Swan Song
₹320.00
Author: T R Subba Rao| Translator: Pramod Mutalik
Swan Song is the poignant tale of Venkatasubbiah, a legendary musician from 18th century Chitradurga. Written by renowned Kannada author Late Shri T R Subba Rao (TaRaSu) and translated into English by Prof Pramod Mutalik, the novel explores the extraordinary journey of an artist whose unwavering dedication to his craft defines his life.
The author weaves together perspectives from people of varied backgrounds to reconstruct Venkatasubbiah’s story, revealing his innate musical genius and determination. It narrates the tale of a musician’s steadfast devotion to art against all odds.
The narrative takes a dramatic turn when Venkatasubbiah defies Tippu Sultan’s order to perform in his palace. To protect the dignity of his art, he sacrifices his ability to sing by cutting off his tongue. Undeterred, he continues to produce swaras through his nose, earning him the metaphorical title of the swan. His life ends while performing, leaving an unforgettable legacy of self-respect and artistic integrity.
| Category: | Indian Literature in Translation |
|---|
| Author | |
|---|---|
| Format |
Related products
-
Kempu Kanagile and Chitra
₹160.00Author: Rabindranath Tagore, Translator: Sudha Adukkala
ಕೆಂಪು ಕಣಗಿಲೆ: ಅದೆಂಥ ಗಾಢಾಂಧಕಾರವೇ ಇರಲಿ, ಪುಟ್ಟ ಹಣತೆಯೊಂದು ಅದನ್ನು ತೊಡೆಯಬಲ್ಲುದೆಂಬುದು ಸಾರ್ವಕಾಲಿಕ ಸತ್ಯ. ಅಂಥದೊAದು ಸಂಘರ್ಷದ ಕಥನವನ್ನು ಗುರುದೇವ ರವೀಂದ್ರರು ತಮ್ಮ ಈ ನಾಟಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಳಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ‘ಕೆಂಪು ಕಣಗಿಲೆ’ ತೆರೆದಿಡುವ ಕೌರ್ಯದ ಜಗತ್ತು ಇಂದು ಈ ಕಾಲಘಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಂತು ಬರೆದರೇನೋ ಎಂಬಷ್ಟು ತಾಜಾ ಆಗಿದೆ. ಇಲ್ಲಿಯ ರಂಜನ ಕೇವಲ ಒಂದು ಪಾತ್ರವಲ್ಲ; ನಾವೆಲ್ಲರೂ ನಮ್ಮೊಳಗೆ ತುಂಬಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕಾದ ಜೀವನ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯ ವಿವಿಧ ಆಯಾಮಗಳ ಪ್ರತಿನಿಧಿ. ಇಲ್ಲಿಯ ನಂದಿನಿ ಇಂದು ಜಗವ ಸಂತೈಸಬೇಕಾದ ತಾಯಿಹೃದಯದ ಪ್ರತೀಕವಾಗಿದ್ದಾಳೆ.
ಚಿತ್ರಾ: ಪೌರಾಣಿಕ ಕಥಾನಕವೊಂದರ ಪುನರ್ಲೇಖನದ ಈ ನಾಟಕವು ಹೆಣ್ಣು ಮತ್ತು ರಾಷ್ಟçವನ್ನು ಒಂದು ಸಂಕಥನವನ್ನಾಗಿ ಚರ್ಚಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಹೆಣ್ಣು-ಗಂಡಿನ ಘನತೆಯ ಬದುಕನ್ನು ಕನಸುವ ನಿರೂಪಣೆ ನಾವು ಕಟ್ಟಬೇಕಾಗಿರುವ ರಾಷ್ಟçದ ರೂಪುರೇಷೆಗಳನ್ನೂ ತನ್ನೊಳಗೆ ಆಡಕ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡಿದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ಅನನ್ಯತೆಯನ್ನು ಉಳಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಲೇ ಇನ್ನೊಬ್ಬರೊಂದಿಗೆ ಸಹಬಾಳ್ವೆಯನ್ನು ನಡೆಸುವ ಬಗೆಯನ್ನು ಮಂಡಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ತಾನು ಆರೋಪಿಸಿಕೊಂಡ ಕೃತಕ ತೆರೆಯನ್ನು ಸರಿಸುವ ಚಿತ್ರಾ ನಮ್ಮೊಳಗಿನ ಅರಿವಿಗೆ ತೊಡಕಾಗಿರುವ ಸಂಕುಚಿತತೆಯ ಪರದೆಯನ್ನೂ ಸರಿಸುತ್ತಾಳೆ.
