Jnāninā caritum śakyaṃ samyag-rājyādi-laukikam ofSri Vidyaranya is the other motto of the Institute. The Social Service League,GIPA’s forerunner, was instituted by DVG as early as 1913. His conscientiouseffort in working towards the betterment of society never died down with age. It only grew stronger.

A man of DVG’s acumen is hard to come by in any countryat any point in time. His consummate scholarship was an invaluable asset to manyorganisations – both public and private.

They flourished under his ableguidance. Mysore Legislative Council and the Kannada Sahitya Parishat (tomention a few) had the benefit of receiving his critical insights in full for agood number of years. Thus equipped, they could meet their objectives in a morequalified manner.

DVG’s contributions in all these organisations were at thefundamental level. He never occupied positions of influence. Explaining this,he said-

I feel the country today has particular need of that type of publicmen that would serve without getting entangled in power politics.Power-politician is at the root of the poison-tree of communalism whose existencewe are all so loud in deploring. Let some of us keep out of the competition anddo our best from outside the seats of power.

Disinterested, unconditionalservice to the society was an ideal upheld by DVG. He remained fiercelyindependent all his life, not restricting his services to any political partyor organisation. Freedom, taken in its central elements, means “independence ofgrowth”, as explained by S. Radhakrishnan, and this applies particularly wellto DVG. His thoughts never seem to lose their edge; they are relevant not justin our time, but for all time to come.

DVG is perhaps best remembered today as the poet ofMankutimmana Kagga – “A Foggy Fool’s Farrago,” in his own words. Not manypeople would know that this work was first published with his name as theeditor, while ascribing it to Timma guru, an unassuming schoolteacher from anunknown village. This was his plan to escape cheap publicity.

Some friendspersuaded him to put his name as the author in subsequent editions; and,fortunately for us, he agreed. This work, which talks of life’s joys andsorrows in a philosophical vein, has risen to the status of a KannadaBhagavad-Gita.

DVG believed that literature has the ability to transport lifefrom the plane of the mundane to that of the extraordinary. He spoke of it thus– “It is my belief that literature has the power to fill life with gladness anddevelop the prime strength of the human spirit, and that this is a necessarypart of one’s equipment.”

All his writings are but brushes that paint this visionin myriad hues. DVG’s thoughts on the necessity of literary culture forpolitical workers requires mention here. He observed, “Who sighs for beauty isa poet; who strives for it is a statesman.” This, taken in the light of the sadstate of affairs of the political discourse today, speaks volumes of the manand his timeless thoughts.

As a savant committedto the development of the Kannada language, he worked tirelessly to cultivateit for “better expressiveness of the modern spirit”. In this regard, hetranslated Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat and Shakespeare’s Macbeth. He even wrote biographies of Gopal Krishna Gokhale and DewanRangacharlu – exemplary works in that genre even to this day.

HisJivana-dharma-yoga is a seminal contribution to the interpretation ofBhagavad-Gita. The Gita is a jivana shastra, DVG said. People who need couragein times of crisis can get it in abundance by reading the Gita. It is a manualfor right living. This work was awarded the Sahitya Akademi prize and is themost inclusive expression of DVG’s thoughts on sanatana dharma.

Samskriti is another of DVG’s works. As the nameindicates, it is a monograph on various aspects of culture. The characteristicsof a cultured person as listed by him in this work is perhaps the bestexposition of the subject:

1. svasthāna-parijñāna (Understanding of one’s status)

2. pareṅgita-parigrahaṇa (Understanding of others’intentions)

3. svārtha-niyamana (Regulation of self-interest)

4. samanvaya-dṛṣṭi(An orientation towards harmony and reconciliation)

5. sarasate (A certain grace and amiability)

The feeling uppermost while reading his pithy prose iscaptured by YNK (Y.N.Krishnamurthy, former editor of the famed Kannada newspaper Prajavani) when he wrote ofJnaapaka-chitra-shaale or ‘The Gallery of Portraits from Memory’ –

This is remarkablewriting. It looks as though DVG was the only man who kept his eyes and earsopen to what went on around him.

This work is a genre by itself, and finds noparallel in world literature. Sandeep Balakrishna describes it best:

What Jnaapaka-chitra-shaale really is, is that it is at once hisautobiography; it is a rich, primary source of the cultural, social, andpolitical history of the time; it is also an intimate, minute canvas of thegeography of the places he lived and worked and travelled, and above all, it isa kaleidoscope of the lives of the people illumined in there by the light ofhis pen.

DVG was also a champion of traditional versification,possessing great felicity in handling classical meters. His Antahpura Gitegalu, set toraga and tala, is one of the best collections of songs composed in Kannada.There is perhaps no genre in literature that he touched and did not turn intogold.

The published writings of DVG are well over 8000 pages.The Department of Kannada and Culture of Karnataka has brought out these ineleven volumes. Many of his English writings, unfortunately, remainunpublished.It is fitting to describe him in the words of ThomasCampion:

Thus, scorning all the cares

That fate or fortune brings,

He makes the heaven his book,

His wisdom heavenly things;

Good thoughts his only friends,

His wealth a well-spent age,

The earth his sober inn

And quiet pilgrimage.

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh’s guidance and critical inputsat every stage in writing this article were invaluable. My sincere thanks to him. Thanksare also due to Arjun Bharadwaj and Hari Ravikumar. Translations from Kannadaare mostly mine. At some places, I have also reproduced those of Sri V.Sitaramiah, from his book ‘D. V. Gundappa’, published by the Sahitya Akademi.

Shashi Kiran

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