Kannada Rajyotsavam in Hyderabad

In the 1900s when Kannadigas made Hyderabad their home, the Nizam encouraged the community to develop the language and thus was born Karnataka Sikhshana Samithi in 1928, the umbrella organisation for the popular Nrupatunga Educational Institutions. Nrupatunga is probably the only group of institutions where Kannada is also the medium of instruction along with English until Intermediate. While English is the only medium of instruction during Graduation, Kannada can still be opted as one of the languages.

And then came the Karnataka Sahitya Mandira, which is the centre for promoting art and culture. The Sahitya Mandira at Lingampalli, Kachiguda has a library with around 10000 books, a reading room where habit brings the elderly who read the Kannada, Telugu and English newspapers. The auditorium has seen many programmes by artists from Hyderabad and beyond to cater to the cultural requirement of the Kannadigas in the city. Last week, the members of Kannadiga society held a procession of Bhuvaneshwari Devi (the state deity of Karnataka) – Rathothsavam – to mark the Kannada Rajyotsavam – a day in advance, on October 31.

“On November 1, 1956, the earlier Mysore State was rechristened as Karnataka state and the memorable day is celebrated by all Kannadigas in India and abroad. The Karnataka-based Kannada Sene works towards promoting healthy penetration of Kannada language and culture in their State, and they celebrate the ‘Kannada Rajyotsavam’ in all the districts of Karnataka. This year the popular organisation with many branches decided to celebrate the festivities amidst Kannadigas of Hyderabad, and hence an elaborate programme was arranged on October 31,” shared Vitthal Joshi, President Karnataka Sahitya Mandira, and Karnataka Shiksha Samithi.

The day-long festivities included cultural programmes, Yakshaganam, Bharatanatyam and a comedy programme celebrating the various dialects of Kannada language among other programmes. In addition, 10 prominent people were felicitated with the Krishnadevaraya Award that included IPS officer, EX DGP, AP Roddam Prabhakar Rao, former CIEFL (Now EFLU) Prof. KV Tirumalesh, who is a Kendra Sahitya Akademi Awardee and an eminent Kannada Litterateur settled in Hyderabad and philanthropist and restaurateur, owner of Suprabhat Group of Hotels Maranakatte Krishnamurthy. Famous cine director TS Nagabharana, Cyberabad Commissioner of Police VC Sajjanar were among the special guests at the event.