Scholar Lakshmisha Tolpadi’s Kannada work Mahabharatha Anusandhana Bharatahayatre bagged the Sahitya Akademi award for the year 2023 in the essays category.
The work is a collection of essays on Vyasa Mahabharatha. The essays had been published earlier (2017) as a Sunday column in the Kannada daily Prajavani. The essays are commentaries of Vyasa’s worldview through the eyes of a Kannada scholar, looking at a range of mundane as well as larger philosophical issues.
Speaking to The Hindu on Wednesday, Mr. Tolpadi said that Kannada literature now lacks works questioning “siddhanta” (ideologies or isms). Speaking over phone from Puttur in Dakshina Kannada, where the 75-year-old author, orator, critic, and farmer lives, he said: “Many works of Kannada literature these days are sycophantic or written to justify ideologies. The works which analyse ideologies from a critical point of view are not too many.”
Senior critic Muralidhara Upadhya Hiriyadka said Mr. Tolpadi’s literary works are marked by deep insights. Mr. Hiriyadkka, a former member of the Sahitya Akademi, said the award is a rare honour for a Kannada critic.
Some of the other important works of Mr. Tolpadi include Betta Mahamadana Balige Baradiddare, Sampige Bhagavatha, Balu, Mahayuddhakke Munna, Anandalahari, and Bhakthina Nepadalli.
The Kannada jury that chose the award winning work had Nagesh Hegde, J.N. Tejasri, and Anand Janjarawada.
