Jaydeep Sarangi

Literature should be a reflection as well as a critique of life and culture: An Interview with Basavraj Naikar

Born in 1949 Basavaraj Naikar, M.A., Ph.D., D.Litt (California), Professor and Chairman, Department of English, Karnatak University, Dharwad (India) is a bilingual writer and translator in Kannada and English. He has published several reviews and research articles in national and international journals. He reviews Indian literary works for World Literature Today (Oklahoma, USA) regularly. His specializations in teaching and research include Shakespeare Studies, Indian English Literature, Indian Literature in English Translation, American, Anglo-Indian, Commonwealth Literature, Translation Theory and Practice. He is recipient of Gulbarga University Award for translation and Olive J Reddick Award from A.S.R.C. (now OU Centre for International Programmes), Hyderabad. He is a Fellow of the United Writers of India, New Delhi. His The Thief of Nagarahalli and Other Stories was short listed for the Commonwealth Fiction Prize for the Best First Book from Eurasia in 2000. He has 14 publications in Kannada to his credit. His dozen literary works in English include Indian English Literature in 5 volumes and Critical Response to Indian English Literature. He was interviewed by Jaydeep Sarang. Given below are some excerpts from his interview:
Sarangi -How did you start writing short story?
Naikar-During my postgraduate education, I happened to study Indian Writing in English, which was something new to me. I had a faint idea and hope of becoming a writer of Indian English then. At that time I happened to bring Dr. Mulk Raj Anand from Belgaum aerodrome to our University campus. I had an animated discussion with him about his writing, Marxism, propagandist literature etc. I was deeply influenced and inspired by his humanism, affection for youngsters and concern for the nation. He advised my friends and me not to confine our attention to only British literature but to read European and especially Russian literature extensively. He patted on my back and encouraged me to become a writer in future if I liked. I said I wanted to be one.  Then he advised me to start my writing career with my autobiography.  But I have yet to write my autobiography. However, I began my writing career with a short story, “Fulfillment” during my M.A. Final days.  Then I went on writing stories at irregular intervals. I was deeply influenced by the writings of Dr. Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao, Tagore and Sri Aurobindo. I liked them for different reasons.  But I did not like R.K.Narayan’s novels or stories because I was not sufficiently enlightened by them. I was rather irritated by the hollowness of his vision of life, which was perhaps good for high school students. I felt reading R.K.Narayan was a criminal waste of my time. Then I decided never to waste my time on reading Narayan.

Sarangi -Who is your mentor?
Naikar-My mentors or models are Dr. Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao, and Chaman Nahal and Khushwant Singh.

Sarangi -Who are the Indian short story writers you rate high?
Naikar -Raja Rao, Mulk Raj Anand, Bhabani Bhattacharya are important short story writers according to me. Among the younger writers, Rohinton Mistry is an important short story writer. I have great admiration for them.

Sarangi -Do you consider your bilingualism as a virtue?
Naikar -Definitely yes.  All the Indian English writers should be bilingual so that they may give an authentic picture of Indian life and culture. The anglicised writers of India cannot give an authentic picture of native Indian culture although they may write good English. A bilingual writer of India is able to absorb the essence of Indian culture available in Sanskrit or his regional languages like Kannada and Marathi and so on and express it in his English writings.  But an anglicised writer or a writer who has had his education in English medium from his childhood or the one, who is educated in foreign Universities, cannot write authentically about India, although some of them may be lucky to enjoy the media-hype.

Sarangi -What makes you translating Fall of Kalyana, a play by M.M.Kalburgi dealing with the legend of Basava?
Naikar -Basaveswara was one of the greatest social reformers and mystics of the world. Many of his ideas, especially the concept of ‘kayaka’ are easily comparable to Karl Marx’s concept of labour. But he is not presented properly and effectively by any creative writer in English so far. When Girish Karnad wrote his Tale-Danda and showed it to Dr. Kalburgi, the latter did not like it because of its partial and simplified presentation of Basava’s life. But Karnad could not make any changes in his preconceived plot and published it as it was. As an answer and corrective to Girish Karnad’s unsatisfactory play, Kalburgi wrote his Kettittu Kalyana, which succeeds in giving a comprehensive picture of Basava’s life and mission. I translated it into English to give it international publicity.

