Kuvempu’s magnum opus becomes 81-hour DVD

Kuvempu's Sri Ramayana Darshanam, the magnum opus that won him the Jnanpith Award in 1967, has been brought out in audio format. It took a team of 83 artistes two years to complete it. It will be released by chief minister Siddaramaiah on Kuvempu's birthday on January 29. The Rashtrakavi Kuvempu Pratishtana and Lahari Music undertook the project.
The book is rendered in voice and then explained.A total of 18 'gamakis' (traditional singers who do not use musical instruments) were used. Professional singers, writers and scholars too have lent their voices. Sri Ramayana Darshanam is in ‘HaLegannada’orold Kannadaandis not easily understood by people today. The DVD audio book is in four volumes-- the book was published in two volumes -- called Ayodhya Samputa, Kishkinda Samputa, Lanka Samputa and Sri Samputa. Each volume is of approximately 20 hours.
Sri Ramayana Darshanam is considered one of Kuvempu's literary gems.Originallypublished1949and 1957, it is in the 'mahakavya' or epic format of Indian literary tradition. Tulsiram Naidu of Lahari Music says, “This was the most prestigious project for us. The completion has given me the ultimate satisfaction. There has never been any other audio book that is 81 hours long. A team under Ham Pa Nagarajaiah, Krishnaiah, MR Satyanarayana, Kadidal Prakash and Justice Sadashivaiah worked tirelessly to bring out this epic.” M R Satyanarayana was the director and Kadidal Prakash conceptualised the rendering.
In its book form, Sri Ramayana Darshanam is a single poem, 877 pages long, running into 22,284 lines. Kuvempu took nine years to write the book and it was completed when he was 41 years old. Even popular episodes are changed to Kuvempu's 'vision.' For example, Rama enters the fire (Agni Pravesha) along with Sita to prove his own chastity during their time apart.