Konkani World Centre hosts seminar and recital built around saint Kanakadasa

Mangaluru: Konkani Language and Culture Foundation marked its inaugural ceremony of a seminar and geeta gayana on Kanakadasa in Konkani and on his literature in that language at the World Konkani Centre.

Chief Guest Dr. Pradhan Gurudatt, celebrated translator from Kannada and a past chairman of the Kuvempu Bhasha Bharati Authority, lit the lamp and opened the ceremony. While welcoming dignitaries, centre president Nandagopal Shenoy explained that the two-day plan existed to place before Konkani speakers the Kanakadasa literature that has appeared in Konkani.

Those gathered heard the auspicious message of K T Chikkanna, who heads the Bengaluru study centre devoted to saint-poet Kanakadasa and tatvapadakaras. Release of three volumes of Kanakadasa kavya was performed by Mangaluru University principal Dr. Jayavant Nayak. Fr. Prashant Madtha, linked to the Konkani institution of St. Aloysius College, was present and offered wishes.

Audience attention was taken by “Kanakadasara keertanegala kunita bhajane” from Sadhana Balaga and Natya Dhara’s women’s team of Mangaluru, and by Upendra Mallya’s team staging the geeta nataka “Srinivasa Kalyana.” The seminar on the keertanas brought research essays on Kanakadasa’s literature from experts who translated it into Konkani.

Views came from Dr. Geeta Shenoy, Dr. B Devadas Pai, Dr. Sandhya Nayak, Dr. Shailaja Mangalurukar, Shakuntala R Kini, Jayashree Shenoy, Madhukar Malya, Dr. Aravind Shanbhag, Smitha Shenoy and further literary specialists.

Melodious singing of the Konkani translations by Puttur Narasimha Nayak, Vidwan Yogish Kini, Chaitra Pai, Ravindra Prabhu, Muralidhar Kamath, Varsha Prabhu, Puttur Pandurang Nayak and others captured the public. Singers and translators were remembered with gifts and felicitated.

Centre trustee Melvin Rodrigues placed before the house, the word that president C A Nandagopal Shenoy stood elected as president of the 34th

Akhil Bharat Konkani Parishad conference, after which the trust board honoured him together.

Present were vice-presidents William D’Souza and Ramesh D Nayak, trustee Gilbert D’Souza, treasurer B R Bhat, administrative officer Dr. B Devadas Pai, chief editor Dr. Geeta Shenoy and Usha Nandagopal Shenoy, sponsor of the programme.

Prayer in a raga he set to a Konkani keertana of Kanakadasa was sung by Balachandra Prabhu. Conduct of the programme lay with Suchitra Shenoy, Smitha Shenoy and Dr. Vijayalakshmi Nayak. Several dignitaries stayed through the two days, watched and rejoiced.