Mangaluru: The Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy has completed digitisation of its entire collection of literary works, marking a major step towards preserving and promoting Tulu literature. The academy has published more than 300 books over the past three decades, though the digitised collection is yet to be formally launched. It has also initiated a project to translate Tulu literary works, particularly children’s folk tales, into English. The first phase will cover 20 books, taking the folklore, cultural ethos and literary heritage of Tulunadu to children beyond the region.Academy chairman Tharanath Gatti Kapikad said that all Tulu literary works will be available in digitised format within a month. “All books and the academy’s magazine ‘Madipu’ are digitised. Besides digitising the books, we also plan to launch children’s folk tales in a video format—like a five-minute cartoon or caricature video narrating the story with edited sequences, so it appeals to both listeners and viewers. Tulu has so much rich, high-quality work that deserves to be translated into Kannada or English,” he said.Children, who are studying outside Tulunadu and in English-medium schools, also should be able to learn the cultural heritage, including the stories of Kallurti, Kalkuda or Siri. Hence, in the first phase, five storybooks for children were selected. ‘Kallurti-Kalkuda’, a book written by noted writer Amrutha Someshwara, has been translated to English by Akshaya R Shetty. ‘Bannal’, written by Catherine Rodrigues, has been translated to English by Dr B Janardhana Bhat. ‘Mayandal’, written by Yashavanthi S Suvarna, and ‘Jogi Purushas’, authored by Kudkadi Vishwanath Rai, were translated to English by Sudha Nagesh. ‘The Foolish Servant and Other Folk Tales’ by Kanarady Vadhiraja Bhat has been translated by Shreyas G Kotian, Gatti said.In fact, the first president of the academy, BA Vivek Rai, had organised a workshop with 20 authors during his tenure to write these stories in Tulu because there were no storybooks for children in Tulu. The first five books for children in English will be released on Monday at Padua auditorium. The remaining ones are currently in the translation process. “Each book is around 25 to 30 pages long, and we have included caricatures inside them,” he said.“Our intention is to give them a flavor of Tulu in a language they are studying in, otherwise it won’t communicate to them,” he added.
