BENGALURU: Prof Vanamala Viswanatha, renowned translator and former faculty at IISc, refreshed the call to translate old Kannada (Halegannada) texts into modern Kannada and then into English to make these accessible to the local population and to global readers.
At the launch of the book ‘Influence of Buddhist Artisans on Architecture’, written by Prof Shadakshari Settar who passed away on February 28, aged 85, Vanamala said, “He (Settar) has also given a blueprint for knowledge creation in our language... He said old Kannada (Halegannada) texts should be translated to new Kannada to make them accessible and then to English to make them global. This was his idea of knowledge production and it was inclusive.”
The 1935-born Settar was a scholar who took on his intellectual pursuits and published both in Kannada and English. He had conducted research in fields of Indian archaeology, art-history, history of religions and philosophy as well as classical literature.He made extraordinary contributions to Halegannada, and found the inscription dated back to 6th century, making Kannada script one among the oldest vis-a-vis South Indian languages.
“On the onslaught of English, Settar said there is no threat from English language. Kannada has had wisdom of negotiating with Persian and Prakrit... It will deal with English and grow,” added Vanamala, who is Visiting Professor at School of Education, Azim Premji University.The launch was organised by Bangalore International Centre with Prof DS Achutrao History Endowment.