Kodagu: Kodagu is the land which is the Home and inspiration to many cultural events. In this background different communities here have different cultures. This dictionary is not only a linguistic but also a cultural dictionary. Thus it is a good move to use online media to make this dictionary accessible by all people said, Mumbai University Kannada Professor Dr. Taltaje Vasanth Kumar.
He was speaking at the Arebashe Dictionary release programme organised by Karnataka Arebashe Samskruthi and Sahitya Academy.
Taltaje said, “Dictionary is a very long and classic trend that has been growing in our country. The beginning of all these, especially at Annamalai Universities in Maharashtra and South India, the trend has been developing with the subject called Dictionary Science. Many people have the attitude that a Shastra is ironclad. It is not as it seems, if you want to know their meaning or to know their flavour, you should read the dictionaries, he emphasised.
Academy President Lakshmi Narayana Kajegadde, who presided over the programme, said that it was a big challenge to prepare this dictionary in twelve months. We are proud that this dictionary is the first dictionary to be created in Unicode. It is not enough to just speak this language, there is a lot to know about it, he added.
Arebashe Language Dictionary Convenor and Academy Member Dr. Vishwanath Badikkana delivered the introductory remarks.
Kodagu Gowda Samaja Union Madikeri President Surtale Somanna, Kodagu Gowda Vidya Sangha President Hosur Ramesh Joyappa, Kodagu Gowda Women’s Union President Kunjalina Muthamma, Kodagu Gowda Samaja Union Madikeri Director Rajesh Thenana expressed their good wishes.
At the programme, those who collected words for the dictionary were felicitated.
Madikeri Kodagu Gowda Samaja President Peryana Jayananda, Registrar Chinnaswamy, and Kannada and Culture District Director Darshana were present.
About Arebashe and journey towards dictionary
Scholars say that the Arebhashe, which can be identified as a regional language belonging to the Dravidian family of languages, has a history hundreds of years. A language evolves only due to its speakers. It should be interpreted as the tradition of the people who read that language. Though no script of its own, it has not diminished the creativity of the Arebhashigas. When it comes to Arebashe culture, folk culture is more prevalent. They are present in the lives and rituals of the people. The oral lyrics of the genre such as song, story, proverb, puzzle, phrase, etc. are also prevalent. Many types of vocabulary in the community’s dances, play, fun, etc., associated with the annual cycle and life cycle such as agriculture, marriage, festivals, etc., have traditionally existed among the Arebhashigas and the Arebhashe words associated with these are on the verge of extinction. Hence there was a need to collect such words and study their origin, syntax, synonyms and proverbs in the Coastal and Malnad region. This may help to find the original form of the Dravidian root of the Arebhashe and other regional words.
The Karnataka Arebhasha Samskruti and Sahitya Akademi was officially established on December 15, 2011 under the direction of the Department of Kannada and Culture, Government of Karnataka. There was a discussion in the Academy from the very beginning on the preparation of a Arebhashe vocabulary. In October 2019, the fourth term of the Academy Action Plan, which began under the leadership of Lakshmi Narayana Kajegadde, discussed the need to prepare a Arebhashe dictionary (Arebashe, Kannada, English dictionary) on the lines of Tulu Lexicon. As per the advice of Kodi Kushalappa Gowda, a meeting of Arebhashe scholars was held at Sullia and Madikeri and field work was done by research assistants and word was collected.
Under the guidance of Retired Professor of The University of Madras, Prof. C. Ramaswamy, a preparatory meeting and vocabulary preparation workshop were held in Sullia and Madikeri in November 2020 for the creation of Arebhashe vocabulary. In this workshop, 8 research assistants collected and delivered 14,000 words over four consecutive weeks. Already K. R. Gangadhara’s Arebashe, Kannada, English dictionary, several research essays and words from published books were edited and studied for Arebhashe dictionary comprising 18,000 words. At present, the Arebhashe dictionary contains more than 1,500 proverbs, more than 750 puzzle phrases, and 18,000 words of experimental sentences. The glossary consists of more than 900 dynasties, more than 1000 place names and more than 150 person names.
Usually, words are written through a card and arranged alphabetically to make a dictionary. But instructions were given to upload the words collected from the fieldwork online during the Corona period. So the fieldworkers were also trained to collect and upload the word on a particular day using mobile technology. Research assistants were frequently given advice through Google Meet to speed up the collection process. Thus more than 30000 words were collected over a four-month period from December 2020 to March 2021.
Due to the second wave of Covid, no one was allowed to leave the house. Then we started doing online editing from our respective locations. 30,000 words were selected and 18,000 of them were edited in word, grammatical special, IPA, Roman Italic, cultural word, Kannada, English meaning, proverb, phrase, puzzle, syntax, etymology, etc. The main editing responsibility is that of Dr. Vishwanath Badikkana had taken over. Bharatesh Alasandemajalu was the Editor and Dr. N. Girish, Kenjana Mamta Prasad who was Arebhashe editor all sat in different places and started editing. During the draft correction, many people sat together and displayed it through a projector and correction was done. Academy member Purushottam Kirlaya, Dr. Kiran Kumbalcheri Purushothama K. V. Karangallu, Scholar Prof. Che. Ramaswamy, language experts Bariyanda Joyappa, Seetharama Kevala, Saroja M. K., And Manoj Kudekallu cooperated to correct the draft.
Scope of vocabulary collection was extended to Kodagu District’s Alur Siddhapura, Aiguru, Kajooru, Kodlipete, Somavarapete, Shanivara Santhe, Bhagamandala, Maragodu, Todikana, Peraje, Madikeri, Galibeedu, Madanadu, Bettathuru, Kushalanagara, Shuntikoppa, Napoklu, Ponnampete, Virajapete, Palibettu, Gonikoppa, Dakshina Kannada District and Kasaragod District’s Kollamogaru, Nadugal, Balgodu, Harihara – Pallathadka, Kandrappadi, Guthigaru, Devachala, Pambettadi, Uppukala, Mentekaje, Kappadka, Kadamakallu, Karangallu, Doddathota, Madappadi, Elimale, Pailar, Chokkadi, Kukkujadka, Narnakaje (Guthigaru Zilla Panchayat), Aranthodu, Markanja, Ubaradka, Aletti, Baddadka, Sullia, Ivarnad, Chokkady – Nintikallu, Bellare (Aranthodu and Bellare Zilla Panchayat), Kankur, Kolchar, Bandadka, Kanakamajalu, Jalsooru, Paajikallu, Ajjavara, Adoor, Parappe, Mandekolu, Mudoor, (Jalsoor Zilla Panchayat and the border area of Kasaragodu), Kadaba, Subrahmanya, Enekallu, Panja, Balpa, Ballakka (Kukke Subrahmanya and Kadaba).
Speaking to NewsKarnataka, Bharatesh Alasandemajalu, Editor of Arebhasha Dictionary, said, “This dictionary has been prepared in 18 months through eight research associates. We have prepared this terminology dictionary using unicode only without using the word. This glossary contains the name, phrase, puzzles of the proverb dynasty, he said.
Speaking to NewsKarnataka, Lakshmi Narayana, President, Karnataka Arebhasha Samskruti and Sahitya Academy said that, A good glossary has been prepared over the period. We have convened important meetings and field workshops from time to time to collected the words, he said.
