Media Release
 
Kochi, Mar 21: “Ravindra Rajaram Kelekar was a stalwart of Konkani literature,” said Konkani activist and Sahitya Akademi Award winner N Purushothama Mallaya in Kochi. 

Mallaya was speaking after inaugurating the national seminar on the life and works of Jnanpith awardee Ravindra Kelekar.  The seminar was organized by the Malayalam Department of the Maharajas College, Ernakulam, Kerala jointly with the Ernakulam Cluster of Colleges, as part of their programme “G Sankarakurup memorial Jnanpith puraskar series of lectures”.

“By attaining Bharatiya Jnanpith Puraskar, the highest award of the country, Kelekar brought fame to Konkani and the language was adjudged as great and government recognized it as an official language along with any other Indian languages. Konkani language has the historical background and literary wealth to stand along with any other language in the country. It is not proper to say that Konkani literature was developed only after the language got recognized by the Sahitya Akademi. Konkani has played an important role in the culture of the country since Vedic period. This language has a history as old as of 5000 years. One can discern influence of the language in the epics like Mahabharata and Vishnu Purana. The language has showed its presence in Vedas also. The forerunner of Konkani language was spoken in Punjab and Kashmir. The oldest language form Paisachi of Kashmir is the base of Konkani. As any other language of the country Konkani has fulfilled the five criteria which is a prerequisite for a developed language and only on that basis Konkani got recognition,” he said.

Konkani literature is now fast growing.  The vast literature is laying spread in different scripts and this has affected the total growth. Sukumar Azhikode the well-known Malayalam writer had played an important role for getting recognition for Konkani by the Sahitya Akademi. G Sankarara Kurupu eminent poet and the first recipient of Jnanpith Puraskar appreciated once the literary content of the language and expressed his wishes to see the Konkani literature progress in future. Mallaya added that it is a matter of great pleasure to introduce the life and works of Ravindra Kelekar the Jnanpith winner in a programme of this kind conducted in the name of G Sankara Kurupu.
 
Dr Marry Mettilda, principal, Maharajas College presided over the function.  Payyanur Ramesh Pai, chairman of the Kerala Konkani Sahitya Akademi delivered Keynote address.  Dr Margret George, principal, Government College, Tripunithura, Dr K V Rossamma, vice principal, Maharajas College and
                                                                                    
B S Ramesh, faculty member, The Cochin College, Kochi spoke on the occasion. 

Earlier, professor P Rema Devi, head, department of Malayalam welcomed the gathering.  Professor M S Murali, coordinator, G Sankarakurup memorial Jnanpith Puraskar series of lectures, expressed vote of thanks.

The inaugural function was followed by the second session where R S Bhaskar presented paper on “Ravindra Kelekar’s literary contributions”. After lunch the third session commenced.  Saratchandra Shenoi presented paper on “Views of Ravindra Kelekar in the Bharatiya sanskriti” and P N Sivananda Shenoy presented paper on “The role of Ravindra Sahitya in the freedom movement”. Large number of students, teachers and invited personalities were present for both the inaugural function and the seminar.

Later discussions were held. In the concluding session, Professor P Rema Devi said that though Konkani existed in Kerala since ancient times, the non-Konkani people are not aware about the language or its literature. Now, the seminar on the literature of Jnanpith puraskar winner Ravindra Kelekar helped very much to understand the wealth of Konkani language and literature.