(English translation of previous post) In his foreward to Prof. S. Settars Halagannada, Prof. M. M. Kalburgi writes: Most [Kannadiga] royal families up until the eighth century AD were under the belief that they could bring sanctity to their kingdoms and elevate themselves from their Shudra and aboriginal backgrounds by inviting Brahmins of Ahicchatra and the Ganga basin and showering Brahmadeya gifts on them. But this practice changed in the eighth century as the rulers started giving respect to the working class Shudras also. They were always with them and their moral support seems to have become more important to the rulers than the power of the Vedic chants uttered during sacrifices and rituals. In summary, there is solid proof that many royal families in South India were inviting Brahmins from North India for elevating their own stations. I have written about this practice in Kerala and Goa. In his book, Prof. Settar has given ample evidence for this in Karnataka. History seems to have taken a unique turn in Karnataka. By the eighth century, this practice of inviting and honoring Brahmins from the north seems to have taken a backseat. It is possible to imagine that if this hadnt happened, over and above the strengthening or development of the caste-system in Karnataka, even the language of the people of Karnataka could have changed completely. We know that this is what happened in Goa and Kerala: Konkani and Malayalam developed from Kannada and Tamil respectively due almost certainly to the influence of northern Brahmins. But we must not forget that the Brahmins who were invited by Karnatakas royal families were agents of another type of change. That is the development of Kannada writing in the shadow of Sanskrit using alphabets such as ಋ and the mahapranas (although these entered Kannada mainly due to Prakrit influence). This tradition is continuing even to this day and has ended up creating a huge gap between spoken and written Kannada. It is the aim of our Ellara Kannada movement to bridge this gap and make writing Ellara - i.e., everyones.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 02:46:37 +0000
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