A two-day workshop on translating Vachanas into Japanese, German and Spanish languages was inaugurated at Central University of Karnataka near here on Tuesday. The event was jointly organised by Central University and the Basava Samithi, Bengaluru.
Stressing the need for translating Vachana literature into all major languages of the world, Vice-Chancellor of Central University Battu Satyanarayan said that Vachanas have human values and they need to be communicated to the global audience.
“Translating Vachanas into global languages is the need of the hour. We have a Department of Foreign Languages and faculties in these languages. We are happy that we have joined hands with the Basava Samithi in this noble job of taking the Vachanas to the global readers,” Prof. Satyanarayan said.
President of Basava Samithi Arvind Jatti, who was the chief guest, expressed concerns over people being divided along religious lines and fighting among themselves. “The Sharanas of the 12th Century established a democratic society even before modern societies thought of it. The Sharana principles are more relevant today than ever. Basava Samithi has already translated Vachanas into more than 30 Indian and global languages. Soon, we want to make them available in 50 global languages,” Mr. Jatti said.
In his keynote address earlier, Central University Registrar Basavaraj P. Donur held that the Vachana movement was more a socio-economic, cultural, spiritual and religious movement than a language movement.
“Vachanas have a unique place in Kannada language and literature. To translate Vachanas into other languages, we need to have profound knowledge of Sharana philosophy. The Vachana movement was not just a language movement but a socio-economic, cultural, spiritual and religious one as well. It was the first-of-its-kind in the world. Anubhava Mantapa was a Parliament and Vachanas were its Articles,” he said.
Ganapati B. Sinnoor, Rohit Joshi, Veeranna Dande, Jayashree Dande, Sudha Shridhar, Vijaya Krishna Banumathy, Sadanand Kori, Vikram Visaji, Shivam Mishra, Piyali Roy, P. Kumara Mangalam and other faculty members, activists and Vachana enthusiasts were present.
