Dravidian University observed a two-day ‘Telugu Panduga’ in and around its ‘Srinivasavanam’ campus in Kuppam to create the mood and ambience ahead of the World Telugu Conference scheduled to be held in Tirupati from December 27.
Official Language Commission Chairperson Mandali Buddha Prasad hailed the Dravidian varsity for holding the ‘Telugu Panduga’ in a resplendent manner to reflect the literary and cultural ethos of the State. He invited all the litterateurs, academics and general public to get voluntarily involved in the events associated with the fete. He also lauded the publications wing of the varsity for bringing out some noteworthy works that would go a long way in preserving the literature for life. While literary creativity is excellent in Telugu, we are lagging behind in translation, thus remaining backward in taking the works to the reach of non-Telugus. “In contrast, Dravidian University is doing its bit in this direction,” he pointed out.
While Telugus were never proud of their hoary past, it required a warning bell from the UNESCO in the form of a projection on its extinction that made the linguists wake up to the reality and preserve the language and pass it on to posterity, he said as he traced the history of the fourth edition of the WTC. Mr. Buddha Prasad released two publications brought out by Telugu head Budati Venkateswarlu and an academic Sravan Kumar on the occasion.
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Karnataka Telugu Academy President Radhakrishna Raju hailed the WTC as a festival of the 16 crore Telugus. While Karnataka spends a huge portion of its budget for promotion of language and culture, the spending by Andhra Pradesh is meagre, he lamented. Vice-Chancellor K.Ratnaiah rendered a Telugu poem lauding the glory of the language. The varsity conducted an event ‘Laksha Galarchana’ of the State anthem ‘Maa Telugu Thalliki’ (10,000 students singing the anthem ten times each to make it heard in one lakh voices), by involving the students and general public of the neighbouring mandals.