Former Chief Minister Veerappa Moily called upon Prakrit scholars to make efforts to take the language to the common folk.
“Prakrit had a great influence on the Indian literary tradition and it is necessary to take the language to the masses,” he said at the valedictory of four-day International Prakrit Conference at Shravanabelagola on Monday.
Appreciating the State government’s decision to set up the first Prakrit university in Shravanabelagola, Mr. Moily said the university would facilitate studies in the language. “I am glad the government has sanctioned ₹21 crore for the university. Prakrit was a common people’s language spoken by a large population. Many great works of Jain philosophy are in this language,” he said.
Charukeerthy Bhattaraka Swamy of Jain Mutt recalled that Mr. Moily during his tenure as Chief Minister sanctioned ₹50 lakh to set up a National Institute of Prakrit in Shravanabelagola. He said he was glad that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had supported studies in Prakrit by setting up a university.
The Jain Mutt honoured scholar Natalia Zheleznova from Moscow with the International Jnanabharati Award which carries a purse of ₹3 lakh on the occasion.
The four-day conference concluded after adopting eight resolutions. These included setting up a Prakrit Sahitya Parishat at Delhi, instituting an award to encourage young scholars studying Prakrit, setting up the second Prakrit University at Vaishali in Bihar, and publishing research papers presented at the conference.
