Siddalingaiah was a Kannada poet, playwright, academic and Dalit activist whose writing made caste discrimination a subject of literary and political urgency. His poems became part of Karnataka’s Dalit movement, while his three-volume autobiography, Ooru Keri, used memory and humour to depict caste, poverty, education and resistance. Its English translation is titled A Word With You, World.
Who was Siddalingaiah?
Siddalingaiah was born on 3 February 1954. He earned an M.A. and Ph.D. and taught as a professor at Bangalore University’s Centre of Kannada Studies, according to his Karnataka Legislative Council profile. He died in Bengaluru on 11 June 2021, aged 67, from coronavirus-related complications, The Indian Express reported.
He was also a public figure. The Council profile confirms his 1995–2001 legislative term; The Indian Express reports that he served two nominated terms, 1988–1994 and 1995–2001. The newspaper also records his chairmanships of the Kannada Development Authority and Karnataka Book Authority, without establishing dates for those roles.
How did his poetry challenge literary and social conventions?
Poems that travelled beyond the page
Siddalingaiah’s debut poetry collection, Hole Madigara Hadu, appeared in 1975, according to The Indian Express. His poetry gave force to experiences and political demands often excluded from literary convention. The poem “Yaarige Bantu Yellige Bantu Nalavattera Swatantrya” became an anthem of Karnataka’s Dalit movement, and his poems were sung at protests and demonstrations.
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Other collections listed in a Karnataka State Open University course document include Saaviraru Nadigalu, Kappu Kaadina Haadu, Aayda Kavitegalu, Meravanige and Nanna Janagalu mattu ithara Kavitegalu. Transliteration and publication details vary across sources, so these titles are given in transliteration rather than assigned unsupported English names.
Literature as part of Dalit activism
With B. Krishnappa and Devanur Mahadeva, Siddalingaiah helped found Dalit Sangharsha Samiti. The organisation mobilised against caste atrocities and raised awareness of political rights. His poems connected literary expression to this organising work and the wider Dalit-Bandaya movement. A university course document offers context for that movement, though its dates and spellings are inconsistent; it is not a reliable basis for precise chronology.
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What is Ooru Keri?
Ooru Keri is Siddalingaiah’s autobiography, published in three Kannada volumes: the first in 1996, the second in 2006 and the third in 2018. The sequence is recorded by his translator, S.R. Ramakrishna, in a Scroll remembrance. The English translation, A Word With You, World, is a separate edition; the Kannada volume dates should not be mistaken for publication dates of the English book.
Memory, hardship and humour
The memoir describes caste, poverty, education, activism and everyday life. Its account of hardship does not reduce Dalit experience to suffering: Ramakrishna points to Siddalingaiah’s self-deprecating humour as part of the book’s political meaning. A Maulana Azad National Urdu University teaching unit frames the work through caste, memory, language, poverty and resistance.
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One passage conveys the material realities of organising. Ramakrishna quotes Siddalingaiah’s memoir: “I toured several places in Karnataka, making speeches and reading out my poems. On many occasions, I reached a place in the middle of the night and slept on the street till it was morning.” The excerpt is translated and reproduced in Ramakrishna’s remembrance; it is not an interview conducted for that article.
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Siddalingaiah’s literary work, activism, teaching and public service made him a public intellectual as well as a poet. The Indian Express reports that he received the Rajyotsava Award in 1986 and the Pampa Award in 2019. His legacy rests not only on writing about caste, but on making poetry part of a public language of protest while using autobiography to record the texture, humour and contradictions of lived experience.
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A Word With You, World: The Autobiography of a Poet, translated by S.R. Ramakrishna and illustrated by Laxman Aelay, is listed by Navayana as a 302-page paperback, ISBN 9788189059552. The publisher page currently marks it out of stock, so availability may change.
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