Scholars bat for Telugu promotion

Hyderabad: Scholars, Telugu Language, Telanganateaching Telugu and Indian modern languages at different universities in the country from non-Telugu states have stressed a new agenda for Telugu. Several of them while stressing on the promotion of the language, however, warned against isolating it, from its interconnectedness with other languages, cultures, and economy.

Speaking to The Hans India, Prof Shree Rama Challa, Department of Telugu, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, said that more and more students from the northern parts of the country are evincing interest in learning and studying Telugu. It is spoken by the second highest number of people after Hindi in the country. However, we have neglected the importance of its promotion. The task ahead is to get the act together and act in all seriousness to protect and promote the language, he said.

Stressing the importance of protecting and promoting Telugu and other Indian languages, Prof A Nujum, Chairman of the Department of Modern Indian Languages, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) said that the department had introduced Telugu, besides Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi and Kashmiri languages. This is part of the university’s objective to study all the Indian languages in one place.

He said those involved in planning to promote Telugu should not see it in isolation. While promoting the language, they should also look into its interconnectivity to the economics of it, to reap the benefits. For example, neighboring China and Europe had given first priority to their mother tongue. They pursue even specialised fields like technology and medicine in their own language. “Wherever such process had been adopted, there we see the GDP growth rates galloping upward,” he added.

Taking a similar line, Prof Pradyumna Dube, from the Department of Pali and Buddhist Studies of BHU, feels, that Acharya Nagarjuna from the Telugu states had immensely contributed to the spread of the culture, architecture and Mahayana Buddhism, in countries like Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan and the like with his ‘Sunyavada’. Taking up transnational studies about language, culture and the transnational impacts between the two would be immensely beneficial, he said.