President of the 10th Zilla Kannada Sahitya Sammelan and well known writer Dr D B Nayak has underlined the need for guarding the great Indian and local literary and cultural traditions against the onslaught of globalisation through a concerted efforts by all concerned.

Releasing the book `Kalburgi Zilla Kavi Kavya Parampare’ brought out by the Zilla Kannada Sahitya Parishat on the occasion of Suvarna Karnataka celebrations here on Sunday Dr Nayak said the process of liberalisation and globalisation has been posing a great threat to the survival of the native culture and tradition and it was high time the threat was countered effectively.

"Globalisation is such a cunning process that it cuts you without causing any pain. Without our knowledge it will destroy our culture, tradition and heritage’’ Dr Nayak warned.

Rich tradition

He noted that Gulbarga district had a very rich tradition of literature, art, culture, etc right from the eighth century but sufferred a serious dent in the 20th century.

He wanted to ponder over the reasons that contributed for the degeneration of tradition of this part of the state and make all out efforts not only to continue it but also make efforts in creating new traditions.

He lauded the Zilla Kannada Sahitya Parishat for contributing its mite to preserve the rich literary tradition of the district by bringing out a volume containing the life and works of poets, literary personalities, mathematicians, jurists, etc of the ancient and medieval period all hailing from Gulbarga district Parishat president Veerabhadra Simpi who presided over the function noted that although Gulbarga has played a leading role in literature, culture, art, music, law, mathematics, etc as most of the pioneering personalities in these fields hailed from Gulbarga.

No serious attempt

However, he regretted no serious attempt had been made so far to record the life and works of these great personalities and now the sahitya parishat has done that job. He said the Parishat had plans to bring out similar volumes on the tradition of art, music and other fields of the district in future.

Dr SwamyRao Kulkarni who edited the book said the book has made a decent beginning by documenting the great personalities of the yore such as celebrated mathematician Mahaveeracharya, juirst and Smrithi commentator Vijnaneshwra of Mitakshara fame.

Foundation

“The new book clearly shows that although Sri Vijya laid the foundtion for Kannada literature by his work ‘Kavirajamarga’, the literary history of the region begins from Mahaveeracharya who wrote mathematical thesis in poetic form in early eighth century,” Dr Kulkarni said.

Dr G B Visaji of Bhalki and Dr T M Bhaskar of Gulbarga university spoke on various aspects of the book. The 400 page rare book having 50 articles from 49 writers is priced Rs 200 and was sold on the occasion of its release at Rs 100.