Sarangi -How important is the Basava’s ‘third eye’ in the modern context?
Naikar -Basava fought against meaningless rituals in the twelfth century. Then he preached alternative ideals and values like kayaka (i.e. physical or mental labour done with a sense of dedication to God), gender-equality and social equality and social mobility from the lower caste to higher caste purely on the basis of purity of mind and moral conduct. His ideas easily foreshadow Karl Marx’s ideas of labour and Dr. Ambedkar’s ideas of social equality and the modern feminists’ ideas of gender-equality. Hence Basava’s philosophy is ever relevant to the Indian context. He envisioned a classless and casteless society, which is almost utopian and practised it in his life by establishing a mystic Academy called Anubhava Mantapa, which resembles Plato’s Academy.  Under his charismatic influence several female saints coming from all the sections, especially downtrodden sections of society composed vacanas or prose poems about their socio-mystic experiences. Nowhere in the world have so many women saints composed so many vacanas. That shows the perennial relevance of Basava’s third eye or vision of life in the modern context.

Sarangi –The Thief of Nagarahalli was short listed for Commonwealth Fiction Prize from Eurasia region in 2000. How did that influence you as a writer?
Naikar -I was very happy to know that my The Thief of Nagarahalli and Other Stories was short listed for the Commonwealth Fiction Prize from Eurasia in 2000. I missed the prize very narrowly. But this event gave me sufficient confidence to continue my creative writing.

Sarangi -Most of the stories in The Thief of Nagarahalli deal with dehumanisation of man/woman. Do you have any specific reason behind this?
Naikar -You have put it rightly. In modern days man has unfortunately been becoming more and more selfish, lecherous, inhuman and corrupt. My depiction of such characters is based on real people that I have seen or heard about. I am really unhappy about this moral degeneration in India, which is otherwise known as a religious country with several wonderful philosophies to boast of.

Sarangi -‘Mother’s Husband’, a story in Thief of Nagarahalli, reminds me the incest of Oedipus and Jocasta culminating in shame, guilt, and so on. Why did you make the story read like this?
Naikar -“Mother’s Husband” is a folk-mythical story very popular in Karnataka. It is known as Setavi story. It shows the Oedipus complex in the Indian context and also the inevitability of Fate in human life. This story is told by village men and women in North Karnataka. It is very sketchy and vague. I have tried to give some allegorical and symbolic names to characters and make the story acceptable on a mythical level as it easily corresponds to the story of Oedipus so common in the West.

Sarangi -Do you think that your education in Freud has helped you to deal the complex man-woman relationship?
Naikar -It is true that I have read Freud and Jung extensively and admire them.  But Freudian thought is not totally acceptable to me as an Indian. I don’t want to borrow his ideas for my writing although I admire him. Man-woman relationship in the Indian context has to be depicted according to the local cultural values of life.

Sarangi -Some of your short stories deal with falsification as the subject. Is there any definite reason behind this?
Naikar -The specific reason is my righteous indignation against the falsification.

Sarangi -Why do you think there is a great boom of diasporic short story writers?
Naikar -That is because the diasporic writers are lucky to get good international publishers and huge royalties.  The same writers cannot be published in India because our publishers are a shameless lot, who do not wish to take risk and encourage new writers.  They are interested in publishing only established writers, textbooks and annotated editions, which is another name for guides. Also, the diasporic writers have something new to say, which is different from the native experience of Indian writers.

Sarangi -How do you rate them?
Naikar -The diasporic writers give us a picture of their Trisanku experience, which has to be taken note of by all the Indians. These writers are interesting because of the their depiction of the cultural clash and existential dilemmas. They extend the frontiers of Indian experience in a way. I, therefore, respect them.

