The cultural colonisation of Bengal and K’taka

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Bengaluru :

Did you know Karnataka and Bengal share a deep-rooted literary bond? Neither did almost 800 Bengalis and 200 non-Bengalis who attended the three-day Bengali literature and cultural fest, held nearly after a decade in the city on December 25, to know that.

Ranjon Ghoshal
Ranjon Ghoshal

Ranjon Ghoshal, an engineer by profession and founding member of Bengali band Moheener Ghoraguli talked about the exchange of literature between Karnataka and Bengal since the 12th century. Ranjon is a literature and theatre enthusiast

He stated that the king who ruled Bengal and parts of Orissa in 1160 AD, Ballala Sen, hailed from the coastal region of Karnataka. Ballala Sen was a poet and literature flourished in Bengal during his reign. Ballala Sen authored two books Danasagara and Adbhutasagara.
“Bengal during the Sena regime can be considered a silver period,” said Ranjon Ghoshal. “The kingdom prospered and law and social responsibility was maintained so Bengal is indebted to the Sena dynasty,” he added.

The second link is the city of Gauda, that is located in the present day Malda. The city served as the capital of Bengal for more than 500 years and Bengal was almost synonymous to it. According to Ranjon, this co-incidence has something to do with the Goud Saraswat Brahmins of the Konkan Bay.
“I would suggest the link to the fact that Bengal had sent emissaries to coastal regions ultimately to reach the Konkan Bay. It was then that cultural colonisation took place between Bengal and Karnataka,” he said.
The third parallel drawn was when the spiritual leader,Chaitanya Mahaprabhu from Bengal started the Bhakti Movement in 15th century, his two primary disciples Roop and Sanathan were from Karnataka.
On further studying the links between two separate states, the 61-year-old literature-enthusiast found an intriguing similarity. “If you search the historical literary movements that shaped the country in the north and south, you will not find a concrete evidence to explain this coincidence. But if you search the Kabir and Chaitanya of the north separately and Dasa and Bhakti people of the south, all are contemporaries. There is a maximum of 50 years gap.” he said.

 

When the Kannada literary movement, Navodaya started in 20th century, it was heavily influenced by Tagore and vice-versa. Ranjon, gave the talk on the topic titled Ballal Sen to Banalata Sen, a Bengali poem written in 1942 by the poet Jibanananda Das with an idea to demarcate the span through which Bengal and Karnataka have been exchanging literature and culture.
“Bengal and Karnataka have exchanged more than glances with one another, the have looked deep into each other’s eyes with love and remand,” he said.

Pranab Mukherjee at the inauguration
Pranab Mukherjee at the inauguration

The three-day event called the 89th Annual Conference was organised by Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan and was inagurated by the president of India, Pranab Mukherjee. The conference is held annually by the Bengali community to keep the regional literature alive among Bengalis living in different parts of the country.

It was held fourth time in Karnataka, the last one being in 2007 and the first one being in 1959.
“One of the biggest revelation from the conference was the historical link we share with Karnataka. Now we live in an era of mixed race. My daughter is married to a Kannadiga here but the it was amazing to know that one of our king was from Karnataka and the translation period of Karnataka and Bengal is so ancient,” said Manomita Roy, conference secretary of the event.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Express News Service / December 31st, 2016

The stage for young minds and innovative ideas

Amazing Feats, Education, Science & Technology
Bengaluru : Karnataka 28/12/2016 : Students of PES college demonstrating their innovative models | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Bengaluru : Karnataka 28/12/2016 : Students of PES college demonstrating their innovative models | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

New research park to come up on PES University Bangalore South campus

PES University, which unveiled some of its research done by students and faculty on Wednesday, announced setting up of a new research park on their Bangalore South campus, near Electronics City. M.R. Doreswamy, Chancellor of the PES University, said the park, spread across 48,000 sq. ft, will be inaugurated by Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar on January 7. Vice-Chancellor K.N. Balasubramanya Murthy said the park would incubate prototypes and later help students and faculty members make their products and ideas commercial. Some interesting prototypes displayed were:

Wireless underwater battery charger

A prototype of a wireless charging system for underwater vehicles has now caught national attention. “For charging batteries underground, one has to retract the vehicles out of the water to replace it with charged batteries or deliver power through longer cables underwater. This prototype reduces manual intervention and can be used in maritime systems,” V. Krishnamurthy, Registrar of PES University, said.

