Pattamahadevi Shanthaladevi
Publication Date: 19th May 1978 (1st Edition)
Genre: History
About the Book
Preparation for the Ground-work - Writing the Great EPIC NOVEL (Maha Kruthi)
Even though CKN has written in several literary forms in the form of Stories, Novels, Dramas, Radio plays, Reviews, Research works, Movie stories, Screen plays and other forms, he was always thinking about writing a great Novel. For that purpose, his mind was searching for a subject. A literary person is an unsatisfied soul. He doesn’t get satisfaction easily. When one thing is finished, then the writer would get the desire to write another one. His mind would always be moving towards writing greatest literary works. Every great literary person yearns to dedicate his entire knowledge and talent to create a great work. For that to happen, he would be ready to work hard for a long period of time to achieve it. Since CKN had many interests, naturally he had expansive knowledge on various fields. As he was immersed always in literature and in other art mediums, that kind of subject matter was attractive to him.
Purchase the Book
When CKN had read ‘AnthahpurageethegaLu’ by D.V.Gundappa, he was thrilled with joy. He experienced seeing a new sparkle of light coming through a tiny hole. The sculptured ladies who had inspired DVG to write ‘AnthahpurageethegaLu’, danced in front of his eyes. In order to see those sculptures with his own eyes, CKN took a trip to Beluru. He was amazed at the architectural grandeur of Lord Chennkeshav temple in Beluru. What a marvelous art! Then his mind drifted towards knowing about who was responsible for building this temple. He looked at the Sculptured Ladies again and again. He was immersed in looking at the intricate art workdone by the Sculptors. He was engrossed in his mind and body with the magnificent Sculptures.
In 1952 there was a Kannada Literary Conference (Kannada Sahitya Sammelana) in Beluru. This was presided over by Sri. S.C. NandeemaTha. CKN went to Beluru for the second time, under the pretext of attending the Kannada Sahitya Sammelana. Again he went to see the Sculptured Ladies. His mind drifted towards looking at the history pages. In Hassan, he looked through in the pages of history book ‘Epigraaphia Karnataka and Karnataka Gazeteer’ volumes. He studied the Hoyasala Kingdom’s historical facts about the artistic grandeur in Beluru. He saw Hoyasala Queen, Shanthaladevi, as the central figure. He realized that her contribution was immense for this artistic grandeur in Beluru. He collected and studied all the literature available related to Shanthaladevi. He felt that the literary works written already about this magnificient queen was incomplete. His mind was longing to know about this great personality.
CKN decided to write the novel making Shanthaladevi as his main character, presenting her complete personality as well as the life of people during her times in a detailed manner. After collecting the historical facts and examining them, CKN felt that there was never a woman like her born before her and there would not be any other born like her in the future. He studied with his own efforts Ayurveda, Astrology, Warfare, Sculpting and its Principles, Music, Literature, Dance, Black Magic and other things. He studied in many different ways to know about the lifestyle of people lived at that time. Even in legends, he found some facts here and there. He paid attention to the measurement, distance, weight, time, idioms that were being in use at that time. Shanthaladevi was an artist. She had received many titles. In order for her to obtain that status, there was no shortage in her talents. Tradition would become a problem at all times. It would be difficult either to disobey traditions or not to disobey also. It is the same with the righteousness also. Shanthaladevi is the proof that people from different religious backgrounds could live harmoniously and peacefully together. Since Shanthaladevi’s diversified life blended with the life span of people living during that time, the size of this novel became very big. It would not have been possible to showcase the larger picture in any other literary form other than in the form of a Novel.
The reason for Shanthala to become a heroine was because of her multifaceted life. So much of her diversified knowledge was not seen in any of the male character. The main purpose of creating this novel was to combine history and fiction together. In order to collect the material for this novel, CKN went through lots of hardship. Once when he decided to write this novel about Shanthaladevi, he visited the places of those times where the incidents had occurred to collect the data. He came to know about those places. He studied the geography. He discussed with experts with regards to Sculpting principles, traditions with regards to Horses, Dance forms and other subjects. For each, he prepared a long list of dates, characters, incidents, places, spoken languages etc. He studied the traditions, the deities and Gods, the rules and regulations of households, Palace’s customs and practices, and even about the cunningness prevailed at that time. The creation of this Novel started focussing in only one direction.
He did not follow any kind of rules or routines while writing. With all his family responsibilities, it was not possible also. There was no separate room. Whenever there was time, he continued to write along with his family responsibilities. Whenever he started writing, he used to be engrossed in it; other problems were left behind. CKN is an artist. An artist has two personalities. One is that he is his own person. Second thing is that during acting, he is playing the character. Since CKN had this personality, he did not find it difficult to get immersed in writing. The writing of this novel continued uninterrupted for about seven to eight years.
In between his writings he was away for six months in travelling. Even those times, the characters in the novel were conversing with him in his mind. In the Novel, the characters are important. CKN while writing this novel played the character himself like an actor. In narrating many incidents, he has used the flashback technique. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to connect the characters. This novel has the mixture of narration of direct incidents and also the narration through flashback. The technique of narrating the story through incidents is used more. During the writing of this novel, he had the full cooperation of his wife Smt. Rajamani.
The novel, “Pattamahadevi Shanthaladevi’’ was born due to his long period of research, study, hardwork and dedication by absorbing his entire talents.
