008810400.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080131185607/http://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/30/stories/2005103008810400.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=31 January 2008 |website=[[The Hindu]] |date=2005-10-30 |accessdate=16 July 2018}}</ref>
* Sahitya Akademi Award (2012)<ref>{{cite web |title=Akademi Awards (1995-2016) |url=http://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/awards/akademi%20samman_suchi.jsp |website=Sahitya Akademi |accessdate=16 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084937/http://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/awards/akademi%20samman_suchi.jsp |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
A research paper on Shivaprakash's plays
*http://asiatic.iium.edu.my/v3n1/article/Rajayshriee_Khushu-Lahiri.pdf
*http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2007/04/13/stories/2007041301210300.htm <
*https://web.archive.org/web/20080828115531/http://at-lamp.its.uiowa.edu/virtualwu/index.php/archive/record/iwp_and_writers_workshop_at_praries_lights_with_hs_shivaprakash_and_j_towns
*http://www.mumbaitheatreguide.com/dramas/reviews/20_olear.asp
*https://web.archive.org/web/20080514195149/http://lokadharmi.org/madhuvehennu.htm
*http://www.ciil.org/Main/Announcement/MBE_Programme/paper/paper13.htm
*https://openlibrary.org/a/OL374678A
*https://web.archive.org/web/20050419110806/http://www.katha.org/Academics/deep%20stories%20%26%20silences_bionotes.html

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shivaprakash, H. S.}}
[[Category:1954 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Kannada poets]]
[[Category:Kannada-language writers]]
[[Category:Indian literary critics]]
[[Category:Writers from Bangalore]]
[[Category:Indian male poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:Indian male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Rajyotsava Award 2005]]

H. S. Shivaprakash - Revision history

>BrownHairedGirl at 18:26, 29 April 2021