Kannada may not have been their mother tongue, but Gadinadu (border areas) writers like Manjeshwar Govinda Pai and Nadoja Kayyara Kinhanna Rai took the language to its pinnacle of glory and today, they stand tall among the top Kannada litterateurs.
In recognition of Rashtrakavi (national laureate) Govinda Pai’s contributions, the governments of Karnataka and Kerala came together to make his ancestral home into a museum of his works.
Both governments agreed to fund the project to the extent of `2 crore. It was to have been inaugurated on March 19, but has been put off in view of the election code of conduct in force in Kerala. When this reporter visited the museum, artisans were giving final touches to it.
Govinda Pai was born into a Konkani-speaking family in Manjeshwar, Kerala, while Kinhanna Rai was born into a Tulu-speaking family in the border town of Peradala.
The Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Centre at Manjeshwar is named ‘Gilivindu’ after his bouquet of poems which became an anthem of sorts in Kannada poetry. A Yakshagana museum which showcases some of the characters appearing in Yakshagana ballets, which were dear to Govinda Pai, has also been enshrined in their classical splendour at the museum.
“Govinda Pai was a researcher. He new 27 languages including Greek, Roman and Latin, and he never went to schools that taught those languages. He learnt the languages by himself. His research in languages led him to pick Kannada as most plausible avenue for his writing”, said Prof B A Viveka Rai former vice-chancellor of Hampi Kannada University.
“The spirit of research and its continuance is the main theme of ‘Gilivindu’. We want to create a linguistics research centre at ‘Gilivindu’ which will have residential facility for researchers. The research methodology will be based on the vast tenets that Govinda Pai has created”, Dr Rai envisons.
“The rich treasure of research works in poetry, prose, social subjects, folk arts and culture is something very rare. Perhaps we were sluggish in bringing his works before the world,” says former Chief Minister M Veerappa Moily who first mooted the idea of ‘Gilivindu’ in 2001.
“We will not be content by just putting up some structures in ‘Gilivindu’, but we will make it a living memorial to the great laureate, where students, artistes, researchers, teachers and even common people can quench their quest for knowledge and languages”, Moily said.
The government has also initiated digitisation of all books that Pai studied and worked on.
“Since many of the books are with the Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Research Centre at Udupi for safekeeping, we may have to replicate those books in digitised form. The Konkani Academy, which has the capability, has accepted to do it”, Moily says.
THE MAN AND THE MEMORIAL
‘Gilivindu’ comprises various facilities including amphitheatre for staging plays and Yakshagana, and spaces for art exhibitions, library and preservation of manuscripts
Govinda Pai is important to Kerala in many ways. “His writings in Malayalam and translation work has enriched Malayalam. We consider it a part of our heritage”, said Deputy Commissioner of Kasargod district, P S Mohammad Sagir.
As part of their Corporate Social Responsibility, both Indian Oil Corporation and Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals have chipped in to build Gilivindu. IOC has borne the expenses for renovating the house and MRPL will take up landscaping of Gilivindu.