Biodiesel reactor plant

This plant can manufacture biodiesel from used edible vegetable oil. The students have tested this fuel with commercial diesel used in college buses and to heat water for hostel students. Mufassira Rahman, a third year biotechnology student, who was involved in the project, said the plant manufactures 70 litres of biodisel a day. She is now trying to work on how the system can be optimised.

Vermi-compost plant

The huge amount of leaves that trees shed have inspired students of the varsity and their mentor to set up a vermi-compost plant to convert it into manure. The plant has a capacity to manufacture one tonne of compost a week. This manure is sufficient for the plants and the nursery on campus.

Pebrine solution

While silkworms produce silk yarn, pebrine spores obstruct the process and is the bane of silkworm rearing farmers. The students have come out with a unique solution, which is a mix of several chemical ingredients that keeps the spores intact without their structure getting modified. The university has been doing field work in Jharkhand on sericulture. The Central Silk Board has also expressed interest in working with them.

Bags project

After development of two satellites, PES University has bagged Sindhu Netra, a project of Research Centre Imarat Hyderabad that is part of the DRDO in which a 10 kg nano satellite is to be developed.

K.N. Balasubramanya Murthy said this project would help identify suspicious ships through imaging satellite.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Staff Reporter / Bengaluru -December 29th, 2016

PES University bags Rs 2.2 crore DRDO project

Amazing Feats, Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

Bengaluru :

After successfully launching a satellite developed by students with the help of ISRO, PES University has now bagged another project from Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

Hyderabad-based Research Centre Imarat, which is a part of DRDO, has awarded a project called Sindhu Netra to PES University. The estimated cost of the project is around `2.2 crore.
Dr Balasubramnya Murthy, Vice-Chancellor of PES University, said, “This project by DRDO will help in identifying suspicious ships through sattelite imaging.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / December 29th, 2016

Pages from History : Christmas in Karnataka

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

by Prof. A.V. Narasimha Murthy, former Head, Department of Ancient History & Archaeology, University of Mysore

Christianity has spread all over the world because of the people of this faith living here during different periods. That is the reason why Christmas festival is celebrated with religious fervour and gaiety. People exchange gifts with the phrase “Merry Christmas” and it is celebrated in a variety of ways. Of course different types of cakes make the children happy. When I was thinking of Christmas I wanted to know when it entered into Karnataka. Soon I realised that it has a long history and a tradition of its own.

The clues to the origin of Christmas in Karnataka can be traced to the migration of the Portuguese into India. It is believed that one of the disciples of Jesus Christ by name Saint Thomas came to India in 52AD at the invitation of King Gudnafar. The question is who is this Gudnafar. Some scholars believe that Gudnafar is none other than Kutnappar or Kundappa who was in Mysore then. It is also believed that he spread the message of Christianity in the kingdom of Majdai in about third Century AD. This has been mentioned in Acts of Saint Thomas written in Syrian language. There has been no certainty regarding the identification of Majdai. It is believed that this king Majdai might have been a King of Kerala, Koramandal or Mysuru. It is likely that Christian merchants from Persia, Syria and Armenia did trade as well as spread Christian religion. This is further strengthened by the discovery of an inscription dated 1376AD which mentions a grant to the tomb of Saint Thomas. This has been found in Mylapore (Chennai). It has the name of Vijayanagara King Bukkaraya.

Almost during the same period (1374 AD) Frayer Jordanus was preaching Christianity and as per his request five Christian padris (Priests) came to Canara and Mysore for the propagation of Christianity. According to an estimate there were about ten thousand Christians in Karnataka in about 1374 AD. But today it is not known how many times this has increased in these years. Anyway they have become a part of the society of our times.

Further it is believed that during the Vijayanagara period a Cross ornamented with precious stones was found in 1483 in the sands of Mangalore. Another information is that in Anja islands near Karwara, the Portuguese were building a fort and to their surprise they saw stones with markings of a Cross. The town Anekal near Bangalore had an inscription on a tomb with Christian connections. Kalyanapura near Udupi was a famous Christian centre till about 1600AD and had many vestiges of that faith.

