Word in the World

H S Shivaprakash is poet, playwright, translator, and is one among the prominent literary figures in contemporary India. Recognized as a fresh voice in Kannada Literature at a young age, he eventually became an eminent bilingual poet and translator across multiple languages. As a renowned scholarly authority on Kannada Vachana literature, Sufism, Indian Bhakti traditions, and mystic symbolism, his literary prowess lies in reinventing the aesthetic elements in Indian mysticism. His first play titled Mahachaitra was published in 1986, followed by a stage adaption. He has received several accolades for his contributions to Indian Literature and Aesthetics, including the Sahitya Akademi Award. Apart from publishing anthologies of poems in different languages, plays, and books, he is also a prolific translator credited with translating Shakespeare’s plays into Kannada. Presently, he is a Professor at School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU and the Director of the Cultural Centre at Berlin, known as the Tagore Centre.Kamalakar Bhat is Associate Professor at the Postgraduate Department of English at Ahmednagar College, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. He is a bilingual writer and a translator between Kannada, English, and Marathi. His publications include three collections of poems in Kannada, the first Churuparu Reshime appeared in 2006 and won the Pu Ti Na Award for Best Book. The second, Mugiyada Madhyahna appeared in 2010 and the third, Jagada Jate Matu Kate was published in 2017. He has translated into English the poetry of several contemporary Kannada poets including S Manjunath, Jayant Kaikini, Abdul Rashid, N K Hanumantayya, K Sharifa, Mogalli Ganesh, and H S Anupama. He has also translated the poetry of the iconic Marathi Dalit poet Namdev Dhasal and published a reader on him in Kannada.

• AcknowledgementsPrefaceForewordIntroductionThe Bhakti World1 Transmutations of Desire and Power in Bhakti Expressions2 Bhakti Poetics: An Example from Kannada Vachanas 3 Transformations of the Hero in Medieval Indian Literatures4 The Poetics and Aesthetics of Labour5 Fight for Symbols in the History of Religions in Medieval South India: The Karnataka Example6 Dasimiah - The Divine Weaver7 Journeying to Kalyana8 From Temple to Body-temple: Kannada transformations of Tamil Shaivism9 What Were You Before I Knew Myself? - Notes on De-creation and Recreation of Virashaiva Myths inCultures of KarnatakaThe Kannada World10 Rethinking Medieval Kannada Literature11 Contributions of Karnataka Devotional Movements to the Creation of New Theatres12 Migration of Karaga from Tamil Nadu Karnataka13 Modernism and After: Some Reflections on Contemporary Kannada Poetry14 KSNa: The Heart-Bee has Flown . . . Do Not Ask Me WhereThe World of Drama15 The Search for the New in Indian Drama and Theatre16 Rasa Production: A Poet’s Perspective17 Theatre as Performed Literature?18 The Evolution of Modern Indian theatre19 Shakespeare and the Indian Theatre Tradition20 The Regional, the National, and the International in Theatre21 Manipuri Theatre: Myth and Reality22 Metamorphosis of Poetry on Stage23 The life and Death of White Desdemona and Black Othello: Through Abhinava Kalidasa - A Re-interpretationThe World of Indian Cultures and Literatures24 Currents and Cross-currents of South Indian Cultures25 Dynamics of Pre-modern South Indian Culture26 Through Each Other’s Eyes: Rodin and Nataraja27 Indian Culture beyond India28 Contemporary Indian Literatures29 Dreaming Indian Literatures Anew30 Exploring Unchartered Territories of Indian Literature31 Changing the Sun: Notes on Modernity, Modernism and After in Indian Literatures32 The Outcaste at the City Gate33 Some Problems and Politics of Translation34 Translating the Tehsildar35 Loss of Home: Notes on Diasporic Writings