Shatavadhani Ganesh

Shatavadhani R. Ganesh

Shathavadhi R Ganesh
Born (1962-12-04) 4 December 1962
Kolar, Kolar district, Karnataka, India
Occupation Avadhana, author, ex tempore poet
Nationality India
Subject Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil
Website
padyapaana.com

Shatavadhani R. Ganesh (4 December 1962[1]) is a practitioner of the art of avadhana, a polyglot, an author in Sanskrit and Kannada and an extempore poet in multiple languages. He has performed more than 1000 avadhanas, in Kannada, Sanskrit, Telugu, and Prakrit.[2][3] He is known for extempore composition of poetry (āśukavita) during these performances, and even of chitrakavya.[1] He is the only Śatāvadhāni from Karnataka.[1][4][5] He once set a record by composing poetry for twenty-four hours continuously.[1] From 30 November 2012 to 2 December 2012, he performed the first ever Shatavadhana entirely in Kannada.[6][7][8][9] On 16 February 2014, in Bangalore, he performed his 1000th avadhāna.[3][10]

Childhood and education

Ganesh was born on 4 December 1962, in Kolar, Karnataka, to R. Shankar Narayan Aiyar and K. V. Alamelamma.[1] Ganesh picked up Tamil, Kannada and Telugu from his environment as a child.[11] Also in his childhood, he read Sanskrit and Kannada literature and was writing poetry at the age of sixteen.[11] He learned English at school, and he later learned several other languages like Prakrit, Pali, Tamil, Hindi, Marathi, Greek, Latin and Italian.[11] He has a B.E. degree in mechanical engineering from UVCE,[12] an MSc (Engineering) degree in metallurgy from IISc,[12][13] pursued research in materials science and metallurgy,[14] has an MA degree in Sanskrit, and a D. Litt in Kannada,[1][13] which was awarded by Hampi University[11] for his thesis on the art of Avadhana in Kannada.[14]

Avadhana

Ganesh is well known for his performances of avadhana, in which he composes extempore solutions in metrical verse to problems posed in parallel by the pṛcchakas on stage, satisfying the constraints imposed by them, while simultaneously dealing with interruptions designed to break his concentration.[9][12] The performance tests poetic skill, creativity, memory, concentration, scholarship, and wit.[13] The main variants are the Aṣṭāvadhāna (eight pṛcchakas) and Śatāvadhāna (hundred pṛcchakas), both of which he performs.[12]

Although there are records of Bellave Narahari Sastry performing avadhana in Kannada during 1933–36 (having learnt it from Telugu's Pisupati Chidambara Shastri), there was no living tradition of avadhana in Kannada when Ganesh took it up; thus he is credited with reviving avadhana in Kannada.[12][13][15] In 1981, after seeing an avadhana performance for the first time, by Lepakshi Medavaram Mallikarjuna Sharma, he tried one himself in front of his friends.[12] He performed 13 astavadhana between 1981–1987.[12] In 1987, he gave a major astavadhana performance at Kolar in the centenary year of D. V. Gundappa, where thousands of people and several learned persons assembled.[12] His 100th and 200th astavadhanas were also performed at Kolar, his native place.[15] His astavadhanas became very popular and he gave hundreds of performances, some of which were viewed by people even in pouring rain.[12] He has performed avadhanas using eight languages, including Sanskrit, Kannada and Telugu.[12] He is also credited with introducing chitrakavya into avadhana, previously considered impossible to do in an avadhana.[12] He has given more than 20 avadhana performances in American and European countries.[15]

He performed his first Shatavadhana at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bangalore on 15 December 1991.[12] He did another one 15 days later, then one each again in 1992 and 1993, with his fifth, the first to be done entirely in Kannada, in 2012.[12][16][17]

He has so far written three books dealing with his Shatavadhanas, Shatavadhana Sharade, Shatavadhana Srividye and " Sataavadhaana shaashvati" so as to groom future avadhanis, besides his D. Litt thesis The Art of Avadhana in Kannada and the forthcoming Avadhana Sahasra.[12] He has also begun lectures on poetry composition, prosody and poetics on the website of the "Padyapaana" organisation.[12]

Other work

He performed a shatavadhana in a single day in 1991. He also gives public lectures,[18] on dance (nāṭya śāstra), music,[19][20] art, culture, literature,[21] poetics, etc.[5] In his kAvya-chitra shows, he performs with painter B.K.S.Varma, composing poems while the latter paints.[22][23] He has also written lyrics and composed verses for dance performances.[12][24][25] He learned the performance art Yakshagana and conceived the idea of eka vyakthi yakshagana (single-person Yakshagana), of which several performances have been given by Mantapa Prabhakara Upadhyaya.[12] He has played the role of Horatio (dubbed Harshananda) in a Sanskrit production of Hamlet.[26]

Dr. R Ganesh speaking at Santeshivara during the felicitation of Dr. S L Bhyrappa

Literary works

Works in Sanskrit

Ganesh is considered one of the Sanskrit authors to have "carved a niche for themselves in twentieth century", and is credited with introducing new genres into Sanskrit literature.[1] His works include:

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 S. Ranganath (2009), Modern Sanskrit Writings in Karnataka (PDF), New Delhi: Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, pp. iii,iv,viii,ix,74–76
  2. ↑ Over 600 as of 2009, see Modern Sanskrit Writings in Karnataka. Over 965 as of 2012, see Kannadaprabha 29 November 2012
  3. 1 2 ಆರ್ ಗಣೇಶ್ ಅವರ ಸಾವಿರದ ಅಷ್ಟಾವಧಾನ ಲೈವ್, 13 February 2014
  4. 1 2 Vashishtha Narayan Jha (2003), Sanskrit Writings in Independent India, Sahitya Akademi, p. 31
  5. 1 2 3 Rajesha Mundigesara (1 December 2012). "Sāvadhāna" (PDF). Kannada Prabha. p. 17.
  6. ↑ "Test of memory and verse, in Kannada", The Hindu, 30 November 2012
  7. ↑ Padyapaana presents Shathaavadhaani
  8. ↑ "Manadumbida Śatāvadhāna" (PDF). Kannada Prabha. 1 December 2012. p. 2.
  9. 1 2 "Shatavadhanada Chakravyuha Bhedisida Ganesh". Vijaya Vani. 1 December 2012. p. 6.
  10. ↑ "ಕತ್ತಲಿಗಿಂತ ಬೆಳಕಿನ ಹಿಂದೆ ಓಡುವುದು ಒಳ್ಳೆಯದು: ಸಾವಿರದ ಅಷ್ಟಾವಧಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಪಂಡಿತರ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಸರಾಗವಾಗಿ ಉತ್ತರಿಸಿದ ಅವಧಾನಿ ಡಾ. ಆರ್. ಗಣೇಶ್‌". Vijayavani. Bangalore. 17 February 2014.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Visiting Faculty: Dr. R. Ganesh, Karnataka Sanskrit University
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rajesha Mundigesara (Interview with R.Ganesh) (29 November 2012). "Avadhanavannu Janare Ulisuttare" (PDF). Kannada Prabha. p. 9. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pratap Simha (1 December 2012). "Śatāvadhāni Emba Vidvat Śikhara, Oḍalalli Mātṛ Prītiya Sāgara" (PDF). Kannada Prabha. p. 8.
  14. 1 2 Sangeetha Menon (2006), Consciousness, experience, and ways of knowing: perspectives from science, philosophy & the arts, Bangalore: National Institute of Advances Studies, p. 288
  15. 1 2 3 Pandit, Suryaprakash. "Shathavadhani R Ganesh". Cultural India Foundation. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  16. ↑ "Ganesh Śatāvadhānada Beragu" (PDF). Kannada Prabha. 3 December 2012. p. 3.
  17. ↑ "Mūru Dinagaḷa Kāla Naḍeda Tuṃbugannaḍada Śatāvadhāna Bhānuvāra Samāropa". Vijaya Vani. 3 December 2012. p. 6.
  18. ↑ For instance, he has spoken on 'Kaalidasana Kavyasamskruti' (, ), on "Science and Spirituality" (), on "values" (), etc.
  19. ↑ "The anatomy of a raga", Deccan Herald, 6 August 2013
  20. ↑ "'ರಾಗಾನುರಾಗ'ದ ಸಂಭ್ರಮದಲಿ...", Prajavani, 8 August 2013
  21. ↑ "Bangalore Today". The Hindu. 2 May 2011. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  22. ↑ "Competitions, cultural programmes, mark Kala Utsav 2006", The Hindu, 19 December 2006
  23. ↑ "Briefly", The Hindu, Chitradurga, 4 June 2004
  24. ↑ Prabal Gupta (18 June 2010), "Brilliant aristry", The Hindu
  25. ↑ "Brilliant choreography", The Hindu, 8 October 2010
  26. ↑ D. A. Shankar (1999), Shakespeare in Indian languages, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, p. 74
  27. ↑ R. Ganesh (1998), Human values in the Ramayana, Gandhi Centre of Science and Human Values of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
  28. 1 2 A Bibliography of Modern Sanskrit Writings (PDF), New Delhi: Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, 2012
  29. ↑ Radha Vallabh Tripathi, ed. (2012), संस्कृतविद्वत्परिचायिका: Inventory of Sanskrit Scholars (PDF), New Delhi: Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, p. 288, ISBN 978-93-86111-85-2
  30. ↑ List of Awardees for Maharshi Badarayan Vyas Samman 2002–2009 (PDF), 21 October 2013, p. 1
  31. ↑ "Udupi: Sediyapu Award for 'Shatavadhani' R Ganesh". Daijiworld. Udupi. 16 May 2010.
  32. ↑ "Hegde, Sudha Murthy to be Conferred Honorary Doctorate", Outlook India, 1 March 2010
  33. ↑ "ಶತಾವಧಾನಿ ಗಣೇಶ್‌ಗೆ 'ಚಿತ್ಪ್ರಭಾನಂದ' ಪ್ರಶಸ್ತಿ ಪ್ರದಾನ", Prajavani, Mysore, 19 July 2011
  34. ↑ "Erya Award Conferred on Scholar Dr R Ganesh", Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore, 3 January 2012
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