Goa by about 1510AD had become a flourishing centre of Christianity. The Nayakas (Chiefs) of Ikkeri welcomed the Christians who had come from other places and provided them with free land and money. About thirty thousand Christians were living happily in Keladi Kingdom. In 1521AD Fransiscans entered South and North Kanara area and established themselves in Ullalapet, Farangipet etc. Jesuit Saints built churches in Basarur, Khanapura, Sunkeri etc. The Sonda kings of Bidnaur also patronised them.

During the period of Mysore king, Ramadhira Kanthirava Narasaraja Wadiyar, Christians were looked after well. Seminaries were established to train Christian preachers. Dharwada, Bijapura and some other places were recognised by Pope for the establishment of churches. Some of these devotees wrote Christian messages on palm leaf manuscripts and donated to various libraries. In the meantime, Pope gave freedom to appoint Bishops for the propagation of Christianity.

Tipu Sultan was angry because these Christian Missionaries were giving support to his arch rivals, the British. However, he was kind enough to thousands of Christians who were against the British. Abbe Dubai and Francis Xavier took active role in rehabilitating the displaced Christians. In Kodagu, Father Rebello had come to Madikeri and the king of Kodagu had promised all help to him. K.B. Ganapathy’s excellent book on this subject — The Cross & the Coorgs: A Christian Saga in Coorg — is worth reading.

In the Mysore State ruled by the Maharajas of Mysore, Christianity spread at a fast speed. In about 1700AD there were about eighteen missionaries and about thirty thousand Christians. Basavapura, Kanakanahalli, Harubare, Kelamangala became Christian centres. Subsequently missionary activities became rampant in Raichur, Kittur, Settihalli, Thumarikoppa etc.

Suddenly the Christian missionaries, who were working in Mysore, lost royal patronage in 1672 and after an enquiry and being satisfied that no wrong path was adopted by the missionaries, the royal patronage was restored in 1684. De Kunho was a great missionary and after his death a tomb was established at Anekal. All these activities were connected with the Roman Catholics.

The Protestants also took lot of interest in the spread of Christianity and Frederic Schwartz was the first protestant priest. Hyder Ali held him in high esteem. Many missionary organisations came into being. London mission in Bellary (1810), Weslyean Methodist Mission in Gubbi, Bassel Mission in Mangalore were established and they played an active part in the missionary activity. These missionaries realised that to establish mere missions and churches would not be useful and hence they thought of establishing educational institutions, hospitals and other service organisations.

Father Muller started in 1891AD Homeopathy hospital in Kankanadi; Saint Martha Hospital is run by Good Shepherd nuns; Weslyean Mission Holdsworth Hospital (Mission hospital) in Mysore is important. Bassel Mission became important for printing, roof-tiles, handlooms. Some of them are running even now. Rev. Kittel’s dictionary is famous even today and has seen many reprints. They also prepared and printed many text books for schools in Mysore. To bring in uniformity in missionary activity many eminent men worked among whom Rev P. Gurushanta (a person from Mysore) and Hickling are worthy of special mention.

They divided Karnataka into many branches in which the central one is in Bangalore, northern one is in Hubballi, and the third is in Mangalore which included Dharwad, Shivamogga, Hassan, Mysore etc. They have been translating Biblical works into Kannada language so that common men and could read the message of Jesus Christ. Many Bible Societies came into existence to take up the work.

There are many churches in Mysore, Bangalore and other places. Saint Phelomena church in Mysore is an architectural marvel and admired by hundreds of visitors who throng Mysore city. Other churches worth mentioning are Rosary church in Mangalore, Holy Trinity church in Bangalore, the church in Anekal, Saint Joseph Church in Bangalore, Hardwicke church in Mysore, etc.

I have a large number of Christian students who are now occupying important positions in the society. I cannot forget Rev. Father Vincient of Saint Phelomena’s college who pays a visit to my home with a fabulous plum cake, transcending religious considerations. That is the need of the hour. Hope you will say amen.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / December 25th, 2016