The Life of Harishchandra

In Raghavanka’s poetic masterpiece The Life ofHarishchandra, a powerful sage tests King Harishchandra’scommitment to truth. He suffers utter deprivation butrefuses to yield. This spirited translation, the first fromKannada into any language, brings one of ancient India’smost enduring legends to a global readership.The Life of Harishchandra, Raghavanka’s thirteenth-centurymasterpiece, is the first poetic rendering of one of ancientIndia’s most enduring legends. When his commitment totruth is tested by a powerful sage, King Harishchandra suffersutter deprivation―the loss of his wife and son, his citizensand power, and, dearest of all, his caste status―but refusesto yield. The tale has influenced poets and readers throughthe ages. Mahatma Gandhi traced his own commitment totruth to the impact of a Harishchandra play seen in childhood.A poet from northern Karnataka trained in the twin traditionsof Sanskrit and Kannada, Raghavanka negotiates a uniquespace for himself in the Kannada literary canon throughimportant thematic, formal and stylistic innovations. Theconflicts he addresses―of hierarchical social order, politicalpower, caste and gender―are as relevant to contemporaryIndia as to his own times.Accompanied by the original text in the Kannada script, thisspirited translation, the first into any language, brings anelegant and energetic narrative to a global readership.