The former Vice-Chancellor of Sanskrit University Mallepuram G. Venkatesh on Wednesday said that Karnataka had better contributed to the creation and spread of Buddhist literature as compared to the other South Indian States.
“Kannada stands third after Hindi and Marathi in terms of creating and encouraging Buddhist literature. With many writers such as G.P. Rajaratnam, Govinda Pai and S.K. Ramachandra Rao taking up the translation of Buddhist literature from Pali to Kannada in the early years of the 20th Century, Buddhist literature began to spread in Kannada. Not just the translation, we can also see creative literature on Buddhism such as poetry in Kannada. In the pan-Indian context, scholars like D.D. Kosambi and Rahul Sankrityayan did the job of disseminating Buddhist literature,” he said after inaugurating a national-level Bouddha Literary Conference at the Mahatma Gandhi auditorium of Gulbarga University here.
He held that G.P. Rajaratnam and S.K. Ramachandra Rao were the only two people in the State who intellectually studied the Buddhist literature and practically adopted it in their lives.
He commended Pali and Bouddha Study Centre and Kannada Study Centre, Gulbarga University, for organising the national-level Bouddha Literary Conference which, he held, would be an inspiration to younger scholars to enthusiastically take up Buddhist studies.
Buddhist sites
Stressing on the importance of Buddhist sites in the State, Prof. Venkatesh said that Pali and Bouddha Study Centre and Kannada Study Centre, Gulbarga University, were jointly working on preparing the history of all the 22 Buddhist sites in the State, including Sannati in Kalaburagi district. The huge volume would be released shortly, he said.
Director of Pali and Bouddha Study Centre and the Head of Kannada Department in Gulbarga University H.T. Pote said that the event was the first of its kind in the State.
Dalit leader D.G. Sagar released volumes of Kannada Buddhist literature.
Gulbarga University Vice-Chancellor (Provisional) Devidas G. Male, Registrar C. Somashekhar, Director of Rangayana (Kalaburagi) Prabhakar Joshi, members of Gulbarga University Syndicate and Academic Council, respectively, Chandrashekhar Nitture and G.M. Vidya Sagar, and others were present.
