Kannada, Kannadiga, Kannadigaru, Karnataka,

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Classical language status for Kannada still an issue

  Classical language status for Kannada still an issue

Staff Correspondent

Javare Gowda observed a dawn- to-dusk fast here on Saturday
A rally will be held in Bangalore to put pressure on the Centre

Two delegations will meet the Prime Minister

and the President


MYSORE: It is likely that the issue of according classical language status to Kannada, which has been dormant all these days, will bother the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government which will be sworn in Monday.

The issue resurfaced with former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore and writer D. Javare Gowda (Dejagow) observing a dawn to dusk fast here on Saturday, for the Centre to accede to the demand of according classical language status to Kannada.

Addressing presspersons here, the Padmashree recipient, who recently threatened to return the award if the Centre did not accede to the demand, set January 31 as the deadline for the Union Government to accede to the demand.

He also threatened to launch an indefinite fast in case the demand was not met.

Rally The president of the central committee of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV), Narayana Gowda, said that the vedike would be organising a rally in Bangalore to put pressure on the Centre. A State-level convention of the vedike will be held in Bangalore on December 1 to appeal to the people of the State to ensure that the elected representatives put pressure on the Union Government.

Mr. Narayana Gowda said, “Two delegations — one comprising writers and another comprising pontiffs of various maths will be taken to New Delhi and a daylong dharna will be conducted at Jantar Mantar. The members of the delegation will also meet the Prime Minister and President and appeal to them to expedite the matter.” He said that failure on the part of the Centre to accede to the demand would force the vedike to resort to the extreme step of locking Central Government offices across the State and stopping the railways and airlines from functioning.

He urged B.S. Yeddyurappa who will be sworn in as Chief Minister of Karnataka on Monday, to employ every possible strategy to influence the Centre to get the classical language status for Kannada.

“We had taken a delegation to Delhi and conducted a dharna at Jantar Mantar to influence the Union Government. Home Minister Shivaraj Patil had assured us of conceding the demand. However, there is a delay because of the pressure from the Andhra Pradesh Government for classical language status for Telugu. We are not against the Centre granting classical language status to Telugu but that should not come in the way of granting similar status to Kannada,” he said.

Criticising the apathy of Members of Parliament representing the State in safeguarding the State’s interest, Mr. Narayana Gowda said that because of their laidback attitude the State was discriminated against.

“Unless, we lobby for our problems it will be difficult to get justice in the federal system,” he said.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/12/stories/2007111257260300.htm

November 11, 2007 - Posted by ellakavi | Classical status to Kannada | | 5 Comments

5 Comments »

  1. This is actually unnecessary to go for fasting. If Kannada has quality to become classical language, then the centre will obviously give it. Kannada scholars should give enough data to centre to prove.

    But if anyone go for fasting asking for a classical status for a language is something like demanding to name a crow as peacock.

    Comment by Raj | November 13, 2007

  2. Do atleast Kannada has a own native kannada word for very basic words like “Language” & “Classical”? First find Kannada workd for “Classical”, then demand for classical status. That would be more effective than going for fasting, protesting, etc.

    Comment by India | November 13, 2007

  3. Language : Nudi

    Classical : Chennudi

    Mr India, people are not foolish to demand without having enough proofs. If you do not know about the language, do not generalise or give some vague views.

    Comment by Rajesh | August 14, 2008

  4. Recently, there was an unofficial news that the committee on classical languages has recommended the status of classical language to Kannada and Telugu. The people of those languages may have the strong desire or wish for such a status to their languages? But, are they really classic? Though I am not a linguist, I would like to raise the following simple questions in this regard.

    1. It is a known fact that these languages are heavily Sanskritized. Many people of these languages don’t even know/agree that they are Dravidian languages. They think that their languages are derived from Sanskrit, the only divine language. Can these languages exist on their own if desanskritized? Tamil can stand on its own except for the normal influence of other languages especially Sanskrit. For that matter, scholars claim Sanskrit is also influenced by Dravidian languages.

    2. They don’t have even their own words for the terms ‘classical’ as well as ‘language’.

    3. Since when and how long have they been thinking that their languages are classical? We, Tamils, have been claiming such a status even before Independence. I think these people got even the idea of the status of classical language to their languages only after Tamil was accorded the status. This itself is an example of ‘copying of ideas and other languages’ which is not at all the characteristic of being classical. It looks as if they are claiming it just because Tamil got it, not because of the classical quality of their languages. Otherwise, they should have made such claims for a long time at least in literary circles.

    4. Has any historical/linguistic scholars, both indian and foreign but not their own, claimed that they are classical languages?

    Probably, the answers to these questions/points would reveal the truth.

    Comment by Thennavan | August 16, 2008

  5. A correction to my comment on August 16, 2008:

    I didn’t notice the comment by Mr. Rajesh giving Kannada words for the words ‘classical’ and ‘language’. According to him, the Kannada words for these words are as follows-

    language - nudi - ನುಡಿ
    classical language - chennudi - ಚೆನ್ನುಡಿ (must have been formed from ಚೆನ್ನ + ನುಡಿ)

    Now, agreed, Kannada has words for ‘language’ and ‘classical language’. However, the Kannada dictionary website ‘http://www.kannadakasturi.com/kasturiEnglishKanDictionary/start.asp’ has only ‘nudi’ but not ‘chennudi’. But, it has words for ‘classical’. However, all words except ‘lyaaTin - ಲ್ಯಾಟಿನ್’ sound Sanskrit. I don’t know about ‘lyaaTin - ಲ್ಯಾಟಿನ್’ also because I don’t know Kannada.

    However, I am very happy that you (Kannadigas) are also now using Dravidian / South Indian words instead of Sanskrit words even for such a classical usage.

    By the way, the Tamil equivalents are given below in different scripts-

    language - molhi - மொழி - ಮೋಳಿ - मोळी
    classical - chemmaiyana - செம்மையான - ಚೆಮ್ಮೈಯಾನ - चेम्मैयान
    classical language - chemmolhi - செம்மொழி - ಚೆಮ್ಮೊಲಿ - चेम्मोळी

    Anyway, all other points in my earlier post still hold good.

    Comment by Thennavan | August 17, 2008

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