Bengaluru: Department of Kannada and Culture, in association with postal department, will release a special post cover in memory of 50th anniversary celebrations of Jnanpith award for Kuvempu’s most famous work ‘Shri Ramayana Darshanam’. The special post cover will be released tomorrow, December 28, which is also the day before Kuvempu’s birthday.
The Jnanpith award honoured in 1967 for Kuvempu’s literary work was also the first one for Kannada. ‘Shri Ramayana Darshanam’ is also the first Kannada literary work to get honoured with Kendra Sahitya Academy award, Pampa award etc.
The first special post cover of Kannada was released in 1977, on the occasion of centenary celebrations of the school of medical education specialist Taranath. A special cover was released during the birth centenary celebrations of B M Srikantayya, hailed as ‘Kannadada Kanva’. Later, special post covers with names and pictures of DVG, Beechi, Shivarama Karantha, Da.Ra.Bendre, Kuvempu, Muddana, Gopalakrishna Adiga, Tarasu and Basavaraja Kattimani. However, compared to other languages Kannada got very few post stamps and special post covers.
There are philatelists in national and international level, who collect post stamps and covers on ‘literature’. Along with Shakespeare, Baudelaire and others, Kannada litterateurs can get a place through this. If the government is active and release stamps and post covers with the help of postal department, the poets and litterateurs may take rebirth through this.
