Mysuru: Kundapur-born Kannada author-poet Vaidehi, now settled in Manipal, is among the three achievers chosen by the Karnataka State Open University to receive PhD (Honoris Causa) this year.
The other two are scientist Prof Surappa and film director Siddalingaiah. The honours will be presented to them on the occasion of the varsity’s 15th convocation to be held on March 5.
The announcement has been made by vice chancellor Prof M G Krishnan.
About Vaidehi
Vaidehi, whose actual name is Janaki Srinivasa Murthy, is a well-known Kannada fiction writer and poet, renowned for her espousal of the cause of women.
Her writings, generally described as post-modernist, depict the plight of women in an indignant and rebellious tone. In fact, it is told that her creative self blossomed as a result of her encounters with patriarchal system of society and while being in search of her personal freedom.
For instance, daring to sit on a chair was, for her, one of the heroic feats she accomplished in her childhood, in defiance of the social injunction that girls should not sit on chairs in presence of the male members of the family, let alone male members from outside.
She longed for the freedom that she was denied on account of being a woman, but enjoyed in full measure by her brothers. Her short stories and novels lament the discrimination and unequal treatment meted out to women in society. She successfully takes up cudgels on their behalf, using her pen as an effective weapon for social transformation.