Bangalore: Is the Government observing "Suvarna Karnataka" or "Suvarna Kannada?" This question was posed in an open letter by a group of writers comprising Raghunandan, T.S. Ramaswamy, K. Marulasiddappa, H.S. Raghavendra Rao, Abdul Rasheed, Jayanth Kaikini, Mogalli Ganesh, K.V. Akshra and Vivek Shanbagh.

The wanted to know why the Government has not been treating some of the dialects and their respective academies, particularly Beary for which an academy is yet to be constituted, on a par with Kannada.

The dialect is spoken mainly by the Beary community in Mangalore, Ullal, Suratkal, Bajpe, Mulki, Puttur, Vitla and Uppinanagadi, according to B.M. Ichlangod and Vahab Doddamani, Mangalore-based Beary scholars.

The community has a history of over 4,000 years. The language is influenced by Malayalam, and it is also spoken in Kasaragod.

The scholars pointed out that the very word Beary meant business, a term borrowed from Tulu's "Byara." In his book `Tulunada Muslimaru Beary Samskrithi,' Prof. Ichlangod says that Beary is spoken even by non-Muslims like the Bovi community of Tulunadu.

Academy

The Government has not constituted a Beary academy, on the lines of Kodava, Tulu, Konkani and Urdu academies although the issue has been discussed since 1997.

There are several important writers from the Beary community like the former chairman of the Kannada Development Authority B.M. Idinabba, Sara Abubakar, Bolavaru Mohammad Kunnhi, Abdul Rasheed, B.M. Basheer and Mohammad Kulai.

The Government feels that granting the demand for a separate academy would open a Pandora's box, spurring demands from other dialects and languages.

Nomination

Instead, the Government had plans to nominate a few from the community to the Urdu Academy with some additional grants for the development of the Beary dialect.

The community, however, argues that it deserves a separate status as it has its cultural and linguistic roots in Arabic, Tulu and Kannada, and not in Urdu.

Constituting a separate academy with a focus on research and publication would help in the overall development of the language, feel many members of the community.

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