This is a translation of the author’s original Kannada essay titled “ಭಾಷಾಬೋಧಕಗಳ ನೆಲೆ-ಬೆಲೆಗಳು” published in his work, Bhashabhrungada Benneri.
Translated by Sandeep Balakrishna.
I had averred earlier that one of the tragedies of today is the fact of not prescribing evocative literature at the level of primary school instruction.
The following is a transcript of the author’s Presidential Address at ‘Samskriti Naimishey,’ a cultural symposium held at Bangalore on 18.08.2017.
Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh
The day started off with a Sanskrit appreciation session by Arjun Bharadwaj and ended with a wonderful puppet show based on the fourth act of Shaakuntalam, by Smt. Anupama Hosakere and team.
Anupama Hosakere
The day began with Shashi Kiran's session on appreciating Sanskrit through subhashitas and ended with a wonderful dance performance by Ramaa Bharadvaj titled Mitra, which dealt with the friendship between Krishna and Sudhama. This was followed by a creative appreciation of the dance with the artist having a discussion with Arjun Bharadwaj.
Shatavadhani Dr. R Ganesh
The day began with a trip to Fort Kochi, followed by a visit to the Paradesi Synagogue, the oldest active synagogue in India, which was built in the 16th century. After some shopping on Jew’s street, the participants visited Hill Palace in Tripunithura, which is the largest archeological museum in Kerala. At one point, it was the official palace of the Cochin maharajas. It was built in the middle of the 19th century. After a traditional Kerala lunch, the participants returned to the Chinmaya Eswar Gurukula campus.
Arjun Bharadwaj started off the day’s proceeding with the fourth session of kavya-samskrtam, which has been a regular morning activity of the summer school. In this session, Shashi and Arjun have helping understand and appreciate the beauty of a few Sanskrit verses. In today’s session, Arjun covered five verses from Lilashuka’s Krishnakarnamrtam. While explaining the nuances of the verse with respect to grammar, prosody, etc. he also brought out the various suggestions (dhvani) in those verses.
Shatavadhani Dr. R Ganesh
Kalidasa cannot be compared with anyone – he is totally unique, totally Indian. He is the ideal poet – one who observes keenly both the outer and inner worlds. He is like a scientist, a naturalist, and a businessman the way he astutely sees the external world. He is like a seer, a philosopher, and a scholar the way he calmly regards the internal world. By observing the world outside, we get the details; by observing the world within we get the emotional connections.
Shatavadhani Dr. R Ganesh and Dr. Nagavalli Nagaraj
Dr. Ganesh started out by mentioning about the all-pervading influence of Vyasa, Valmiki, and Kalidasa on all aspects of Indian life and culture. While the story of the Ramayana moves in a longitudinal manner, from North to South and back to the North, the story of the Mahabharata moves in a latitudinal manner, from East to the West. Thus in the movements of Rama and Krishna, all corners of India have been covered. And Kalidasa connects all these in his writings.
Day 3 started on a bright note with Dr. Ganesh speaking about the beautiful qualities of the two great epics as well as Kalidasa's creation, followed by Shashi Kiran's wonderful presentation of the seven sections of the Ramayana. The post-lunch session had a riveting presentation on Kalidasa's Kumarasambhavam by Arjun Bharadwaj and a wonderful audio-visual presentation by Nirupama Rajendra about the dance ballets produced by Abhinava Dance Company. The day ended with a fabulous Carnatic classical concert by Dr.