`Bengalooru' decision welcomed

`Bengalooru' decision welcomed

The Hindu

Litterateurs suggest renaming other regions of Karnataka

BANGALORE: While welcoming the Government's decision to rename Bangalore as "Bengalooru," some of the litterateurs have expressed the view that renaming the Mumbai Karnataka region as "Belagaavi" Karnataka and the Hyderabad Karnataka region as "Kalburgi" Karnataka will be more significant and apt on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the formation of the State.

Noted scholar and Kannada activist M. Chidananda Murthy told The Hindu that going by the 11th century inscription found at Begur near Hosur, Bengalooru is the original name of the city. Tracing the origin of the city's name with "Bendakaalooru" is only a presumptuous tale.

Significance

Renaming the city is only a matter of nomenclature consequential to non-Kannada speakers in general and English spelling and pronunciation in particular as "Bengalooru" has always been "Bengalooru" for Kannada speaking and for those who write in that language. What is more significant at this historical juncture is renaming the regions identified with the neighbouring States with which the State has been locked with many cultural and political issues, he said.

By renaming Mumbai Karnataka region as "Belagaavi" Karnataka and Hyderabad Karnataka region as "Kalburgi" Karnataka, the Government can score a social, political and cultural point at one go with all "self-respect."

Reasoning out his suggestion to rename the city as "Bengalooru," the Jnanapith Award winner U. R. Ananthamurthy said that the uvular "u" in Kannada is a "highly enabling independent sound" that can convert and metamorphose umpteen numbers of foreign terms into Kannada words.

For instance, terms such as bus, car, rail and bore when pronounced with uvular "u" become Kannada bassu, caaru, railu and boru so are "Bengalooru and Mysooru," he substantiated.

Asked about his view on the suggestion to rename Mumbai and Hyderabad Karnataka regions, Dr. Ananthamurthy said that they could be considered.

"Long ago Patil Puttappa, the veteran journalist and former Chairman of the then Kannada Watchdog Committee, met Chakravarthi Rajagopalachi at an airport.

On seeing Mr. Puttappa, the late statesman, an old boy of the Central College, here asked as to which part of the State he belonged to. Mr. Puttappa said he was from Hubli. Staring at him Rajaji queried, "even after Independence Hubli is still Hubli and not Hubballi," Dr. Ananthamurthy quoted the witty observation of Rajaji narrated to him by Mr. Puttappa. In the nonagenarian lexicographer G. Venkatasubbaiah's point of view, the reference available in the 11th century inscription emphasises that the name of the city has always been "Bengalooru." It became Bangalore for the colonial rulers and a section of non-Kannada speaking people. Although the Government's decision to rename the city is emotionally and culturally significant for all Kannadigas, renaming the regions identified along with the capitals of neighbouring States sounds incongruous and a bit embarrassing. The Government could also think of renaming these regions or any other region in terms of the existing revenue divisions as identifying them from their geographical location is both complex and confusing, Prof. Venkatasubbaiah says.

Terming the decision to rename Bangalore as a long awaited socio-cultural event, President of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat Chandrashekara Patil said the anglicised names of many towns and cities in the State should also be changed.

It is time to rename the Mumbai Karnataka and Hyderabad Karnataka regions suitably as a matter of self-respect and to stress the State's identity in the border area, he says.