Old Kannada to Modern English

Dr. Gil Ben-Herut’s research interests include pre-modern religious literature in the Kannada language, South Asian bhakti (devotional) traditions, and the vernacularization of Sanskrit poetics and courtly poetry. Dr. Ben-Herut’s book Śiva’s Saints: The Origins of Devotion in Kannada according to Harihara’s Ragaḷegaḷu (Oxford University Press) is the first study in English of the earliest Śaiva hagiographies in the Kannada-speaking region, and it argues for a reconsideration of the nature and development of devotionalism associated today with the Vīraśaivas. Ben-Herut is currently co-translating selections from this hagiographical collection for a separate publication. His extensive publications include a co-translation of a twelfth-century Kannada treatise about poetics, encyclopedic entries, book chapters, and articles in the journals Religions of South Asia, International Journal of Hindu Studies, and Journal of Hindu Studies.

R.V.S. Sundaram was Professor and Director of the Kuvempu Institute of Kannada Studies at the University of Mysore. He was also a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania (2011-18). In collaboration with other scholars he published English translations of Udayadtya Alankaram, Andhra Sabda Chintamani, Kavirajamargam and Gadayuddham. The forthcoming publication is Vaddaradhane.

Ammel Sharon is a PhD student at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC).