Timeless Soul: A Quest for Immortality
₹500.00
Author: Prakash Nayak Translator: Mysore Nataraja
Timeless Soul is the English translation of the Kannada novel Antu by Prakash Nayak (Chanda Pustaka, 2020). The original novel was considered a valuable addition to the world of Kannada novels because of its theme and narrative technique. The novel discusses aspects of the modern American corporate world. It explores questions that the protagonist encounters during his involvement in a project initially intended to navigate the competitive field of new technologies. While probing a secretive project, a team of investigators confronts profound questions about life, death, rebirth, and the eternal cycle of existence. Does the apparent end of one thing lead to the beginning of another? From the west coast of India to the west coast of the United States, their intertwined journeys reflect shifting realities and evolving possibilities. The lucid English translation from Kannada preserves the original’s rhythm and soul, offering readers a seamless passage into a world of wonder and reflection.
Interested readers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book.
| Also available on |
| Category: | Indian Literature in Translation |
|---|
| Format | |
|---|---|
| Author |
Related products
-
The Gandhi Cap and Other Short Stories
₹345.00Author: Raja Radhikaraman Prasad Sinha, Translator: Mahendra P Srivastava
The book The Gandhi Cap and Other Short Stories offers a glimpse into the lifetime of work of a forgotten pioneer of Hindi fiction, Raja Radhikaraman Prasad Sinha. It is ironic that one cannot find a single book by this author who was so dedicated to Hindi literature. The stories in this collection are a testament not only to the contributions of Sinha to Hindi fiction but also, reflect the depth of political and social milieu of the times. Many readers will be moved by the elements patriotism, feminism, secularism, and spiritualism in these stories. Strong female characters are common in most of these stories. These characters provide both a moral fulcrum to the stories as well as reflect the struggle of women to balance prevailing customs with modernity. Some of these stories provide sharp political and social commentary that still have currency (The Gandhi Cap). Sinha incorporates a unique style of writing that uses lyrical prose and poetry together. He even employs a dialogue between the storyteller and a social gathering in the form of an epilogue, to offer a discourse on social dilemma about women’s plight to become modern while admonishing them to retain their Indian essence (An Expensive Bargain). We hope the readers will enjoy this wonderful collection.
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.
-
A Handful of Sesame
₹310.00Author: Srinivas B Vaidya, Translator: Maithreyi Karnoor
With a captivating start, A Handful of Sesame plunges us into the heart of the dying years of the 1857 mutiny. But the mutiny is largely a backdrop to the novel. When Kamalanabh of Kashi is manipulated by an impoverished Brahmin of Navalgund into marrying his daughter, the novel becomes basically the story of an internal migration. This is rare, and it remains one of the strengths of the novel. We are so used to speaking of migration across the postcolonial bridge and accredited national borders that we forget that India is a country of endless internal migrations – in the past and the present.
Interested readers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book.
-
Sati Kamale
₹240.00Author: S U Paniyadi Translators: B Surendra Rao, K Chinnappa Gowda
This eponymous novel is centred on Kamale, who is an embodiment of wifely virtue. For fifteen long years Kamale lives the life of a widow to the outside world, nurturing the hopes of reuniting with the husband one day. Alone in the room, each night she wears her marks of a married woman with the dagger gifted by Umesha next to her. It could be seen as an exposition on the then existing indigenous discourse in India in the 19th century and early 20th century. Kamale, in her rigorous commitment and in retrieving her husband from ‘death’, is fashioned after Savithri in an intertextual reference to Mahabharata’s episode of “Satyavan and Savithri”. The novel might look conservative for the present-day reader, but it is a representative literary work of the time when Paniyadi, among many others, wanted to regain the independent status of the Tulu language which had somehow slipped out of its pedestal.
Interested readers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book.
-
The Pollen Waits on Tiptoe- Selected Poems
₹310.00Author: Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre Translator: Madhav Ajjampur
The book presents English translations of 26 selected poems of 20th-century Kannada literature’s varakavi (heaven-touched poet) and one of the greatest lyric poets to have lived: Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre.
Although no selection of Bendre’s poems, even in the original Kannada, can ever be representative of the astonishing range of his poetry, the poems in this book give the reader a sampling of some of the different types of poems Bendre wrote – including the blank verse of his sonnets, the free verse of some of his later poetry, and the overwhelmingly-euphonic lyric poems of his first period. Several of the included poems are also acknowledged classics.
A standout feature of this book is its character as a multimedia presentation. Given the exceptional aural quality of Bendre’s poetry, a provision has been made for the reader to listen to audio recordings of each poem, in both its original and translated forms. Also included are Afterwords which, among other things, contain stories about Bendre, interesting anecdotes related to the poems, and reflections on the process of translation.
Interested overseas customers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book.
Also available on

eBook available on

-
Swapna Saraswatha
₹530.00Author: Gopalakrishna Pai Translator: Sumathi Shenoy, M R Rakshith, Savita Sastri
Swapna Saraswatha is the saga of migration of a community called Saraswaths in the west coast of India, extending from Goa to the south of Mangalore. It captures the dominance of a colonial power over the region that began with the entry of the Portuguese about four hundred years ago. The novel is a graphic description of the displacement of this strongly-rooted community which saw its resurrection in a new area. In the course of its narrative, the novel traces the gradual changes in the structure of the family that moved from a closely knit joint family of the bygone era to the nuclear family. It also deals with the factors that are responsible for the change in value systems of individuals in the wake of such paradigm shifts. With its vast canvas, it remarkably weaves fiction with myth and history, peppered with cultural details and linguistic nuances. The narration in Swapna Saraswatha progresses in the form of an epic detailing the story of nine generations spread over a period of two hundred and fifty years from 1510 to about 1760. It encompasses more than a hundred and fifty characters which include Hindus, Muslims, Christians, chieftains, traders, farmers, priests and black magicians, and covers a range of themes spread across folk tales, legends, armies, myths and a sprinkling of history.
-
Swan Song
₹320.00Author: 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.
Interested readers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book. -
Two Plays – The Sahyadri Saga and The World of Swayamvara
₹199.00Author: Akshara K V Translator: Jayanth Kodkani
These two plays negotiate with the real problems of contemporary India. If Sahyadri Kanda is about the ripples caused in the life of the people in a village on the Western Coast which will soon have a nuclear plant, Swayamvaraloka, is an allegorical narrative set in a small village that extends to include the larger contemporary world. Both the plays dwell on the seeming binaries of village-city, success-failure, modern-traditional while examining the nature of human relationships in the changing world. These plays also reflect an ambition to elevate the real experience to a mythical level. While most playwrights attempt to echo contemporary concerns by reinterpreting history and mythology, for these plays, the epics, their grandeur, the struggle, the wars are not episodes that happen in kingdoms and palaces and battlefields, they are also that which takes place in the microworld of one’s consciousness. Each character in these plays find their own dharma, yet it offers no model for the reader, and remains only a pointer to the complex process of finding it.
Interested readers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book.
Also available on

eBook available on















