It’s no exaggeration if I call S.L. Bhyrappa as a living legend in Bharatiya Sahitya and the best-selling writer who turned 89 recently.
“All his novels have magnetic ripples of intellectualism, diverse themes, eloquent style of story writing, striking language and emotions which make the reader to read it at stretch”
The variety of topics he has explored is quite astounding. Vamshavruksha deals with the relevance of tradition in the face of a fast-changing world; Tabbaliyu Neenaade Magane dissects the manner in which consumption has hijacked even a sense of basic compassion, ethics and morality; Anchu is a complex exploration of the mind of an emotionally insecure human being; Daa Tu deals with the myriad layers of complexity in the so-called caste system; Parva is a retelling of the Mahabharata with rare insights; Saartha is a cultural recreation of an India which stood at crossroads in the 8th century; Gruhabhanga, inspired by his own childhood, is a heart-rending saga of poverty, perversity and profundity etched into the early years of a destitute village boy; Saakshi is an artistic exposition of desire and greed; Tantu is an epic commentary on the all-pervasive decline of post-Independence India culminating with the Emergency; Mandra has been described by the author himself as his thesis on art and morality and a tribute to legendary singer Gangubai Hangal.; Aavarana is an unveiling of “secularism” as practiced in post-independent India juxtaposed with historical realities.
The advent of the Nehruvian era signaled an unfortunate break from rich Indian literary tradition. Excellence was no longer the highest virtue. Adherence to changing fads like ‘non-violence’ and ‘secularism’ was. Universities and public establishments were gradually filled with people subscribing to the new order. Communism, the enemy of excellence by its very definition, was another favourite with Nehru.
Literature was no longer about merit, talent and erudition. Instead, human emotions as reflected in literature had to operate within the ‘social responsibility’ framework. The government would in turn recognize writers and artists adhering to these Nehruvian ideals by granting awards, positions, and pelf so that they could further the cause with greater commitment.
However, only a handful of people could successfully resist this State-enforced framework of literature and stay true to the ancient Indian literary tradition. Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa stands foremost in that list of people.
Being a known critic of the Nehruvian consensus, his works have never enjoyed State patronage. None of his works are prescribed reading in university courses. The author himself has been conspicuously denied the country’s highest literary award, the Jnanpith. This becomes clearer when we take a look at the political activism of the other Kannada Jnanpith recipients in the last two decades.
The only government award he has received is the Kendra Sahitya Academy award for Daa Tu.
None of his works have had an official release. News of their release spreads by word of mouth.
Bhyrappa's works do not fit into any specific genre of contemporary Kannada literature such as Navodaya, Navya, Bandaya, or Dalita, partly because of the range of topics he writes about.

In an elaborate interaction with Organiser, 

SL Bhyrappa himself explains the reason for this. “If you are serious in writing, one has to be very knowledgeable and experienced. Along with original research, it was Bharateeya Tatva Shashtra that gave value to my work. Serious study of Tatva Shashtra is a kind of training in learning the nuances of any subject. We start with dealing with today’s characters, but the value of our work lies in the fundamental questions we handle while analyzing the problems of these characters. Today's writers are not interested in Tatva Shashtra and instead are more interested in criticizing other’s works.” he said in one of his recent public interactions.
Born on 20th August 1931 near Chennarayapattana, Hassan, SLB had a difficult childhood.
He lost his mother and brothers to Bubonic plague in his early childhood and took on odd jobs to pay for his education. During his childhood, he was influenced by the writings of Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar.
Bhyrappa attended Navodaya High School, Channarayapatna, Sharada Vilas High School, Mysore. After his Intermediate, Bhyrappa enrolled for a BA Honours in Philosophy because, as he says in his autobiography, Bhitti, “the question of death always haunted me and I wanted to find out more. On the advice of my lecturer, Mr. Yaamunacharya, I took up Philosophy.” He graduated with top honours and won a gold medal for his MA.
He earned a Doctor of Philosophy – Satya mattu Soundarya (Truth and Beauty) written in English, at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.
S L Bhyrappa was a Lecturer of Philosophy at Sri Kadasiddheshwar College, Hubli; Sardar Patel University in Gujarat; NCERT, Delhi; and the Regional College of Education, Mysore from which he retired in 1991.

