Yakṣa-navodaya is an attempt at aesthetically stitching together the compositions of a few Navodaya poets of Kannada. The compositions chosen are ene śuka-bhāṣiṇi of D V Gundappa, nānu baḍavi āta baḍava of Bendre, bṛṃdāvanakè hālanu māralu of Kuvempu, nīḍu pātheyavanu of Ti. Nam. Sri, ahalyè of Pu. Ti. Na, nīvallave of K S Narasimhaswamy. The production is merely an attempt to indicate one such possibility.
DVG never lost an opportunity to express his views on public affairs. To this end, he contributed to the leading periodicals of the country for many decades. In a popular article titled Thoughts on Republic Day, he mused on several important issues that plagued post-Independence India. He made a distinction between an ‘excited hour’ and an ‘average day’ and urged the leaders to promote moral integrity:
19. Vikramasena carried the vetāla for the ninth time on his back. The vetāla started narrating yet another story –
Before 1940, all those who administered the State in the position of the Dewan were loyal and competent in their own ways. As mentioned earlier, there are two levels of State governance – 1. Development (Progress) and 2. Day-to-day administration. Likewise, there are two different standards of people who run the State’s administration – 1. Statesmen and 2. Administrators.
When they ascend the throne, England’s Kings (or Queens) take an oath in front of their subjects that they will follow, preserve, and protect the traditional methods and rules of governance. In India, the President who is in place of the King, takes this oath while swearing in — “I will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law.” (Art. 60) Thus, even the highest official of the state is subject to the arrangement accepted by the common people.
DVG was a person of the people. His spectrum of contacts extended between the extremes of traditional scholars and true-blue Marxists. Long-standing interaction with a wide variety of people had provided him a window into the recesses of social life that usually remain unnoticed. His prodigious learning in political philosophy and statecraft contributed to his insight into world affairs. All this put together enabled him to see communism for what it is even when it was at an incipient stage in India.
That doesn’t mean we don’t want democracy at all. The State must be dependent on the citizenry is an important principle. The policies of the State as well as the rules and regulations must be in harmony with the majority. The extent of politics necessary (or adequate) for the majority to express its true opinion should be the extent to which their rights need to be protected. Democracy beyond that may lead to extremes.
King Trivikramasena, for the seventh time, heaved the corpse onto his shoulder and set out. The vetāla started narrating another tale: