The Department of Kannada and Culture has decided to translate literary works written during the rule of the Adil Shahis, most of which are in Persian, Urdu and Arabic, into Kannada.
An announcement in this regard was made recently by Govind Karjol, Minister for Kannada and Culture.
Noted writer and academic M.M. Kalburgi will head a committee that will take up the project, the Minister had said.
Expressing gratitude to the government for taking such an important decision, Dr. Kalburgi told The Hindu that such a project was needed to protect and preserve the literary treasures written during the rule of the Adil Shahis.
“I believe the project will open the gateway to Bijapur’s remarkable history, for literature lovers who wanted the information in Kannada.”
Stating that the Adil Shahis had left a fascinating legacy, Dr. Kalburgi lamented that not much had been done to translate the literature of that era into Kannada or highlight their contributions.
Citing the example of Ibrahim Adil Shah II, who was the fifth ruler of the dynasty, Dr. Kalburgi said that the king strove to bring in cultural and religious harmony between Hindus and Muslims.
“I call him the Akbar of south India,” Dr. Kalburgi said.
He said the project would highlight such intrinsic facets of the dynasty.
He said that around 20 works would be translated, including Gulshan-i-Ibrahim authored by Ferishta (Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah), and a few other books written by English writers.
He said that while some of the books were in Bijapur, several were in museums at Hyderabad, Mumbai and even London.
“Our first challenge is to get the copies of each book and then identify the best translators to be part of the project,” Dr. Kalburgi said.
Hoping that the three-year-long project would commence in January, he said that once completed, the books would serve as an encyclopaedia for research fellows and literature lovers.