His stay in Hubli also saw him write a rebuttal to missionary pamphlets denigrating Hinduism. He later expanded that rebuttal in the form of his novel, Dharmashree (1961). It deals with the disruptive dimensions of aggressive proselytization by missionaries. His student arranged for publishing the book. The publisher Sahitya Bhandara has remained his publisher to this day.
In its Preface, Bhyrappa confesses that during his Intermediate days, he was “greatly influenced by all things western and had developed a condescending attitude to all things native”. It was then that he happened to hear the name of Ananda K Coomaraswamy. Intrigued, he read the entire body of his work. Coomaraswamy’s writings on the various facets of Indian art and aesthetics formed a deep impression on Bhyrappa.
After his stint in Hubli, Bhyrappa moved to Sardar Patel University in Gujarat. He admits in his autobiography that the years here were his first real struggle-free years. He put them to good use, earning himself a PhD for his thesis titled-Truth and Beauty.
It was also during this period that he wrote his first landmark novel, Vamshavruksha in just 31 days.
Even as the Vamshavruksha manuscript lay in wait, Bhyrappa planned to present another thesis for his D. Litt degree. However, as he says in Bhitti, he was struck by a feeling that academic works—even his chosen field of philosophy—left him unfulfilled: “it gave me intellectual stimulation but by then I realized that by temperament I was creative and this academic work would not gratify my creative impulse.” This realization was the death of his D.Litt.
Vamshavruksha was published in 1965 and Dr. Bhyrappa has never looked back.
He stayed for a few more years in Gujarat and then took up a job at NCERT, New Delhi. He recounts that after a few years, he became frustrated. The reason according to him was that for a creative writer writing in his mother tongue, it made more sense to live in his native state so he would be in touch with the language and culture on a daily, intimate basis.
He finally succeeded in getting a transfer to the Regional Institute of Education, Mysore from where he retired.
His chosen language of expression is Kannada, particularly the dialect that is spoken in the Old-Mysore region. Most of his novels are set in this geography, the one he is most intimately familiar with. However, if his novels are set in a different geography, he makes it a point to travel to those places and get a firsthand feel of the place, its people, and culture. The other characteristic that stands out in all his novels is extensive research.
When Bhyrappa initiated his career as writer, ‘Navya’ movement was a prominent literary movement in Karnataka, but Bhyrappa cherrypicked the distinct way of writing. He discovered answers to his haunting questions of life. He chose Novel as a form of his creative thoughts.
On 01st February 2020, S L Bhyrappa expressed his intention to laying down his pen…
He said he was not getting any fresh ideas to write and give shape in the form of a book.
Dr. Bhyrappa expressed this at an interaction program after receiving Ambikatanayadatta National Award given by Da. Ra. Bendre National Memorial Trust, Dharwad,
Admitting that he had been seized by an impulse to drop his pen for good earlier as well, Dr. Bhyrappa added, “But I was often gripped by another idea, another theme and I would set to work on those. This has not come to pass this time around since I have no theme to work on. Considering my age, I do not think Kannada literature can expect another novel from me.”
In the interactive session, SLB spoke about various issues including Caste, Education and also Role of a writer in society.
In an indirect attack on Marxists, he said “Literary movements tie down writers to a particular ideology. A writer associated with such a movement will have to produce works that conform to its ideology. One will find that works adhering to an ideology will be reviewed favourably by critics who are also acolytes of the same. Similarly, when a writer deviates from this ideology, he or she is reproached. I believe that a writer must steer clear of any such movement”.
The Man Booker prize winner Aravind Adiga wrote in Outlook on 11-03-2013 that
U.R. Ananthamurthy’s nomination for this year’s Man Booker International prize may have delighted his admirers throughout India but it has stirred an old debate among a small but vocal section of Kannada readers: is Ananthamurthy really the best novelist in the language? For them, his fame is not the result of his great novels—Samskara, Bharatipura, Avasthe—but a left-wing conspiracy to elevate him over the novelist who is not only the best in Kannada, but perhaps in any Indian language: S.L. Bhyrappa.
