Dialects like Arebhashe enriched Kannada: CM Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Sunday that dialects like 'Arebhashe' — predominantly spoken in Kodagu — had enriched Kannada, and assured to grant Rs 50 lakh for the community. 

"If Kannada is the basis for the state’s identity, regional languages like Arebhashe have enriched it," Siddaramaiah said, participating in an award presentation ceremony organised by the Karnataka Arebhashe Academy, Madikeri.

The chief minister pointed out that the Arebhashe Gowdas predominantly lived in Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts, and that their population exceeded 3 lakh.

Noting that Arebhashe was a mixture of Kannada and Konkani, the chief minister explained that the language was called Arebhashe since some words were "missing".

"There are 230 small languages in Karnataka. They all originated from Kannada itself. Let the academy work towards preserving Arebhashe. Previously, Rs 1 crore was provided to the Nadagowda community in Bhagamandala. We will also satisfy their current demand for Rs 50 lakh. There's a proposal before the next Cabinet to grant land in Madikeri to Arebhashe Gowdas. That will also be cleared".

Speaking at the event, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said: "Those who forget history cannot create history. You must transfer culture, thoughts and practices of the Arebhashe community to the next generation".

Explaining that there were "over 7,000 languages in the world," he said: "Of that, 2,845 languages have become extinct. You must ensure that Arebhashe doesn’t disappear at any cost".