Antonio (The Merchant of Venice) person … lie[s] all unlocked to your occasions" ("MoV" 1.1.146), seem to allude to a sexual dimension in Antonio's love for Bassanio. However, there is also evidence that the two shared a strictly fraternal, familial bond, as indicated by the line "Bassanio, your most noble kinsman …" ("MoV" 1.1.60) Other scholars maintain that all attempts to read Shakespeare's characters as gay or straight in terms of the modern understanding of the word are culturally and historically flawed. Alan Bray's book "Homosexuality in Renaissance England" argues that in the time period of "The Merchant of Venice's" composition, "homosexuality" did not refer
K. S. Bhagawan worked as a writer and translator. In 1982, his work "Shankaracharya and Reactionary Philosophy" (original title: "ಶಂಕರಾಚಾರ್ಯ ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರತಿಗಾಮಿತನ"), a collection of essays, on how Adi Shankara, an 8th-century Hindu theologian, advocated the caste system strongly, destroyed Buddhist viharas and was against education for women, shudras and dalits, was published. It was met with criticism from right-wing Hindu groups who issued threats to his life. His other books in Kannada include "Badalaavane", "Antarya" and "Kuvempu Yuga". As a translator, he translated popular works of William Shakespeare to Kannada. It includes "Merchant of Venice" as "Venisina Vartaka", and others such as