Pandit Rao C Dharennavar is on a mission. To teach and save the language he loves, Punjabi. In doing so, he educates young children and is building a bridge between the cultures of Karnataka and Punjab. The 39-year-old assistant professor of sociology at Sector 46 Government College, Chandigarh, is from Bijapur, Karnataka. After finishing his classes at 3pm every day, he drives down to Dhanas, a village some 15 kilometres away, to give lessons in Punjabi to children.
The professor, who learnt Punjabi nine years ago, speaks the language like a native and objects if spoken to in English. He also writes all his official communication in the Gurmukhi script.
His Punjabi classes have about 20-30 students from class V to class XII and are held for two hours every day. Subreet, a Class VII student, says, “We have to learn Punjabi in school but we found it difficult. But sir has made it very easy.’’ Rao charges nothing from the students. Instead he gives `100 to every child as an incentive to learn.
Rao has also translated two holy scriptures of the Sikhs—Sri Jap Ji Saheb and Sri Sukhmani Saheb—into Kannada. He is now working on a Kannada translation of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhs.
“Every day from 4am to 8am, I work on the translation. So far, about 40 per cent of the text has been translated. I also explain the meaning of the translated sentence,’’ he says.
Rao, who has an M.Phil and Master’s degree in sociology from JNU in Delhi, says he started learning Punjabi to teach better when he joined the Government College of Girls as a faculty member in 2003. “I used to teach in English but most of the girls did not follow, so I had to learn Punjabi. I learnt it by 2005,’’ he says. Rao’s wife Sridevi has also learnt Punjabi and the family speaks Punjabi at home. His four-year-old son, too, speaks fluent Punjabi.
He has translated 20 works of 12th century Kannada saint Akka Mahadevi into Punjabi. Apart from this, he has translated works of Kannada philosopher Basavanna, saint-poet Allamprabhu, poet-musician Kanakdas, and Carnatic music composer Purandardas as well. Punjabi University in Patiala has started research work on these books.
Rao has also translated Zafarnama of Guru Gobind Singh into Kannada. “No work of translation from Kannada to Punjabi or vice-versa has ever been undertaken. It is important to spread the universal messages of these holy scriptures,’’ he says.