CULTURAL CENTRES |
MAHATHMA GANDHI COLLEGE HAS THE FOLLOWING
CULTURAL CENTRES WHICH PROVIDE BASIS FOR LEARNING FOLK
ARTS AND CARRYING OUT RESEARCH ON FOLK ARTS, REGIONAL LANGUAGES,
LITERARY
WORKS ETC.
A new Yakshagana Kendra is being built and
generous donations are requested.
THE CENTRES ARE :-
RASHTRAKAVI
GOVINDA PAI RESEARCH CENTRE
YAKSHAGANA
KENDRA
REGIONAL
RESEARCH CENTRE
"Rashtrakavi Govind
Pai Samshodhana Kendra", an Oriental Research centre,
established in 1965 around the nucleus of a unique collection of
5000 volumes belonging to the library of late Poet-Laureate Shri Manjeshwar
Govind Pai is meant to organize research work in ancient history and
literature-classical and modern.
The university of Mysore recognised this centre for research in the history and
culture of the region leading to doctoral degree. The centre is now affiliated
to Mangalore University.
The present guides of the Centre are Dr.U.P.Upadhyayaa, Dr.Mrs.Susheela
Upadhyaya and Dr.Uppangala Rama Bhat. Twelve scholars have obtained degrees
after working under the aegis of the centre.
The most important project undertaken by the Govind
Pai Samshodhana Kendra has been the Tulu Lexicon Project with
Dr.U.P.Upadhyaya as the Chief Editor and Dr.Mrs.Susheela P.Upadhyaya and other
scholars on the editorial staff. After a dialect survey of the Tulu speaking
areas in the initial period a trilingual dictionary has been prepared on
most scientific lines. With the release of the last three volumes in September
1997 the giant dictionary of 3332 pages and more than one lakh Tulu words has
been accomplished. The Lexicon has been recognized as the best dialect
dictionary ever published in an Indian language. The whole set
of 6 volumes is available at a moderate price of Rs.620/-
The magnum opus of the R.G.Pai Samshodhana Kendra was the compilation of a 1400 page volume containing research works of the late Manjeshwar Govind
Pai.In a matter of two years the Director of the Kendra, Prof.H.Krishna
Bhat brought out another volume of the English articles written by the
late Manjeshwar Govind Pai, which became another milestone in the history
of MGM College.
The publication work of the Govind Pai Kendra goes hand in hand with
programmes of supporting creative and critical work in Kannada.The awards
given are as follows:
| The Kadengodlu Poetry award is awarded to a poet who presents the best unpublished anthology of poems. |
| The Prof.Inamdar Award confers a prize on the best critical work published in Kannada every year. |
| The Prof.K.S.Haridasa Bhat Award rewards the best work on Folklore published in Kannada every year. |
| Polali Sheenappa Hegde Award goes to the best Tulu scholar in regional studies. |
A Govinda Pai Archaeological museum had been set up
which possess abandoned remnants in stone, metal and wood
found at shrines ,old castles and other monuments. This are housed in a separate
wing in the new building Nalanda. This museum is perhaps the only museum
in an under graduate college which has been registered and hence is a recognised
museum.
A Konkani Research Wing has been added to the Govind Pai Samshodhana
Kendra and an initial project i.e. a critical work on Konkani
studies has been brought out.
Yakshagana Kendra was found in 1970 under the direction of the litterateur of the century,Jnanapeeth awardee,Dr.K.Shivarama Karanth. Prof.K.S.Haridasa Bhat, who was then the principal of the college initiated the project of starting a school for Yakshagana.The college provided the platform for many seminars and demonstrations of Yakshagana music and dance initiated by Dr.Karanth.The Yakshagana Kendra itself is a training school in the traditional art of Yakshagana and Yaksharanga, a kind of ballet introduced by Dr.Karanth.Yaksha ranga troupes,trained by Dr.Karanth visited many countries like Japan and displayed the Yaksharanga form.
Interested students are selected after an interview for training of one year duration.It is a residential school where the teachers and the students are taught to live together in the Gurukula system.Training inYakshagana is an allround training including make up,costume designing,costume repair,dance and bhagavaths.
The demand for trained artistes is so great that the trainees of Yakshagana Kendra get absorbed into professional Yakshagana troupes as soon as the training course is over
Dr. Peter Claus helped the RRC to launch a series of International Workshops in Folklore studies(1988-89) in which eminent folklorists of the world participated as resource persons. A book on Indian Folkloristics by Dr. Peter Claus and Frank Korrum published by the RRC was the product of the workshop series. The Indo Finnish Project carried out in the precints of Dharmasthala and Belthangady Taluks under the Auspices of RRC. This project involved the active participation of Prof. Lauri Honko,the Finnish National professor of Folkloristics. Prof Lauri Honko was invited for a seminar on the Finnish Folk Epic Kalevala in 1985 .
The contact with Prof.Lauri Honko has been followed by signing a memorandum of understanding between Turku University,Mangalore University and RRC for the promotion of Folklore research and sharing of knowledge.The centre has entered into international collaboration in documentation projects.It will be an on going project with the establishment of the M.G.M.Culture Foundation to be established jointly by the Academy of General Education and the Ford Foundation.
The Centre has produced rich documentation material in audio visual form based on a series of field studies, workshops, seminars and festivals.Taking up the most modern methods of multimedia documentation the RRC has become a great treasure of Folklore material . Photographs ,Cassettes,Videos,slides analysed,classifiedand stored for easy retrieval can be consulted on the spot by interested people. Siri Sampada, which contains valuable archival material, is equipped with a sophisticated video editor's desk where Harshavardhana Bhat has produced documentary videos on rare forms of folkperformances. The Dissemination Project of presenting RRC hodings before interested audiences in the Dhwanyaloka is one of the most important parts of the informal education which the college has taken up with gusto and vigour.
For further information
contact :
Email :rrcmgm_vip@zetainfotech.com
Tel :5211591
Fax :523559