Jakanachari was a legendary Indian sculptor credited with building many fine temples for the
Kalyani Chalukya
The Western Chalukya Empire ruled most of the Deccan Plateau, western Deccan, South India, between the 10th and 12th centuries. This Kannada people, Kannadiga dynasty is sometimes called the ''Kalyani Chalukya'' after its regal capital at Kalya ...
s and
Hoysala
The Hoysala Empire was a Kannada people, Kannadiga power originating from the Indian subcontinent that ruled most of what is now Karnataka, India, Karnataka between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially loca ...
s. He is popularly known by the epithet ''Amarashilpi'' ().
His life
Jakanachari was born in a small village called Kaidala, 9 km from
Tumkur
Tumkur, officially renamed as Tumakuru, is a city located in the southern part of Indian state of Karnataka. Tumkur is situated at a distance of northwest of Bangalore, the state capital along NH 48 and NH 73. It is the headquarters of the ...
in
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
. The original name of the town as per records was
Kridapura. His life was one of love and dedication to art. His career began when
Nripa Haya ruled as a local chieftain of the area. He left home shortly after his marriage seeking fame in his field of work. He travelled far and wide building many temples and became so engrossed in his work that he forgot all about his wife.
Jakanachari and his son
Jakanachari's wife gave birth to his child, named
Dankanacharya. Dankanacharya himself grew up to become a famous sculptor and set out to find his father. At Belur, he found a job as a sculptor and noticed a flaw in a figure sculpted by the great Jakanacharya himself. Dankanacharya told Jakanacharya that the stone which he was carving had a toad living inside which was a considered to be a flaw by the sculptors. Furious at this, Jakanacharya challenged to cut off his right hand if the young sculptor was correct in his assessment of the sculpture. Dankanacharya chiselled the place where the flaw was present and a toad jumped out with a little water flowing from that spot. Upon testing the figure, the flaw was indeed revealed and Jakanacharya kept his promise and cut off his right hand but Dankanacharya insisted not to do so.
Eventually, the two sculptors become aware of their relationship as father and son.
Chennakeshava temple
Subsequently, Jakanacharya received a vision to build the
Chennakeshava temple in his native place Kridapura. After this was completed, legend has it that God restored his right hand. In celebration of this incident, Kridapura was henceforth called ''Kaidala''. The term ''Kai'' in
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
means "hand".
[ Local non-government organizations in the state of Karnataka have been trying to raise funds to protect the Chennakeshava temple at Kaidala.
]
The Jakanchari Awards
The government of Karnataka confers the ''Jakanachari Award
The Jakanachari Award is a state award of Karnataka conferred on talented sculptors and craftsmen from the state. These awards are given away every year by the government of Karnataka to celebrate the contributions of the legendary sculptor Amarash ...
s'' to talented sculptors and craftsmen from the state every year to celebrate the contributions of this legendary architect.
Film
In 1964, a Kannada biographical film about him, ''Amarashilpi Jakanachari'' starring Kalyan Kumar
Kalyan Kumar (7 June 1928 – 1 August 1999) was an Indian actor, and an occasional film director and producer who worked primarily in Kannada cinema, Kannada and Tamil cinema. Making his acting debut in the mythological drama ''Natashekara'' (19 ...
was produced. The veteran cinematographer BS Ranga was instrumental in the making of this movie, the first Kannada colour movie. Also in 1964, a Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
remake of the movie titled Amarasilpi Jakkanna
''Amarasilpi Jakkanna'' is a 1964 Telugu-language biographical film, produced and directed by B. S. Ranga under the Vikram Studios banner. The film stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao in the title role of Jakanachari, a legendary sculptor credited w ...
starring Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao (20 September 1923 – 22 January 2014), widely known as ANR, was an Indian actor and producer, known for his works majorly in Telugu cinema. He starred in many landmark films in his seventy five-year career, and became on ...
and Saroja Devi
Bangalore Saroja Devi (born 7 January 1938) is an Indian actress who has acted in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. She acted in around 200 films in over six decades. She is known by the epithets "''Abhinaya Saraswathi''" (Saraswathi of ac ...
was released to popular success.
References
External links
Article on the life of Jakanachari
Article on Jakanachari state award
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amarashilpi Jakanachari
History of Karnataka
Year of birth missing
People from Tumkur
Kannada people
Indian male sculptors
Artists from Karnataka
12th-century Indian sculptors