Sarangi -Who is your desired reader?
Naikar -I write for non-Kannada Indians and non-Indians in general. I do not wish to forget my Kannada roots.  But I want my depiction of Karnataka life and culture to be read and appreciated by the non-Kannada readers. Just as I enjoy a Punjabi novel in English, the Punjabi or a Marathi reader should try to understand and appreciate my depiction of Karnataka life.

Sarangi -How would your rate yourself internationally?
Naikar -I do not know how the international readers like me. But I am happy to know that some British, Canadian and European critics have appreciated my writings and compared and contrasted me with Rohinton Mistry and Amitav Ghosh among others.

 

Sarangi -Do you write in Indian English?
Naikar -Yes. I write in Indian English.  By this I mean, we Indians should not try to imitate the British and American writers in parroting their style. Although we use the English words and grammar, our sensibility should be Indian and it should be redolent of our culture, especially ethnic culture. It should not be colourless convent English, which is neutral without the flavour of specific culture in which it is born.

Sarangi -Indian writing is moving away from the pure British English that first marked colonial and post-colonial literature and is widening to include an Indianness that we’ve been seeing more and more of late. What do you think of this shift – what is now your “natural” way of writing?
Naikar -To repeat what I have already said, the Indian writers should consciously aim at being Indian in the expression of their sensibility, by using Indian phrases, idioms and imagery and symbolism. They should fertilise the English language with local colour, myth, legend, swear words etc just as the African writers like Chinua Achebe, Ngugi and Wole Soyinka have done in their writings. My intention is to write like an Indian in this manner.

Sarangi -What do you think of postcolonial writer? Do you deliberately infuse postcolonial constructs in your writings?
Naikar -To go back to native culture is to be postcolonial. I want to write like an Indian without following or imitating the Western writers.  I wish to go back to my Kannada writers and Sanskrit writers for my models.  This I want to do with vengeance.

Sarangi -Are you satisfied with critics on you?
Naikar -Yes. Most of my Indian and Western critics have satisfied me by their sharp analysis and appreciation of my writings. That has given me a sense of satisfaction and confidence.  Some of them have shown me my weaknesses also.  That will definitely help me in future to improve my writing.

Sarangi - Why is Indian short story not so popular among the academics?
Naikar -  That is because short story happens to be a minor form and the theory of short story has to be developed from the Western as well as Eastern models, which is rather difficult for the Indian academicians. They would be very enthusiastic to study the short story if the Western books are made available to them.

Sarangi -Are you satisfied with the so-called accepted canon of Indian Writing in English in Indian Universities?
Naikar-      Not completely.

Sarangi - How about your novels?
Naikar -  So far I have written two novels.  One is historical, The Sun Behind the Cloud and the other one is philosophical one, Light in the House. More than thirty Indian and foreign scholars have reviewed and written research articles on the first novel.  Several scholars are busy writing articles on the second novel now.

Sarangi - What are your major themes in novels?
Naikar -   Colonial encounter between the a Peshwa King of Naragund kingdom and the authorities of the East India Company during 1857-58 War of Independence (wrongly described as Mutiny by the British), betrayal of faith, loss of kith and kin and kingdom and quest for freedom at any cost are the major themes in The Sun Behind the Cloud. Disillusionment with the worldly life, tragic suffering, ephemerality of life, search for a guru, success in finding a guru, social reformation and communal harmony, final salvation and merger with God, are the major themes of Light in the House.

Sarangi -You seem to champion   Indian social issues as major concern in novels. Do you subscribe to the idea, art is the criticism of life?
Naikar - Definitely yes. Literature should be a reflection as well as a critique of life and culture.

Sarangi -You make a lot of authorial comments in your works. Do you want to propagate any particular idea?

Naikar -I do not propagate any particular idea.  But I must show some pointers in my works to help the reader understand the characters, events and the philosophy behind them.