Interested overseas readers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book. -
Defiance
₹495.00Defiance is a captivating tale of the march of globalization and its impact on the lives and times of the Santher Guthu family in Ombathkere, a village located between Mangaluru and Kasaragodu. Set in the picturesque Malabar coast of Karnataka in the late 20th Century, the novel takes the reader through four generations of the family. Ambakke, the protagonist, along with her brother Sankappa Hegde, the third-generation descendants of the family form the lifeblood of this story of human relationships in the midst of time and change. The novel is born out of deep contemplation of a community in the face of transition. There is anxiety that grips this part of Karnataka in the wake of modernity. The vast canvas of the novel and the depiction of folk culture provides a unique touch to the saga of the community. Defiance is a novel about traditions and the fear of losing out to modernity. It is about change and the desire to remain rooted.
Interested readers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book.
-
Caught in the World of Binaries: Selected Poems of K S Nisar Ahmed
₹310.00Author: K S Nisar Ahmed Editors: C N Ramachandran, M S Raghunath
Professor K S Nisar Ahmed (b 1936) is a geologist by profession and a major writer in Kannada. His first collection of poems, Manasu Gandhi Bazar (My Mind is like Gandhi Bazar) was published in 1960, and since then he has published poetry (15 collections), prose (five collections), and translations from Shakespeare and Neruda. He has been honoured with many awards, including ‘Padmashri’, Honorary D Litt (Kuvempu University), and Pampa Prashasti (Karnataka Government). Living between two languages and two cultures, Prof. Nisar has successfully achieved the balance necessary for the tight-rope walking as a poet. He believes that, “Only when you understand another religion (or culture or language), you really understand your own religion (or culture or language).” The present volume of 100 selected poems exhibits the multifaceted poetry of Nisar that reflects his creative pluralism. The 13 translators of the poems in this volume include A K Ramanujan, V K Gokak and Tejaswini Niranjana.
Interested readers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book.
-
Unheard Sounds Flow On
₹315.00Author: K Mahalinga, Translator: T K Ravindran
In spite of being one of the oldest members of the Dravidian family of languages, Tulu, unfortunately, has not yet found the recognition that it richly deserves in the modern world. Since modernity privileges the written over the spoken, the Tulu language that is abundantly blessed with oral literature has been placed on the fringes of modern literary world. Ironically, Tulu is still engaged in a desperate fight for official status in a country that boasts of its cultural and linguistic diversity. The motives behind the translation of Nanajjer Sude Tirgayer, hailed as the first modern Tulu novel, into English refuse to remain apolitical in this context.
