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Thoothukudi to host fourth edition of 'Neithal' folk arts festival from June 13

Thoothukudi to host fourth edition of 'Neithal' folk arts festival from June 13

The Hindua day ago

Thoothukudi is all set to host the fourth edition of the 'Neithal', festival, a three-day event celebrating Tamil folk culture and artistic heritage from June 13 to June 15. Initiated by the Thoothukudi MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, the three-day festival will take place at the V.O.C college ground in Thoothukudi.
Similar to the past few years, this year's festival will also feature over 300 artistes from across Tamil Nadu, presenting more than 20 traditional performances belonging to the State, each evening from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. The exciting line up of the folk art forms including 'Karakattam', 'Mayilattam', 'Oyilattam', 'Devarattam', 'Parai Attam', 'Jimbala melam', 'poikkal kuthirai' etc,. were planned at the festival, offering a rich cultural experiences to the audience.
In addition to the stage performances, the festival will also feature a traditional food exhibition with over 20 stalls, showcasing indigenous dishes from different regions of Tamil Nadu. The initiative was aimed to highlight the state's rich culinary heritage while supporting the local food artisans by giving them a wider platform.
The festival which is set to commence on June 13 will begin with 'Mangala Isai' followed by the cultural performances of different troupes. On June 14, the festival will feature performances including 'Devarattam', 'Perunchalagai attam' and music bands featuring famous singers. The final day June 15 to be concluded with performances by Thoothukudi Government Music School followed by different folk artiste troupes.

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Pollock writes that from the time of the Badami Chalukyas (6th century), the number of inscriptions issued by or within royal power that were wholly or partially in Kannada rose significantly in comparison to those in Sanskrit. Under the succeeding Kalyana Chalukyas, for instance, nearly 90 per cent of the epigraphs are in Kannada. Pollock argues that the increasing shift to the vernacular in the region was in keeping with similar changes taking place in the rest of the subcontinent and was a 'quasi-global' phenomenon. 'New literatures were about to be called into existence nearly everywhere,' he writes. Political patronage under the Rashtrakutas This gradual move towards Kannada reached its peak under the rule of the Rashtrakutas of the ninth century, particularly with the coming to power of King Nrupatunga Amoghavarsha in 815 CE. 'In common parlance, his reign is often referred to as the Kannada empire,' says Chenni. 'Nrupatunga was himself a scholar and writer, deeply interested in literature and philosophy. His court became a major centre of literary and cultural activity in the Deccan,' suggests Hegde. It was during Nrupatunga's reign that one of the most important Kannada texts was produced — the Kavirajamarga, which translates as 'the way of the king of poets' — and was written by a poet in the king's court called Sri Vijaya. The text is known to be the earliest and the most definitive description of the Kannada language. Chenni explains that Sri Vijaya, on several occasions in the text, has asserted that it was dedicated to the king and was approved by him. Consequently, many people also believe that Nrupatunga was a co-author of the text. Pollock places the publication of Kavirajamarga as a turning point in the history of the Kannada language. He suggests that the text 'may have been the first text in world culture to theorise a vernacular poetics.' He notes that the prologue to the text first salutes the greatest of the Sanskrit prose stylists and then moves on to praise the Kannada prose writers Vimalodaya, Nagarjuna, Jayabandhu, and Durvinita. Similarly, it first provides a list of the most respected among the Sanskrit poets and then follows it with names of the Kannada writers of verse. Pollock argues that while almost nothing is known about the Kannada writers mentioned, they were, in all probability, living in the same period as the publication of the text or perhaps part of the literary circle of the king. That the shift to the vernacular tradition was a new venture of the time is made known by the acknowledgement by the Kavirajamarga itself about the difficulties faced by the writer in locating literary models in Kannada for its prescriptive project, while emphasising that it was much easier to find Sanskrit and Prakrit works in abundance. At the same time, the text also recognises the existence of 'pallagannada' or 'old Kannada'. However, other scholars suggest that it would be wrong to assume that literature in Kannada did not exist or had a very scant existence before the publication of Kavirajamarga. Scholar of Kannada Hampa Nagarajaiah, better known as Hampana, points to a sizable corpus of Kannada literature produced by Jain poets, patriarchs and pontiffs before the emergence of Kavirajamarga. In a 2019 essay critiquing Pollock's work, Hampana writes about Tumbaluracharya, who in the 6th-7th century wrote a voluminous work called 'Cudamani' which consisted of around 84,000 verses in the Kannada language. Yet another important piece of literature he points out is the Vaḍḍārādhane, believed to be the earliest existing prose work in Kannada and published around 800 CE. Hampana argues that the 'vernacularisation project was initiated and promoted by the champions of the religious movement.' Jains and Buddhists resisted Sanskrit's dominance and opted for the local languages. Consequently, Jain writers, he says, who were trained in Prakrit and Sanskrit, played a big role in the transformation of Kannada into a language for expressive discourse. 'Key components of literary textuality like grammar, lexicon, metrics and theme were suitably appropriated from Prakrit and localised,' writes Hampana. Nonetheless, the rule of Nrupatunga was a watershed moment in the development of Kannada. It is under him that several other Kannada writers began prospering. 'You have more or less a continuous literary tradition after Kavirajamarga,' suggests Chenni. By the 10th century, we see the emergence of Pampa, regarded to be one of the greatest Kannada writers, best known for his epics Vikramarjuna Vijaya and the Adi Purana. He is soon followed by other notable writers such as Ponna and Ranna. Together, they are considered the three gems of Kannada literature. As suggested by Pollock, they continued with the tradition that began with the Kavirajamarga, that of producing vernacular texts in two main genres: political and religious. Kannada in modern literature In the modern literary landscape, Kannada has continued to produce some of the richest works of poetry, prose, drama, and more. Beginning with the Kannada renaissance of the early 20th century, some of the greatest names to have emerged include Kuvempu, Masti Venkatesh Iyengar, Gopalakrishna Adiga, KS Narasimhaswamy, and P Lankesh. At present, Kannada literature is enriched by the works of people like Devanoora Mahadeva, Vaidehi, Pratibha Nandakumar, and Banu Mushtaq. In the last few decades, eight Kannada authors have been awarded the Jnanpith award, while the Sahitya Akademi Award has been conferred upon Kannada authors 50 times. Earlier this year, Banu Mushtaq's collection of short stories, 'Heart Lamp', which is translated from Kannada, won the International Booker Prize. What makes Kannada literature distinctive, says Chenni, 'is the success it has achieved in negotiating regional sensibilities and modern, contemporary transformations in society.'

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