And who is Santeshivara Lingannaiah Bhyrappa? Winner of the Sahitya Akademi award, he’s the author of 24 widely read and sometimes very controversial Kannada novels. These achievements are overshadowed, however, by a single fact: S.L. Bhyrappa is pro-Hindutva. His unvarnished political opinions—he opposes religious conversion and cow slaughter, and thinks that Tipu Sultan is a religious fana¬tic rather than a national hero—embarrass even his own admirers. It would be convenient to celebrate only Ananthamurthy, who is staunchly secular, and forget that the odious Mr Bhyrappa exists at all. The problem is that his writing can be so infuriatingly good.
Further, in that article Adiga accuse Dr. Bhyrappa for standing with Communal Elements and asks him to follow Pseudo Secularism.
From historic novels to those that deal with social stigmas to science fiction, SL Bhyrappa’s works have drawn the admiration of the readers in almost every field of literature.
Each of his work comes with its research and does not fall into any preconceived notions on the subject dealt with in work. Bhyrappa narrates the reason for this. “Philosophies like existentialism emerged in Europe due to its own societal experiences after world wars. Sartre, Camus were the pioneers in propagating this form of existentialism. Many in India found this attractive including me. But when I studied it further, I found it empty. Many of our authors were influenced by reading literary works on existentialism, while I studied the core philosophy itself and did not fall for its lure. I then studied various forms of Bharatiya Mimamsa in art and literature. I studied the reason and the core principles behind art, music, painting, sculpture, dance and drama too. Then I understood that these external philosophies are not permanent and hence I did not come under their influence.”
“My travels showed me that Bharat is about villages and the lifestyles in these villages are more or less the same throughout the country. I have travelled and stayed in villages of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and many districts of Karnataka. There might be slight differences in the way they perceive issues, but there is no much difference in the lifestyles, practices or traditions in our villages.”
In 2001, when the so-called progressive literature was a rage in Kannada literary field, Bhyrappa published his much-acclaimed work Mandra (Lower Octave) which narrates the experiments of a singer with classical music and the trial and tribulations he undergoes due to his choice of career. It was a culture shock for many as most expected him to publish another historical work after his earlier novel ‘Saartha’ (published in 1998) dealt with the destruction of institutes of learning in ancient India. His detractors who had foul-mouthed him for ‘saffronising’ Kannada literature, had nothing to criticize. The puzzle that was Bhyrappa remained so at the cost of unsettling the beliefs of his critics.

Idea of Bharat

Bhyrappa might have remained an enigma, but a common strand that emerges in each of his works is the essence of Bharat. It was possible due to his understanding of the fundamentals of Bharatiya society. He says, “After work, I used to go and stay at a village. I did not do anything in the village except listen to villagers and observe them. That used to tell me a lot about the village and the way it worked. People opened up about everything from rains, politics, sports and even relationships!” It tells us the way he involves in understanding people and their emotions which are reflected in the characters of his novels.

Dr. Bhyrappa always says that he developed a sense of being not attached to the results of his work by studying Tatva Shashtra. He has remained a spectator to the criticisms and books that were written deriding him. He has maintained that whatever he writes is what he senses in his characters

His literature is the continuation of the legacy of Bharateeya literature. The themes, arts, philosophy, music that are in his works are all Bharateeya in nature. It is not just a theory but an experience for him that he has lived. At a time when there are attempts to belittle Bharateeya literature by the cultural left, and before Bhyrappa comes out with his next gem, the best thing a reader of Bharateeya literature can do is to read and re-read works of one of its loftiest sons: Bhyrappa himself.

VandeMataram

Image Credits: Organiser.