Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 19: Dogri Sanstha, Jammu celebrated ‘Dogri Maanta Din‘ in a simple but an impressive function, wherein litterateurs and artists having made colossal contributions for preserving and promoting mother tongue Dogri and cultural traditions of Duggar Pradesh were felicitated along with Sahitya Akademi Awardees for the period 2023-24.
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Sanjeev Verma, Commissioner Secretary to Government of J & K, General Administration Department, was chief guest on the occasion. He stressed the need to preserve Dogri and regional cultural heritage at all costs.
“We have to realize that our mother tongue and cultural traditions account for our existence as a community and we have to preserve- it all costs. We are proud Dogras and should feel proud of our language as well as traditions,” he said and hoped that all would realize the necessity of time and contribute for the common cause.
Highlight of the senior IAS officer’s speech was the emphasis and stress he placed on the close relationship between the ancient Vedic language and classical Dogri language. He was of the strong opinion that Dogri is the closest to the Vedic language. He substantiated his views by sighting numerous examples of striking similarities between Dogri and Vedic language. He said that every Dogra should be proud of this great inheritance and further research work should be done in this direction.
Earlier, Prof Lalit Magotra, president of Dogri Sanstha Jammu, said that Dogri Maanta Din, which is celebrated all over the region, needs to be commemorated across the nation and even abroad wherever Dogras reside so that a sense of belongings towards our roots should inspire us to contribute for promotion of our mother tongue.
The prominent personalities felicitated on the occasion were Suman Sharma, Darshan Darshi and Shiv Doblia (All for literature), Pt Narayna Prasad (Classical Dance), Suman Gupta (Painting), Madhvi Sharma (Media), Anil Tickoo (Theatre). Vijay Verma for Sahitya Akademi’s main award, Bishan Singh ‘Dardi’ for Bal Sahitya Puraskar, Dr Sushma Rani for translation award and Heena Chowdhary. Each of them was presented a shawl and a memento. Promila Manhas read the citations in favour of Dogri Litterateurs and artists whereas Rajeshwar Singh ‘Raju’ read citations in favour of Sahitya Akademi Awardees.
The program, conducted by Pawan Verma, concluded with vote of thanks by Rajeshwar Singh ‘Raju’.
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