Udupi: Nearly 1,000 Participate in Taluk-level Tulu Folklore Games Contests 

Daijiworld Media Network—Udupi (RD/CN)

Udupi, Nov 15: Sri Laxmivarateerta Swami of Shiroor Math inaugurated the taluk-level Tulu folklore games competitions at MGM College here on Sunday November 15.  

The games were held as part of the grand Vishwa Tulu Sammelan, scheduled to be held in Ujire, near Dharmasthala, during December.

Swami Laxmivarateerta speaking on the occasion said that Tulu is losing its originality due to people conversing in a mixture of English and other languages.  

“Although Tulu is one of the oldest Dravidian languages, it’s not being taught in schools along with the syllabus.  If the same trend continues unabated, Tulu will go into oblivion in the near future”, he cautioned.

MP D V Sadananda Gowda said that the process of submitting the related papers to the union government seeking to include Tulu in the eighth schedule of the Indian constitution were in the final stages. “If efforts are not made to sustain regional language Tulu, many similar languages will become extinct sooner or later”, said Gowda.

MLA Raghupathy Bhat presided over the programme.

Kaup MLA Lalaji R Mendon, MLC Pratapchandra Shetty, former MP Vinay Kumar Sorake, zilla panchayat president Gladys D’Almeida, Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project CEO Dr L H Manjunath, Rabindra Nayak, Shiva Shetty, Yashpal Suvarna, and Anantharam Upadyaya were present on the dais.

Sri Sugunendra Swami of Puttige Math inaugurated the ceremonious procession of Tulunadu cultural hierarchy at Geetha Mandir in the Math.

The colourful procession passed through city streets and concluded at the games venue.

Over 950 winners of regional competitions held earlier at Hiriyadka, Udyavar, Udupi, Kaup, and Padubidri participated in the taluk-level competitions.