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User:Fowler&fowler/Accuracy of sourcing in Kannada literature in KM FAC

< User:Fowler&fowler

I believe that in many places in the text, but especially in statements about the literary successes of the Mysore royalty, overly "optimistic" readings of the sources have been made, and these together with synthesis have resulted in inaccurate paraphrasing of the text.

As I have already indicated in the FAC, two of the sources used are hard to access. (They are not easily available in libraries, let alone on Google Books or any on-line public search engine. As an academic, I have specialty databases and search engines at my disposal, but I still can't access these books.) These are Pranesh (2003), which is a Bangalore University Music Department dissertation, published locally in Bangalore, India, without any ISBN information, and not cited in any English-language publication on Kannada literature. The other is "Kamath (2001)" a regional (Karnataka) college history text-book, also published by a local (i.e. not even India-wide) publisher in Bangalore, and also without any ISBN information, and also not cited in any publication on Kannada literature. It seems that a disproportionate number of footnotes (37 and 27 respectively, the most for any authors) are to these authors; they seem to be footnoted especially when the literary accomplishments of the Mysore royals need to be established. Since I can't check the accuracy of paraphrasing of these two sources, I have crossed them out in Example 1 below, (I approach them differently in Example 2 below.) However, I can check the accuracy of paraphrasing all the other sources.

Example 1

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(See Golden age, paragraph 1):

