Karnataka: Prime Minister urged to confer classical status to Kannada

[Harold Schiffman]

Date:23/11/2007 URL:
http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/23/stories/2007112354000500.htm
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Karnataka - Bangalore

Prime Minister urged to confer classical status to Kannada

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: Legislative Council Chairman B.K. Chandrashekar has urged
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to initiate necessary steps to confer
status of classical language to Kannada before the end of this month.
In a letter to Dr. Singh, Prof. Chandrashekar said the "Suvarna
Karnataka Year", which is the completion of 50 years of the formation
of Karnataka, would be ending this month. Considering the achievements
of Kannada writers, he requested the Prime Minister to take urgent
steps to provide the classical tag to Kannada.

"This demand is wide-based, representing the views of all Kannadigas.
I believe that the demand is fully justified in terms of the rich
history in the growth of Kannada as a language and remarkable
achievements of many Kannada literary personalities," he said. "If
Tamil can be recognised as a classical language, I do not know on what
grounds similar recognition could be withheld from Kannada," the
chairman said. Stating that there are hundreds of references to the
history and development of Kannada, he said he was struck by Fr.
Hera's observation in his work on Harappa and Mohenjodaro
civilisation. Fr. Hera says: "The people of Karnataka are apparently
referred to in one of the seal inscriptions of Mohenjodaro as one of
the ancient tribes of the land."

(c) Copyright 2000 - 2007 The Hindu

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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