The novel, which has already been translated into Kannada, Konkani and Malayalam, beautifully captures the pulse of rusticity that characterizes the life of a village community that lived its life with its love-hate relationship with nature, more than 75 years ago in a Tulu speaking village in the south-western part of Karnataka. Besides bringing alive the socio-cultural practices that find their articulation through the natural linguistic plurality ingrained in the village psyche, the novel touches upon the duality of human nature that leaves man perennially condemned to an inner crisis.
Interested customers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book.
Also available on

-
Madhavi Kathana Kavya
₹195.00Author: ONV Kurup Translator: Parvathi G Aithal
ವ್ಯಾಸ ಮಹಾಭಾರತದ ಉದ್ಯೋಗ ಪರ್ವದಲ್ಲಿ ಬರುವ ಒಂದು ಉಪಾಖ್ಯಾನವನ್ನಾಧರಿಸಿ ಬರೆದ ಒಂದು ಕಾವ್ಯವಿದು. ಮೂಲಕಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾಧವಿಯ ಶೋಷಣೆ ಎದ್ದು ಕಾಣುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ವಿಶ್ವಾಮಿತ್ರ ಶಿಷ್ಯನಾದ ಗಾಲವನು ತನ್ನ ವಿದ್ಯಾಭ್ಯಾಸವನ್ನು ಮುಗಿಸಿ ಹೊರಡುವಾಗ ‘ಗುರುದಕ್ಷಿಣೆಯಾಗಿ ಏನನ್ನು ಕೊಡಲಿ?’ ಎಂದು ಕೇಳುತ್ತಾನೆ. ವಿಶ್ವಾಮಿತ್ರರು ಗುರುದಕ್ಷಿಣೆ ಬೇಡವೆಂದರೂ ಕೇಳುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಕೊನೆಗೆ ವಿಶ್ವಾಮಿತ್ರರು, ‘ಒಂದು ಕಿವಿ ಮಾತ್ರ ಕಪ್ಪಾಗಿರುವ ಎಂಟುನೂರು ಶ್ವೇತಾಶ್ವಗಳನ್ನು ಕಾಣಿಕೆಯಾಗಿ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಬಾ’ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಆದರೆ, ಅಂಥ ವಿಶೇಷ ಗುಣದ ಕುದುರೆಗಳು ಬಹಳ ದುರ್ಲಭವಾದುವೆಂಬುದನ್ನು ಅರಿತಾಗ ಗಾಲವ ದಾನಶೂರ ಯಯಾತಿ ಮಹಾರಾಜನ ಬಳಿ ಸಹಾಯ ಬೇಡಲು ಹೋಗುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಆಗಷ್ಟೇ ದೊಡ್ಡದೊಂದು ಯಾಗ ಮುಗಿಸಿದ ಯಯಾತಿಯ ಬಳಿ ಅಶ್ವಗಳಿಲ್ಲ. ಆದರೆ, ತನ್ನ ಪ್ರತಿಷ್ಠೆಯನ್ನು ಉಳಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದಕ್ಕೋಸ್ಕರ ಯಯಾತಿ ತನ್ನ ಮಗಳು ಮಾಧವಿಯನ್ನು ಗಾಲವನ ವಶಕ್ಕೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ‘ರೂಪಸಿಯಾದ ಈಕೆಯನ್ನು ಬೇಕಾದ ಹಾಗೆ ಬಳಸಿಕೊಂಡು ನಿನಗೆ ಬೇಕಾದ ಅಶ್ವಗಳನ್ನು ಪಡೆ’ ಅನ್ನುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಹಾಗೆ ಗಾಲವನು ಮಾಧವಿಯನ್ನು ಮೂರು ಮಂದಿ ರಾಜರ ಬಳಿಗೆ ಕರೆದೊಯ್ದು ಅವರಿಂದ ತಲಾ ಇನ್ನೂರು ಅಶ್ವಗಳನ್ನು ಪಡೆದು ಆ ರಾಜರುಗಳಿಗೆ ಒಂದು ವರ್ಷದ ಮಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಮಾಧವಿಯನ್ನು ಒಪ್ಪಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಮೂಲ ಕಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾಧವಿಯ ಮನಸ್ಸಿನ ಸಂಘರ್ಷಗಳು ವ್ಯಕ್ತವಾಗಿಲ್ಲ. ‘ಪುರುಷರಿಂದ ಲೈಂಗಿಕವಾಗಿ ಎಷ್ಟು ಸಾರಿ ಬಳಸಲ್ಪಟ್ಟರೂ ನನ್ನ ಕನ್ಯತ್ವ ಉಳಿಯುವಂಥ ವರ ನನಗಿದೆಯಾದ್ದರಿಂದ ನಾನು ನಿನಗೆ ಸಹಾಯ ಮಾಡಬಲ್ಲೆ’ ಎಂದು ಗಾಲವನ ಬಳಿ ಅವಳೇ ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾಳೆ . ಓಎನ್ವಿ ಕುರುಪ್ ಬರೆದ ಈ ಕೃತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅವರು ಕೆಲವು ಬದಲಾವಣೆಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಇಡೀ ಕಥೆಯನ್ನು ಪುರುಷರಿಂದ ಘೋರ ಅನ್ಯಾಯಕ್ಕೊಳಗಾಗಿ ಮಾನಸಿಕ ಯಾತನೆಯನ್ನು ಅನುಭವಿಸಿರಬಹುದಾದ ಮಾಧವಿಯ ದೃಷ್ಟಿಯಿಂದ ಬರೆಯಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ ಇದರ ಸ್ತ್ರೀವಾದಿ ಓದು ಒಂದು ವಿಶಿಷ್ಟ ಅನುಭವವನ್ನು ನೀಡುತ್ತದೆ.ಮಲಯಾಳದ ಜ್ಞಾನಪೀಠ ಪ್ರಶಸ್ತಿ ವಿಜೇತ ಸಾಹಿತಿ ಓಎನ್ವಿಕುರುಪ್ ಅವರ ‘ಸ್ವಯಂವರಂ’ ಎಂಬ ಖಂಡಕಾವ್ಯದ ಭಾವಾನುವಾದವಿದು. ಮಹಾಭಾರತದ `ಉದ್ಯೋಗ ಪರ್ವ’ ದಲ್ಲಿ ಬರುವ ಒಂದು ಉಪಾಖ್ಯಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಪುರುಷ ವರ್ಗದಿಂದ ಘೋರವಾಗಿ ಶೋಷಣೆಗೊಳಗಾದ ಮಾಧವಿ ಈ ಕಥೆಯ ನಾಯಕಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದು ಇಡೀ ಕಾವ್ಯವೇ ಅವಳ ದೃಷ್ಟಿಕೋನದಿಂದ ರಚಿತವಾಗಿದ್ದರಿಂದ ಸ್ತ್ರೀವಾದಿ ಓದಿಗೆ ಒಳಪಡಿಸಲು ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಸೂಕ್ತವಾದ ಕೃತಿಯಿದು ಎಂದೆನ್ನಿಸಿ ಅನುವಾದಕಿ ಅದರ ಶೀರ್ಷಿಕೆಯನ್ನು ‘ಮಾಧವಿ ಕಥನ ಕಾವ್ಯ’ವೆಂದು ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ . ಇದನ್ನು ಓದಿದಾಗೆಲ್ಲ ರಾಮಾಯಣದ ಸೀತೆಯ ನೆನಪಾಗುತ್ತದೆ.
