19th century writings Mysore literature in Kannada

ferdinand kittel (1854)

eager spread gospel in kannada, christian missionaries took kannada language. establishment of printing press , english language education had positive effect on kannada prose. periodicals , newspapers published first time. first kannada language book printed in 1817 , first bible in 1820. grammar books , dictionaries, meant missionaries in effort in spreading christianity, became available. rev. w. reeve compiled earliest english-kannada dictionary in 1824 followed kannada-english dictionary in 1832, though best-known work 1894 publication rev. ferdinand kittel. rev. william carrey published earliest kannada grammar in 1817. influence of english literature , poetry on kannada evident numerous songs of prayer composed missionaries. british officers lewis rice , john faithfull fleet deciphered numerous kannada inscriptions. rice published several ancient classics , brief history of kannada literature while fleet published folk ballads such sangoli rayana dange ( sangoli raya s revolt ). first kannada newspaper, mangalura samachara ( mangalore news ), published in mangalore in 1843. in few years, printing presses opened in many locations, including @ mysore palace in 1840.

a surge in generation of prose narratives , dramatic literature, inspired writings in english, sanskrit, modern marathi , modern bengali languages culminated in original works in succeeding decades. in field of prose, translation of english classics such yatrikana sanchara (the pilgrim s progress bunyan, 1847) , robinson crusoe (1857) set trend. translations vernacular languages popular , included marathi classic yamuna prayatana (1869) , bengali work durgesanandini (1885). in genre of drama, inspiration came translations of sanskrit , english plays. shakuntala , raghavendrarao nataka (othello) churamuri sehagiri rao (1869), pramilarjuniya srikantesa gowda , vasanthayamini swapnachamatkara nataka k. vasudevachar (midsummer night s dream), macbeth srikantesa gowda, king lear m.s. puttanna, ramavarma-lilavati (romeo , juliet) c. ananda rao paved way.

basavappa shastry (1882), native of mysore , court poet of maharaja krishnaraja iii , maharaja chamaraja wodeyar ix, earned honorific kannada nataka pitamaha (lit. father of kannada stage ) contributions drama. contribution dramatic literature in form of anthologies, translations , adaptations english , sanskrit, learned editions, , successful integration of musical compositions drama accepted. translations english kannada include shurasena charite ( othello ). sanskrit kannada translations include, kalidasa, abhignyana shakuntala, vikramorvasheeya, malavikagnimitra, uttara rama charite, chanda koushika nataka, malathi madhava , ratnavali. other well-known kannada writers in chamaraja ix s court s.g. narasimhacharya, dhondo narasimha mulabaglu, santa kavi , b. ventakacharya.

the earliest modern novels in kannada language suryakantha lakshman gadagkar (1892) , indrabayi (1899) gulvadi venkata rao. later work reformist , decried corruption , encouraged widow remarriages. suri venkataramana shastri s modern social play iggappa heggadeya vivaha prahasana ( iggappa heggade s farce of marriage , 1887) , dhareswar s kanya vikraya (1887) carried similar reformist outlook while santa kavi s vatsalaharana (1885) drew upon mythological , folk themes.