Jnanpith award winner Ravindra Rajaram Kelekar was an eminent litterateur who brought name and fame to the Konkani language through his writings, Konkani activist and Sahitya Akademi award winner N Purushothama Mallaya has said.
Inaugurating the national seminar on the life and work of Ravindra Kelekar at the Maharaja’s College the other day, Mallaya said the Konkani language possessed the historical background and the literary wealth to stand shoulder to shoulder with any other language in the country.
The seminar was organised by the Malayalam Department of the Maharaja’s College jointly with the Ernakulam Cluster of Colleges as part of the G Sankara Kurup Memorial Jnanpith Puraskar lecture series.
Maharaja’s College Principal Mary Mettilda presided over the function. Kerala Konkani Sahitya Akademi chairman Payyannur Ramesh Pai delivered the keynote address.
It was followed by the presentation of paper by R S Bhaskar on Ravindra Kelekar’s literary contributions. Saratchandra Shenoi presented a paper on the views of Kelekar in Bharatiya Sanskriti and P N Sivananda Shenoi presented a paper on the role of Ravindra Sahitya in the freedom movement.