A section of the crowd at the festival.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: Mohammad Ali Kammeradi, Byari writer, spoke about the history and obstacles Byari faced during an interactive session, titled, 'The Beauty of Languages: Tulu, Konkani, Kodava, Byaari' as a part of the three-day Book Brahma Literature festival, in the city.
He said that Byari is also an ethnicity as well as a language and that the word Byari was used as a slur until 1986 when a Byari organisation was set up to give the community some legitimacy and dignity.
Raymond Dikoona Thakode, Journalist and writer, shared the pluralistic nature of Konaki and said that it embodies ‘Vasudaiva Kutumbakam’ as it is spoken by Hindus, Muslims and Christians as a mother tongue and also written in five different scripts, with Kannada taking the largest share of literary works.
Dr Rekha Vasant, author and professor, said that Kodava has a 2000-year-old history and has deep connections to the land. She is hopeful about the future of the language with the introduction of an MA Kodava program and Kodava classes for school children.
Vijaya Shetty Salathoor, teacher and Tulu writer, mentioned that despite Tulu being one of the Dravidian languages it hasn’t got the promotion it needs. She shared how Tulu lost out in the linguistic reorganization of states as Tulu speakers in Kasargod got divided from the rest of the Tulu speakers and students would be fined earlier for speaking in Tulu in school. Despite this, Tulu does have the potential to become strong with the right programs.