Dialogue accommodates tolerance, agreement and dissent alike, says thinker

Dialogue is the core principle of democracy, as it accommodates tolerance, agreement and dissent alike, thinker Bargur Ramachandrappa has said.

Delivering the 96th lecture organised by the Jayadevitai Ligade Pratishtana in collaboration with Basavakalyan Engineering College here on Sunday, Mr. Ramachandrappa spoke on “Kannada Literature: Equality and Harmony”.

He said that harmony emerges from the coexistence of plurality and unity and literature plays a crucial role in upholding this balance.

Lamenting the shrinking space between reason and provocation and between truth and falsehood, he said that Kannada literature has historically opposed caste hierarchies, gender discrimination and social exclusion.

“Tradition is dynamic, while convention tends to be rigid. Culture often embodies both movement and inertia at the same time,” he observed.

Stating that literature becomes the voice of its times whenever equality and social harmony are threatened, Mr. Ramachandrappa urged writers and readers to assume this responsibility.

Kannada, he noted, has been shaped collectively by Jains, Lingayats, Brahmins and Christians, making it inherently inclusive and egalitarian.

Referring to Vachana literature, he said that it gained wider literary recognition only after the 1970s, following which it began to be studied from multiple perspectives.

“Vachanakaras shaped the Kannada intellectual tradition,” he said and highlighted concepts such as “the body as the temple” and “work as worship” as transformative ideas that democratised devotion.

He also underlined that nature itself does not recognise hierarchies.

“Just as a sandalwood tree and a thorny shrub are equally important in nature, harmony lies in emotional unity and cultural plurality,” he said.

Participating as chief guest, Vice-Chancellor of Bidar University B.S. Biradar said that Kannada literature consistently teaches lessons of equality and harmony and this needs to be reinterpreted in contemporary contexts.

Director of Jayadevitai Ligade Pratishtana Bhimasankar Biradar, Basavakalyan Engineering College Principal Ashok Kumar Vanagire, Vice-Principal Arun Kumar Yalal, actor Akanksha Bargur and several scholars and writers were present.