The Hindu : Karnataka News : Bloomers go unnoticed for two years

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 17, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Bloomers go unnoticed for two years

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA, JAN. 16. The famous natural spring, Guru Nanak Jhira, is in Gulbarga, and the name of the 14th Sufi Saint is Khwaji Bande Nawab if one goes by the Environmental Studies textbook published by the Directorate of Textbooks for third standard students.

Teachers across the State have been teaching this for the past two years. The distortion of names has gone unnoticed. The first print of the textbook was brought out in 2003 and it was reprinted in 2004. The textbook committee had on it educationists from different parts of the State with Surapaiah Karnik as its Chairman. The book has 30 chapters on topics such as clean habits, environment protection, and the rich heritage of the State. In the lesson no. 24 on page 121, the book says the tomb of Khwaji Bande Nawab (instead of Khwaja Bande Nawaz) is in Gulbarga. The sufi saint, who was considered to be an authority on jurisprudence and who had many books to his credit, was respected and adored by Hindus and Muslims in the region. Every year, lakhs of people from all over the country and abroad visit the dargah for the annual urs.

Another bloomer in the textbook is related to the Gurunanak Jhira. Though the Jhira is in Bidar, the book claims that it is in Gulbarga. Further, it claims that it is believed that the Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak, had visited Gulbarga and water emerged out of the spot (Jhira) where he kept his foot. The question being asked is how could these mistakes go unnoticed for the past two years? And why were they not corrected even when the textbook was reprinted?

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