A towering figure in the world of letters, Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy, who died in Bangalore on Friday, was modern in his sensibilities and intellectual underpinnings in his literary works questioned many deeply-held beliefs.
Mourners in large numbers on Saturday paid their last respects to Jnanpith award winner and Kannada literary giant U R Ananthamurthy who was cremated with full state honours in Bangalore.
Jnanpith awardee and renowned Kannada writer UR Ananthamurthy died at a hospital in Bangalore, where he was undergoing treatment for kidney failure. The 81-year-old was said to be in critical condition and was on multi-monitor support. He was hospitalised for infection and fever 10 days ago.
Jnanpith awardee and renowned Kannada writer U R Ananthamurthy, hospitalised for infection and fever, is in a critical condition and undergoing treatment on multi-support system, a senior doctor said on Friday.
What B K S Iyengar and U R Ananthamurthy embodied was a cultural self-confidence. This is why their sense of being Indian and Hindu was non-competitive, non-combative and even non-comparative with other cultures and religions, says Rajni Bakshi.
Renowned Kannada writer and Jnanpith awardee U R Ananthamurthy has been given police protection following threat perception over his remark that he would leave the country if Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister.
He was always opposed to the idea of Narendra Modi as the prime minister and today he has out in the open once again to speak about it.
Well-known Kannada author U R Ananthamurthy, the only Indian to be shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2013, on Wednesday lost the prestigious award to American writer Lydia Davis.
Kannada writer U R Ananthamurthy, who had said that he would leave the country if Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister, on Monday said those remarks were made when he was "overcome by emotion" and clarified that he had no such plan, though he continues to oppose the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Kannada author UR Ananthamurthy has been shortlisted among 10 other authors for the international Man Booker Prize for fiction.
U R Ananthamurthy's assertion of leaving the country if Modi is voted to power is an affront to the deep sense of the Indian voters who have time and again shown a certain sagacity and wisdom of judgement. It certainly shows a 'corruption of the mind' on his part and not on the one he chooses to irrationally oppose, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.
U R Ananthamurthy was one among the most creative triumvirate of Modernist Kannada literature of the late sixties and seventies (the other two being the late P Lankesh and K Poornachandra Tejaswi). He will be missed by all who care to step out and fight for justice and human rights of ordinary people in India despite being surrounded by the consumerist fog, says Shivanand Kanavi.
'There is a difference between the American defined 'Development' and 'Progress' or Sarvodaya defined by Mahatma Gandhi. Agricultural land should not be used for non-agricultural purposes. A peasant who owns a piece of land and works on it to earn his living is an independent citizen. We should not make him an urban coolie'
Janata Dal - Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy on Sunday ended his two-day-old 'indefinite' fast to demand a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's allegation that he and his family had amassed illegal wealth worth Rs 1,500 crore. Kumaraswamy was offered a glass of fruit juice by Jnanapeetha Awardee U R Ananthamurthy at Freedom Park after the latter urged him to withdrew the fast, which the JD-S leader accepted.
Message Board on whether English is killing our thirst for knowledge.
U R Ananthamurthy, one of India's greatest writers and a leading figure in contemporary Kannada literature, is 'saddened and disgusted' by the moral policing in his beloved state. Moral policing is a parental duty, he says, not a governmental one.
U R Ananthamurthy, the Padma Bhushan and Jnanapith award winner, shared his thoughts about the changing Bengaluru and also the threat of terrorism.
'With his stature as a playwright and actor, Girish Karnad was one of the voices of modernity for not just Karnataka but the entire country.'
Economist and author Devaki Jain mourns the loss of her good friend, Girish Karnad.
Karnad, a recipient of Jnanpith Award, was also conferred the Padma Shri in 1974 and the Padma Bhushan in 1992.
'Only when they are in a group or in mobs, then they attack.'
From Aurangzeb to Sangh Parivar, the year 2016 offers plenty of hope in historical and modern literature.
It's official! Bangalore is now Bengaluru, Mangalore is Mangaluru and Mysore is Mysuru from Saturday as Karnataka turned 68.
'This has absolutely nothing to do with Kalburgi or anybody else, it only has to do with two words: Bihar elections. It's electioneering by other means, let's save the fig leaf of morality,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
'One big leader said you might get 3 lakh votes and still lose.' 'I said if I do I will make sure you are sleepless because it will be me and three lakh people.'
Why has a nation created on strong secular principles slowly chipped away those essential values? Why are so many Indians willing to compromise their freedoms and those of their compatriots for the cause of economic progress and to see a shining India,' asks Aseem Chhabra.
The only thing more dangerous than a killer who thinks he is acting to protect his faith or community is the killer who knows he is acting with the sanction of his faith or community
Though the list of superstitious beliefs is long, often dissolving distinctions of class, caste, religion and education, Karnataka's anti-superstition bill is seen as a big step ahead.
U R Ananthamurthy on the importance of keeping alive our regional languages.
'Dadri was an extension of the cultural fascism that was happening in the country.' 'All the people in the country suffered under the Emergency, but now we see one community trying to crush the other community. Do they know what is brewing in the minds of the other side? What is happening today can lead to a very dangerous situation in the country.' 'We have lost religious tolerance in today's India.' Writer Sarah Joseph on why she returned her Sahitya Akademi Award.
'What if Modi becomes the fascist the leftists paints him as? What if he does suspend the Constitution and declares himself the ruler, with support from the army? What exactly will you do, Mr Leftie?' asks Rajeev Srinivasan.
Narendra Modi has a once in a lifetime chance to change and take the RSS-BJP-VHP to a new level. Varanasi is the right place to turn the page on saffron history. By surrendering to the spirit of mystical Varanasi, Modi and his party can change the trajectory of their political journey.
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