BHUBANESWAR: The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has decided to upgrade the Adikabi Sarala Das Chair of Odia Studies into a special centre for teaching-learning and research in Odia language, literature and culture.
Vice-Chancellor of JNU Prof Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit told The New Indian Express that the chair will be upgraded as Adikabi Sarala Das Centre of Odia Studies. Currently, the university is in talks with the Odisha government for funding (a corpus of Rs 10 crore) the centre.
While the Sarala Das chair is involved in only research and propagation of Odia language, the centre will offer post-graduate (PG) and PhD degrees not only in Odia language and literature but also the state’s culture to both Odia and non-Odia students.
The Sarala Das chair, headed by Prof Udaynath Sahu, was opened in 2017 in JNU at the Centre of Indian Languages under the School of Language Literature and Culture Studies of the university. So far, it has produced seven volumes of books including the English translation of 15th century poet Sarala Das’ Bichitra Ramayana and Chandi Purana. The two books have been published within the country by Delhi-based Manohar Publications and internationally by New York-based Routledge.
“The university has written to the Odisha government which is positive about the centre. The tentative date for opening this centre hasn’t been finalised yet as we are working on the various modalities of it,” said Prof Sahu. While JNU had chairs of all regional languages except in Odia, the state government decided to set up the Sarala Das chair after Odia language was accorded classical language status in 2014.
Odia became the sixth language in the country to get classical language status and the JNU was the first public university to open a chair in the language. The Odisha government had provided Rs 5 crore for the chair. The chair consists of a professor, an assistant professor, a stenographer and an office attendant but currently, only Prof Sahu heads it and recruitment for the post of assistant professor has been advertised.
ODIA STUDIES AT JNU