Publishing the Novel 'Pattamahadevi Shanthala-Devi
After the novel was completed, he was troubled by the problem of publishing it. No publishers came forward to publish it. One publisher said, “I haven’t heard even your name”. Another said, “I do not even know the name of this book”. CKN’s name was forgotten in the literary world. There was all the reason for it. CKN did not publish any prominent book for nearly twenty years. All his previous works that were quite famous were not reprinted and were not in the market for people to see. The newspapers in which his literary works, journals and memorable articles were published before had limited circulation. These were never published in the book form. His name was not in the public domain as he did not have a prestigious position. Due to all these reasons, it was not surprising that he did not find a publisher.
This great novel was written with great ambition. It had to be published. CKN is adventurous and a spirited person. He decided to publish the novel on his own. He requested his friends to pay in advance the full amount as subscribers for buying the novel. He received the cooperation from the people who were interested in reading literary works. They came forward to pay Rs. 150/- to buy the novel. To publish the novel, Canara Bank gave the loan. In 1978, this epic novel “Pattamahadevi Shanthaladevi”, was published in two big volumes. To print 2000 copies, about Rs.90,000 were spent. He became known in the Kannada literary world as a new Novelist.
Pattamahadevi Shantaladevi
The story of Pattamahadevi Shantaladevi is more than 900 years old. This is Hoyasala Dynasty’s historical story which enriched the Kannada culture of the land with literature, music, dance, sculpture and sculpting principles (Vaastu Shilpa). The incidents in the history of people’s life starting with the last decade of eleventh century until the beginning of the fourth decade of twelfth century has been presented in this novel. As a complimentary to the story of Hoyasala kingdom, the incidents and descriptions of the neighbouring kingdoms of Paramaara, Chaalukya, Chola, KongaLva, ChungaLva, AaLupa, Saanthara, Ucchangi Pandya, Kadamba and others have also been included. The reconstructed incidents at the most famous places in Karnataka have been sketched and imprinted in this novel.
CKN has done in depth preparation to create this epic novel. He visited hundreds of places by himself to collect the information where the incidents took place. He studied about eight hundred (800) stone inscriptions as well as several inscriptions on copper plates. Ten years of his time was dedicated to visit these places to collect the information in detail and to study them. The writing of this novel took about eight years. During the period between 1968 and 1976, this novel was in the making. This superb novel has been created by putting lots of efforts for a long period of time with diligence and devotion. The most distinguished feature of this Novel is combining historical facts with fictional elements by without offending or not doing injustice (apachaaravaagadhante) to the historical facts.
In this novel, there are two hundred historical (200) characters that were found on the inscriptions and one hundred and twenty (120) fictional characters. Out of these, about sixtyfive (65) historical characters and thirty (30) fictional characters were the main ones. The importance of historical facts than the fiction has been given the most attention. Because of this, it feels like this novel is purely an historical one. Even though the situations and incidents seemed to have happened during the span of more than One Hundred and fifty years, only the details of the incidents happened during the forty years life span of the main character Shanthaladevi is important in the novel. The novel’s major portion is dedicated in expressing the evolving personality of Shanthala.
In India’s history, Shanthaladevi’s personality was magnificent. Her knowledge, patience, reconciling approach to righteousness, tolerance for other Religions, Artistic capabilities, generosity, a bold stature, wisdom, statesmanship in ruling the kingdom were of very high standard. The incidents happened in Shanthala’s life, from her childhood until her salvation, have been presented in the novel. “The art, culture, sculpture, righteousness, literature, life of citizens, politics, conflicts, economic conditions, conspiracy, superiority, scheming, attractions to the human weeknesses, backbiting, treasonous act, Loyalty to kingdom, Loyalty to persons, warfares, dreadful selfishness, superstition” and some other things are all incorporated into writing this novel. The ordinary every day matters have been braided along with the spiritual matters of life. This story is a reflection of the entire lifestyle of the olden times. Even then, the eternal, permanent and universal human consciousness has embraced the ever present human behavior in this novel. This awareness has increased the novel’s meaningfulness and its value.
This novel contains stories of three generations of prominent historical characters. Hoyasala Kingdom dynasty’s important gems were Vinayaaditya, Yereyangaprabhu and Bittideva. These three persons’ entire life story has been appeared in this novel. The main characters along with several incidents have been delicately fitted into Shanthale’s character. Shanthale’s splendor with her multidimensional personality spread all over other characters as well as in the incidents. Shanthale is the focal point of this novel.
Karnataka Saahithya Academy gave the prestigious award to “Pattamahadevi Shanthaladevi” Novel as the year 1978’s ‘Best Creative Literary Work’. Due to this award, the novel became more popular. Two thousand copies of this Magnum Opus Novel was sold in three years after the release of the book amazing the publishers’ world.
“Pattamahadevi Shanthaladevi” novel has been translated in Hindi Language. The translator is Sri. P. Venkatachala Sharma. The Hindi version was published by Bharatheeya Jnanapit. After it was published in Hindi, the novel became famous nationally. This novel received the very first “Moorthydevi Puraskara award” by Bhaaratheeya Jnanapit in 1983. This is the first Kannada Novel receiving the first award for a literary work out of other Indian languages. When this award was announced, CKN was on his foreign tour in Europe in 1984.
