Alva’s Education Foundation Chairman M. Mohan Alva on Friday said that saints in India, including Kanakadasa, Purandaradasa and Narayana Guru, stood above caste and religion even as they created awareness against inequality in society, a hauteur bureaucracy and the desire for accumulation of wealth among people.
He was speaking after inaugurating a two-day Kanaka Sahitya Sammelan at Mangala Auditorium in Mangalore University here, organised in collaboration with the Kanakadasa Research Centre and the National Saint Poet Kanakadasa Study and Research Centre, Bengaluru.
Whether their thoughts are available in textbooks or not, society should inculcate the preachings of saints like Kanakadasa who longed for devotion and social justice. This first literary conference on Kanakadasa has historical significance too, he said.
Presiding over the inaugural, Mangalore University Vice-Chancellor P. Subrahmanya Yadapadithaya said that a cultural policy will be formulated for the university by September this year. Through this, art, literature and culture will be delivered in an interesting way to the young generation.
University Registrar C.K. Kishore Kumar said that the activities of Kanakadasa Peetha are providing useful thoughts to society.
Centre for Higher Studies in Classical Kannada Project Director (Mysuru) B. Shivaram Shetty donated the amount of the Kanaka Puraskar he received last time to the Kanakadasa Peetha of Mangalore University.
National Poet Kanakadasa Research Centre (Bengaluru) Coordinator M.R. Sathyanarayana, Mangalore University Kanakadasa Research Centre Coordinator Dhananjaya Kumble and others were present.
Scholars, including Mallepuram G. Venkatesh, Lakshmisha Tholpadi and Mr. Sathyanarayana, spoke at the seminar on Kanakadasa.
Padekallu Vishnu Bhatt, Shivakumar Alagodu and Belavadi Manjunath participated in the Kanaka Tarangini Mahakavya Manthana concert.