  1. Sentence 1: "His reign produced numerous prolific writers, not the least the king himself – he was an accomplished scholar in Kannada and a composer of music.[Mukherjee (1999), p. 78] [Shipley (2007), p. 528] [Kamath (2001), pp. 229–230] [Pranesh (2003), pp. 20–21] [Narasimhacharya (2001), p. 23]
    1. Let us now examine what the sources say: Mukherjee, p. 78: "Chikkadevaraja (1645–1704): a distinguished Wodeyar of Mysore; not only an able administrator but also a generous patron of poets and scholars; himself a writer in Kannada. He appears to have been influenced by his friend Tirumalraya, who later became his court poet. Perhaps assisted by him, Chikkadeva wrote Gita-Gopala, a collection of songs reminiscent of Gita Govinda and Chikkadevaraya binnappa, a collection of prose prayers addressed to the god Narayan of Yadugiri (also called Melkote) near Mysore city."
    2. Shipley (2007), p. 528: "The Age of Revival: ... Poets—Tirumalarya and Cikupandhaya—flourished under the patronage of the celebrated Mysore ruler, Cikadevaraja. These writers presented Sri-Vaisnava legend, biography, and doctrine in Kannada. In addition, Tirumalarya introduced contemporary history and paid glowing tributes to this patron king. Sarvajna, author of many popular tripadis (three-line stanzas), presents a storehouse of the wisdom and wit of the Kannada land. Sadaksari is a Virasaiva poet with an extraordinary fance, and a mastery over classical Kannada. The Yaksaganas or folk plays came into prominence in the 18th c. But the literature of the next 150 years was not particularly brilliant. ..." (There is no mention of Chikkadevaraja's literary contributions.)
    3. Narasimhacharya (2001), p. 23 (this is really Narasimhacharya (1934); it is a facsimile reproduction of the 1934 book; user:DK has been warned in a previous FAC and FAR to not continue this practice of dating the reproduction, not the actual edition, but he has done it again in this article, sometimes citing it as Narasimhacharya (1988) and other times Narasimhacharya (2001).) "A remarkable development of Kannada literature also took place in the latter part of the century during the rule of Chikkadevaraja Odeyar (1672–1704), one of the most distinguished kings of Mysore, who was not only a great patron of literary merit, but also an author himself. Two of the ministers, Tirumalarya and ..."
      1. Where is anything said in the available sources that, "His reign produced numerous prolific writers, not the least the king himself – he was an accomplished scholar in Kannada and a composer of music?"
  2. Sentence 2 and 3: "A well-known treatise on music called Geeta Gopala, written in opera style and in the saptapadi metre, is credited to him. Though inspired by Jayadeva's Geeta Govinda (c. 1200), it had an originality of its own. The work differs from the original in that the god Krishna and his Gopikas are the protagonists of the play instead of Krishna and his consort Radha.[Mukherjee (1999), p. 78] [Pranesh (2003), p. 21]
    1. Mukherjee (1999), p. 78: Already quoted in its entirety above.
      1. "It had an originality all its own" where is this said or even implied in the sources? "The work differs from the original in that ..." Where is this mentioned?
  3. Sentence 4 and 5: "The writing consists of fourteen sections, with seven songs in each section. It is considered an asset to students of music and literature. The king's other works are commentaries on the Bhagavata and the later chapters of the epic Mahabharata, a collection of devotional poems written in thirty verses (Chikkadevaraya binappa, "Kings Petition") and composed in praise of the god Cheluva Narayanaswamy of Melkote.[Mukherjee (1999), p. 78][Rice E.P. (1921), p. 90]
    1. Mukherjee (1999), p. 78. already quoted in its entirety above.
    2. Rice, E. P. (1921), p. 90 "The raja himself is credited with the authorship of several books. Two of these are prose commentaries—on the Sanskrit Bhagavata, and on the later parvas (XII–XVIII) of the Mahabharata. Another, Gita Gopala, consists of songs in praise of Krishna, with prose commentaries. But the best known is the Chikka Deva Raja Binnapam (or "King's Petition"). This is a series of thirty verses on religious subjects, each followed by a prose amplification in the form of a prayer to Narayana. The prose is Old Kanarese, and professes to give the gist of Visishtadvaita doctrine for the benefit of all, in accordance with Bhagavad-gita, ix, 32. All his works, however, make considerable mention of the author's territorial conquests. The raja was doubtless aided in the composition of his works by Tirumalarya or Tirumalayengar, who had grown up with him, and been his companion in study. (Italics mine.) He was a great favourite with his sovereign, and became, first, court poet, and then minister. Besides the two histories already mentioned, he wrote a work on rhetoric, entitled Aparatima-vira-charita ("History of a Peerless Hero"), in which every illustrative stanza is in praise of his royal patron."
      1. Where is anything said about "It is an asset to students of music?" Moreover, are we given any indication that at least two of the sources (both the sources, Mukherjee and Rice, cited in these two sentences) consider Chikkadevaraja to possibly have been helped (by his Court Poet) in the composition of these works?!

Example 2

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(See Proliferation of Yakshagana, last half of paragraph 2):

  1. "While scholars such as M.M Bhat, Shivarama Karanth and R.R. Diwakar have proposed various theories about the origin and forerunners of the Yakshagana art,Ashton (2003), pp. 17–23 N. Venkata Rao, editor of The Southern school in Telugu literature (1960), gives the credit of writing the earliest available Yakshagana plays that include sangita (music), nataka (drama) and natya (dance) to the polyglot king of Mysore, Narasaraja Wodeyar II (r. 1704–1714).Pranesh (2003), p. 37The king was proficient in Kannada, Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil and Prakrit. His fourteen Yakshagana compositions, written in various languages but in the Kannada script, were discovered at the government manuscripts library in Chennai.Pranesh (2003), pp. 37–38 By the early 19th century, Yakshagana had become popular in Mysore and nearby Yelandur, where stage troupes were active. Kamath (2001), p. 281"
    1. Is there any other source that mentions this supposedly salient fact about the ruler, who according to his own page and other sources (see, for example, Lewis Rice's view here), was also both mute and deaf and died at age 41?
    2. A Google Scholar search for "Narasaraja Wodeyar" AND (Boolean) "Kannada literature" turns up empty. A Google web search for the same turns up clones of this article. Does this increase our confidence in the reliability of this edit?
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