Dalit writer Chennanna Walikar passes away at 78, laid to rest in his village Shankarwadi

Renowned Dalit writer and prominent Kannada literary figure Chennanna Walikar died in a private hospital in Kalaburgi on Sunday, 24 November at around 10 pm. He was 78.

Walikar’s body was kept in the Hindi Prachara Sabha premises so well-wishers could pay homage and on Monday, was laid to rest in the Shahabad taluka of his village Shankarwadi.

Walikar was a prominent voice of the Bandaya (rebel) literary movement. The day the Kannada Sahitya Parishat organised the 51st Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in Dharmasthala in 1979, the Bandaya writers organised their own literary festival, the first Bandaya Sahitya Sammelana at Devanga Chatra in Bengaluru with the slogan Khadgavagali Kavya: Janara Novige Midiyuva Prana Mitra (Let poetry become a sword – an intimate friend to respond to people’s pains). The movement, a coming together of oppressed communities, especially Dalits, which sought respect and legal rights, was at its peak at the time, giving a platform to a new set of writers from within these communities.

Walikar, besides being a major figure of the Bandaya tradition in Kannada literature, was also a writer, teacher, scholar, and activist. In his writing, which ranged forms like poetry, novel, short stories, plays, essays, and literary criticism, Walikar voiced the troubles and suffering of the marginalised communities. He was also a member of the library committee at the Mumbai, Hyderabad, Hampi, Karnataka, and Mysore universities.

Walikar is now survived by his wife and two sons.