Devahadeva Analysis

DevanuraMahadeva is a significant Dalit writer of modern Kannada literature. Mahadeva is known for his innovations in the narrative style, which has its roots in the traditional folk narratives. Mahadeva while allowing himself to be a product of social change, has a strong inclination to fall back on the cultural memory as the sure way of enhancing the self-respect and forging new identity for the humiliated communities.
Odalala, a novelette, is an important work of Mahadeva. The story has an archetypal character as its protagonist. Sakavva is a possessive, caring and quarrelsome woman. The story begins with her search for the lost rooster. Her search is insignificant to the others. But Sakavva experiences tremendous agony and resembles an

Later all the members of her family come together to eat the groundnuts stolen from the farm of the landlord Ettappa. The police raid the house to search for the bag of groundnuts. They fail to trace the stolen goods because while eating the seeds of the groundnut, they have thrown the pods into the fire. Sakavva does not retrieve her lost rooster, but loses one more at the end as the police take away another rooster of Sakavva. The agents of justice commits an act of injustice in the process of executing justice. The ironic close of the novella, not recovering the lost one but losing yet another, is a permanent feature of the fatalism associated with the under-privileged.
Puttagauri, the youngest daughter of Sakavva, draws the picture of peacock on the wall with the help of palm twig and blue dye. Interestingly, she draws the peacock from its legs. Sivu, the young boy, questions her wisdom of drawing from the legs. Puttagauri draws from the legs and completes the figure. There appears wonderful dancing peacocks on the wall. The non-verbal art assumes different dimensions and subtly conveys the writer’s perception of the world. In the historical process of civilization when division of labour took place, for some vested