The Hindu : Karnataka News : `Nudisiri-2004' brings Kannada to centre stage

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 20, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

`Nudisiri-2004' brings Kannada to centre stage

By Our Staff Correspondent

MOODBIDRI, DEC. 19. A year after the Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in Moodbidri did much to the cause of the language, "Nudisiri 2004" organised by Alva's Education Foundation has brought Kannada to the centre stage by highlighting its literary and cultural heritage.

After three days of deliberations, music, dance and debate, Nudisiri concluded here today with a call to Kannadigas to unite to spread the glory of Kannada in other parts of the world.

The most important session of Nudisiri was the one on various Yugas (time spans) in which scholars took the 2,000 strong delegates back in time to give them a glimpse of the glorious history of Kannada and its enrichment by poets such as Pampa, Basaveshwara and Kumara Vyasa.

The observations made by C. Veeranna on "Pampayuga," Giraddi Govindaraju on "Basavayuga" and Kee. Ram. Nagaraja on "Kumaravyasayuga" brought to the fore the influence of the three yugas on the growth of Kannada.

Profound

The scholars pointed out that Kannada's influence on the poets was profound owing to the absence or limited influence of other languages.

"Their thoughts were pure; so was their language and its application in both poetry and prose. Other languages of the time such as Urdu and, to some extent, Sanskrit enriched Kannada," they said.

"Mudannayuga," the harbinger of modern thinking in Kannada, is perhaps the last of the Halegannada periods, they said.

Thaltaje Vasanth Kumar of Mumbai University said Mudannayuga heralded a new thinking where all inhibitions about poetry and prose vanished.

Though the social situation was changing for Kannada literature, the classical facilities that Kannada writers and poets enjoyed were still there despite the end of the authoritarian political era, he said.

Language variations

Another important session was on three major variants of the language — Dharwad Kannada, Kundapur Kannada and Mysore Kannada. Chandrakshekar Vastrad, A.S.N. Hebbar and M. Krishne Gowda, who represented the three forms, respectively, brought out the beauty of all the three types of spoken Kannada in their own inimitable styles. However, they concluded that despite the variations in the spoken language, the script does not change, which introduces a sense of uniformity in Kannada.

A session on Kannada theatre, folklore and mass media saw theatre personality Prasanna, film-maker Nagathihalli Chandrakshekar and Yakshagana scholar Prabhakar Joshi participated in it.

As a befitting finale to the event, the Alva's Nudisiri awards 2004 were conferred on Srinivas Havanur, Amruta Someshwara, Chennabasavanna, Harikrishna Punarur, B. Jayashree and B.V. Vaikunta Raju.

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