karṇāṭa: Centre for Classical Kannada is pleased to announce that its first four publications are now available on our website, to read in full or to download free of charge.

The first three volumes make up the Karṇāṭa Classical Series, edited by R. V. S. Sundaram, which presents critical Kannada commentaries on important Classical Kannada texts:

• Kanakadasa’s Naḷacaritre (Series 1), with a commentary by Geetha Naval. Drawing on the Nalopākhyāna of the Mahābhārata, the poem retells the life of Nala and Damayanti in nine chapters and 481 verses.
• Cūḍāratnaśataka (Series 2), with a commentary by Akkamahadevi. A didactic śataka of moral and ethical instruction, on friendship, the conduct of the virtuous, family values and, to a lesser extent, political ethics.
• Kanakadasa’s Rāmadhānyacaritre (Series 3), with a commentary by Nagarathnamma. An allegorical and satirical poem in which rice and ragi dispute their worth, and Rāma settles the quarrel.

The fourth book, Kannada Pandita Parampare, edited by R. V. S. Sundaram, is a biographical volume on sixty eminent scholars who shaped the study, interpretation and transmission of Classical Kannada learning, each presented in an essay by a scholar of their field.

Each book can be read on its own page, from front cover to back, or downloaded as a PDF. All four are on our Publications page. The source texts of Naḷacaritre and Rāmadhānyacaritre can also be read in our Digital Library, with transliteration and search.