Sep 20 2026 to Sep 20 2026 11:30 a.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Language: Kannada and English

What does it mean to search for the divine at the very limits of language itself?

This event centres on the English translation of D.R. Nagaraj’s final and most innovative work: an engagement with the twelfth-century Shaiva mystic and poet, Allama Prabhu. The session opens with an introduction to Allama and his enigmatic vachanas, moves into a reflection on the work of translating into English the nuanced thought of Nagaraj, and arrives at a conversation on what it takes to carry a difficult, vital inheritance across language and time.

Nagaraj situates Allama across three widening contexts: medieval Shaiva philosophy, the pan-Indian bhakti movement, and Indian mystical thought more broadly, reading him alongside poet-spiritualists like Basava, the philosopher Abhinavagupta, and Gorakhnath. Central to this vision is Allama’s resistance to Sringara, the erotic and romantic mode typical of devotional poetry, pushing instead toward a bhakti that exceeds expression altogether. In tracing Allama’s thought, the discussion is equally a tribute to Nagaraj himself, whose singular scholarly imagination made this reading possible, and whose legacy now finds new life in a new language, for new audiences.

Venue: Seminar Halls
Speakers

N.S. Gundur
Professor & Translator
Professor N.S. Gundur is a literary critic, translator and leading Indian researcher, presently Professor and Chairman of the Post-Graduate Department of English, Tumkur University. He has written insightful essays on major works of the Kannada tradition. Recipient of a New India Foundation translation fellowship to translate D.R. Nagaraj’s Allamaprabhu Mattu Shaiva Pratibhe from Kannada, his work—published by Permanent Black and SUNY Press—has received global appreciation, with Sheldon Pollock describing it as “a remarkable contribution to literary and historical scholarship.”

Prithvi Datta Chandra Shobhi
Historian, Krea University
Prithvi Datta Chandra Shobhi is a scholar of Karnataka’s history, politics, and Kannada literature. He teaches history and the humanities at Krea University, where he serves as Dean of the School of Interwoven Arts and Sciences (SIAS).

Rajendra Chenni
Director, Manasa Centre for Cultural Studies, Shivamogga
Rajendra Chenni is a bilingual writer with 21 books in Kannada and 7 in English. Acknowledged as a leading critic, his writings combine theoretical rigour with close readings of literary, cultural and political texts. He has played a seminal role in shifting Kannada criticism from a textualist to a cultural studies framework. His works in English include Speaking for Someone, Of Many Worlds, Traditions of Modernity, State Matters: Kannada Sub-Nationalism and State Formation, Speaking for Karnataka (co-editor), The Vachanas of Sarvajna (general editor) and Mudtown (a novel). His honours include the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi Lifetime Achievement Award, the G.S. Shivarudrappa Award, the Kuvempu Bhasha Bharati Lifetime Achievement Award and the Kannada Rajyotsava Award (2025).