Interested customers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book.
Also available on

-
The Preferred Pronoun and Other Stories
₹400.00Author: Guruprasad Kaginele, Translator: Narayan Shankaran
The Preferred Pronoun and Other Stories is a unique collection of twelve short stories by Guruprasad Kaginele. These stories arise from the restless tension of being away from one’s roots, the haunting nostalgia for the home left behind, and the interplay of diverse cultures, while also exploring the process of integrating into a new environment. Set against the backdrop of America and within the medical world, the stories reflect the author’s thoughts and experiences.
From Osama, who nervously sweats after discovering a semiautomatic pistol in a schoolteacher’s house, to Morris, a middle aged individual on a quest for the perfect pronoun after gender transformation, the collection brings a wide array of characters and situations to life. The Nesting, a story that triggers many thoughts with its metaphorical allusions to a home blooming over the doom of another, and The Big Save, a story about a doctor yearning to regain his lost mojo despite realizing that it requires jeopardizing a life to save another, along with other stories, amply illustrate the author’s uncanny prowess in the dramatic presentation of compassion, love, jealousy, torts and their befitting punishments, the thin line between good and evil, and other subtle nuances.The stories depict three phases of a migrant’s life: the naiveté and challenges of a new immigrant, the process of assimilation, and the adaptation to American culture, seamlessly woven together to create a cohesive narrative of diverse experiences. Stemming from the choice to build a life in a foreign land, the narratives explore the politics and ethnic consciousness tied to that journey. Through the lens of a doctor’s work and family life in America, Kaginele captures the dynamic political changes in the country, while revealing subtle shifts in ethnic sensibilities and the evolving nature of interpersonal relationships in the migrant experience.
Interested customers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book.
-
Nala Charitre: The Legend of Nala(A Short Epic)
₹295.00This book presents the mythological narrative of Nala-Damayanti as an epic poem in English. Among the luminaries of sixteenth century Bhakti tradition, Kanakadasa’s literary and musical compositions (kirtanes) are imbued with philosophical meanings, which show immense formative influence on the cultural and literary scene of Karnataka. Also, Kanakadasa’s literary works such as Mohana Tarangini, Haribhaktisara, and the eminent allegorical masterpiece Ramadhanya Charitre incorporate metaphors taken from everyday life, which fascinate the commoners and offers them respite from mundane life-struggles. While such metaphorical expressions represent a remarkable trend in Bhakti poetry, in Kanakadasa?s depiction of Nala and Damayanti’s misfortunes, the toilsome life of common men and women stares forth. Hauled out of their palatial leisurely living, a curious turn of events compels them to survive amidst endless suffering. On one hand Nala Charitre is a poignant story of love, and on the other, it thematizes human existence, humandivine relationship and simplifies poetry to reach the audience beyond the limited circle of literates. As the Bhakti Literature assimilates the vernacular into devotional poetry, Kanakadasa?s epic poem interweaves mythological themes from Mahabharata with struggles of medieval Indian society, thus overcoming the binaries of human and divine.
-
Anurakte- The Enamoured
₹390.00Author: Vyasaraya Ballal Translator: Poornima Hebbar
There are many rags-to-riches stories around the city of Mumbai. However, here is a story of transformation of a woman and her true self in the city of dreams. Set in Mangalore and Mumbai of the late 1940s, Anurakte- The Enamoured is an elegantly written story of a woman and her changing worldview over a period of time. Sumithra, a young woman with ordinary dreams and aspirations, comes to the then Bombay in search of livelihood. Little did she know that her experiences in the city and her zest for an independent life would transform her into a different person. She breaks the shell and resolves not to look back. The book is a poignant tale of love, loss, betrayal, family, relationships and traditions. The culturescape of Mumbai beautifully intertwines with her dreams. It is as much a story of the vibrancy of Mumbai as it is about Sumithra’s journey towards freedom.
Interested readers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book.













