There are plans afoot to house the Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Kannada (CESCK) in the century-old Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion on the Manasagangotri campus of the University of Mysore.
Though the idea is yet to gain traction Mysuru MP Pratap Simha is pushing for it and said that the move will give an impetus to the conservation of the heritage structure as also serve the purpose of housing the classical language centre.
‘’Not only will have a readily available building for the CESCK, the existing folklore museum is also a related subject pertaining to language and tradition of the State and hence will be an ideal combination’’, said Mr. Simha who made a site visit on Thursday.
He said shifting the CESCK to Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion will be in addition to 4.2 acres of land allotted by the UoM and can be used for constructing additional structures required for the classical language centre.
When contacted G. Hemantha Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, UoM – which is the custodian of the heritage mansion - said the idea is nascent and the authorities from the classical language cell have not made any proposal officially. If there is a requisition, it will have to go through the appropriate channels for clearance and the pros and cons have to be thoroughly evaluated.
Mr. Simha said the idea of housing the classical language centre in a heritage building - where a folklore museum already exists – will be pursued with vigour as they are related subjects and blend well.
However, other sources in the UoM said Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion – which was built in 1905 – requires immediate intervention to arrest the crumbling ceiling and leakage from the roofs. ‘’The idea of housing the CESCK is good but it will also complete restoration. Besides this, responsibility for annual and regular maintenance of the heritage structure has to be fixed and sorted out before arriving at any decision as it runs into crores of rupees’’, the sources added.
The CESCK was functioning under Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) till recently and though the former received autonomous status a few years ago, it does not have a premises of its own. It shifted to National Centre for History of Science building and though a DPR was sent for its own premises, the pandemic delayed its processing nor was there any follow up. Meanwhile, the University of Mysore has granted 4.2 acres of land on its campus to construct the CESCK building.
Mr. Simha said even 14 years after Kannada was given the classical language status, there has been no progress in terms of acquiring a campus or building of its own and the present idea of functioning from the Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion would be fast tracked.
Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion was constructed during the regime of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar for princess Jayalakshmi Ammani. It was acquired by the university in the 1950s to establish a postgraduate centre, and was restored with funding from Infosys in 2002. But incessant rains and lack of maintenance has endangered the structure which requires immediate restoration.
