A two-day National Seminar on “Re-look into Hundred years of Modern Telugu Poetry” organised by the Telugu Department, University of Hyderabad (UoH) was inaugurated on 30th July 2014 in the School of Humanities auditorium.
The head of the Telugu Department, Prof. Sarat Jyotsna Rani welcomed the audience and said that Poetry over the past hundred years has improved and undergone major changes. This National Seminar will throw up ideas that will help the students in their academics and in their research. We are reading many poems but we don’t get a chance to see the poets and this seminar will help the students to see and get to know them better, she added. Prof. Sarat Jyotsna also stated that Letters in poetry and poems will stay with us forever.
Eminent academician from Telugu department of Kakatya University, Acharya Kovela Suprasannacharya in his keynote address stated that from the though changes were less many years ago, in the present environment changes are taking place in Telugu poetry within five to ten years. In the past when British ruled us they forced the people to follow their traditions and insulted our language and tradition and this has resulted in agitation that paved the way to save our language and traditions, he added. Acharya also said that Ramakrishna Paramahamsa started to fight against this discrimination and everyone knows that he was uneducated but got all his worldly knowledge from his mother.
Stating that it is very important to love our country, Acharya gave example of Bipin Chandra Pal who visited Andhra in 1907 and recited poetry about calves and about our country. He also said that many poems were written by great poets taking inspiration from our country. He further mentioned about Ande Sri who never went to school but was instrumental in writing the State song of Telangana. Such persons should be encouraged and it is our responsibility to develop new things so that we can get positive changes in poetry. We must make efforts to develop interest in poetry and those who have such interest are useful to society in many ways. A poem will live forever and everyone must change their view towards our Telugu language to try to develop it and make it prosper in the Country and the World, he said while concluding his address to a large group of students, faculty and staff.
Dr. Bhujanga Reddy, faculty and coordinator for this seminar proposed a vote of thanks.
The two-day seminar will see various presentations and talks by academicians from Osmania, Kakatiya, S V Universities and UoH.