The Life of Harishchandra: A Story in Song

An acclaimed academic and translator, Dr. Vanamala Viswanatha taught English language and literature over the past four decades in premiere institutions in Bengaluru such as the Indian Institute of Science, Regional Institute of English, Bangalore University, and Azim Premji University. Deeply engaged with various facets of Kannada culture, Dr. Vanamala Viswanatha anchored the Kannada news on Doordarshan for nearly a decade. She also worked as Honorary Director, Centre for Translation, Sahitya Akademi. She has translated and introduced several well-known Kannada writers such as Sara Aboobacker, Lankesh, Vaidehi, and Ananthamurthy. The Life of Harishchandra (Harvard University Press, 2017), her translation of a medieval Kannada poetic classic in the Murty Classical Library of India Series, is a landmark publication. Dr Viswanatha’s translation (with Shivarama Padikkal) of Indira Bai, the first social novel in Kannada, just published by Oxford University Press (2019), is yet another milestone in presenting the face of Kannada to a global readership.