The Karnataka Urdu Academy is bringing out two books in Urdu on a few select kirtans of saints Purandara Dasa and Kanaka Dasa. The academy has selected 100 kirtans each.
Academy registrar Mirza Azmathulla told Express, “The purpose of translating the kirtans is to propagate the message of the two saints, who have made significant contribution to Dasa Sahitya.
As Urdu is one of the oldest languages, it has a large following. People of other states and nations can also understand the life and achievements of both the saints.”
“As we need to fine-tune the words in Urdu to get the exact meaning, the project is likely to take more time. It will most likely be released in October,” he added.
H Siddalingaiah, president of the Kannada Book Authority, has been entrusted with the task of introducing the works in Urdu.
The kirtans are being translated by Shaad Bagalkoti, a retired Hindi teacher at a government high school, and Saghar Karnataki, a retired Urdu teacher at Government
Urdu School, Shikaripur, Shimoga. Bagalkoti, who is handling Purandara Dasa’s works, had researched for a month before starting the project, titled Manjhi (stevedore). Karnataki is working on Kanaka Dasa’s kirtans and has named them ‘Muraq Ba’ (deep meditation).
-Sunday Standard