Chandrashekhar Kambara | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“The southern landscape is such a magical part of India as a whole. There really is no need for an excuse to celebrate southern languages, right?” asks Shiny Antony, curator of Akhar Dakshin: A Festival of South Indian Languages, which will be held in Bengaluru on April 22.
The festival is organized by the Prabha Khaitan Foundation, a Kolkata-based non-profit trust focused on promoting arts, education, culture and women’s empowerment, founded by the late Prabha Khaitan, author, entrepreneur and feminist. According to Shini, the foundation’s Akhar initiative, which focuses on promoting regional language writers, has often brought him down south. However, “this is the first time they are celebrating South Indian languages,” she writes in an email interview.
Akhar Dakshin will be inaugurated by Chandrashekhar Kambara, former president of Sahitya Akademi. Some of the writers who will be a part of the festival include Damodar Moujo, Perumal Murugan, K. Satchidanandan, KR Meera, Vivek Shanbhag, Kannan Sundaram and Vasudhendra. Journalists and editors such as Stanley Carvalho, Nisha Susan, Poornima Tammireddy, Ajitha GS and Karthik Venkatesh will also participate in the festival. The event will feature classical dance performances by Yamini Reddy (Kuchipudi) and Shinjini Kulkarni (Kathak) along with poetry readings by Mamta Sagar, Pratibha Nandakumar and Ramesh Karthik Nayak.
Yamini Reddy | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Poet-writer K. Satchidanandan, who writes in both English and Malayalam, points out that the languages and literature of South India bear traces of shared history and common identity, despite regional differences. “It is important that writers in these languages come together to exchange their works and ideas, which in a way is also an act of assertiveness and resistance in these turbulent times,” he says of the event.
It is also, as Kannada writer Vasudhendra points out, a way of recognizing and preserving the heritage of these languages and their culture. Shinny agrees, “Indian writing in English is only a few decades old, but the amount of literary output produced in regional languages is enormous.” She says, “With the best of translations, our regional languages are being universalised and how. These books are galloping across the world, especially with international Booker winners and long-listed ones including Hindi and Tamil authors. His stories are now being read everywhere.
Akhar Dakshin: A festival of South Indian languages will be organized at Bangalore International Centre, Domlur on April 22 from 10 am to 7.30 pm. entrance fees.
Shinjini Kulkarni | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement