The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : 41 years on, Kannada Habba in IT city

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Tuesday, Feb 01, 2011
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

41 years on, Kannada Habba in IT city

K.N. Venkatasubba Rao

The 77th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelan returns in a changed scenario

After the first two meets, it is coming back after 54 years
The 47th sammelan was held in 1970 in the State capital

— FILE PHOTO: BHAGYA PRAKASH K.

IT HAS COME A LONG WAY:Kannada is no longer a stranger to the cyber world and now there are no dearth of Kannada websites and blogs.

Bangalore: Come Friday, February 4, Bangalore will witness a three-day cultural extravaganza with the launch of the 77th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelan.

The annual event is being held in the city after a 41-year hiatus in a completely transformed cultural, political, social, linguistic and economic scenario. Changed too is the public outlook and expectations of the purpose and quality of the mega event.

The beginning

After the first and second sammelan held in 1915 and 1916 in Bangalore, under the aegis of the Karnataka Sahitya Parishat and with the support of the then Princely State of Mysore, it took another 54 years for the Kannada Sahitya Parishat to return to Bangalore.

The 47th sammelan was held in 1970 in the State capital, 14 years after the formation of the linguistic States.

Objective unaltered

The objective of the Karnataka Sahitya Parishat, which came into existence on the very day it held the first literary convention at the Government (Fort) High School in Bangalore in 1915, was to promote Kannada language, literature and the definitive features of the culture of Kannada-speaking people.

Now, having completed 95 years, the prime cultural body's objective has remained unaltered despite achievements and challenges.

Between 1915 and 1970, the public response to the parishat's cultural and literary activities, including the annual sammelans, was encouraging though there were occasional scholarly disagreements and debates such as modernising the language, protection and promotion of Halegannada texts, and even interstate border rows.

Progressives

A majority of the parishat presidents and the chairpersons of the sammelans in these 55 years were identified either with the Navodaya school (a renaissance in literature) or the Pragathisheela school (influenced by the Leftist movement).

Besides, people such as English professor B.M. Srikantaiah and the playwright T.P. Kailasam, who were English educated but wrote in Kannada, added a novel perspective and questioning spirit.

The late BMSri's outburst at the 14th sammelana at Gulbarga in 1928 with an oblique reference to the European Renaissance had not only reflected then purpose of the meet and public expectations but also portended the transformative days ahead: “We are set to awake not only the dead but also those alive.

“We are here not only to make the past literature useful, but also create better literature.”

Powerful writers

With the advent of the Navya school pioneered by a band of powerful writers such as U.R. Ananthamurthy, Chandrashekhara Kambar, P. Lankesh, Gopalakrishna Adiga, Purnachandra Tejaswi, B.C. Ramachandra Sharma and K.V. Subbanna, the literary and cultural idiom gained a new dimension.

It influenced a generation of readers to re-evaluate their literary and cultural outlook. New wave cinema was also taking shape at the same time.

It was at this juncture that a majority of writers belonging to the Navya schools and the Bandaya school distanced themselves from the parishat's activities for ideological reasons.

They felt that it was too deeply entrenched within the system and the apparatus of the State.

Gokak movement

With the launch of the Gokak movement in 1983, spearheaded by the parishat and several Kannada associations with its demand for primacy for Kannada in the administration and education, the sammelan assumed a new political voice.

But over the years, it appears to have lost its literary importance and apolitical nature on various counts.

In contrast to the past, Kannada is now the official language of the State, though only on paper for the most part.

The Government is also making efforts to introduce Kannada as a language compulsorily from class one to five.

The language is no longer a stranger to the cyber world and now there are no dearth of Kannada websites and blogs.

Classical status

Besides, the Union Government has accorded classical language status on the language, after prolonged deliberations pending the realisation of the privileges being given to other languages that have gained the classical status.

In this changed context of language, culture and social equations, it would be interesting to see what purpose the 77th sammelan would serve and what would be the expectations and aspirations of people.

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