The composition of a large and rich body of vachanas is one of the most impressive expressions of Indian spiritual heritage. Both the quantity and quality of this corpus is unparalleled elsewhere. This enormous output consists of impassioned socio-spiritual prose poems composed by approximately four hundred seeker poets hailing from all sections of society – the whole gamut, from Brahmin to the untouchable, a considerable number of these poets are women representing various castes and professions. Such a phenomenon was not replicated anywhere else in the annals of pre-modern Indian literatures.

This episode of BIC talks which outlines the new approach to literary and cultural context of Vachanas was the first of the four part masterclass titled The Paths of the Hand, Heart and Void, on the vachana efflorescence of Karnataka will be an attempt to interrogate the subject from a new angle by poet, playwright and Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, H S Shivaprakash.