Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 24: Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University organized a one day conference, titled “Contribution of Dogri Writers to Dogri literature”.
Narsingh Dev Jamwal, noted Dogri poet and writer and Padmashree awardee was the chief guest on the occasion. He hailed the contribution of Dogri writers like Dinu Bhai Pant and Ramnath Shastri in Dogri literature. He emphasized the need for promoting Dogri language and literature among young generation through institutions of higher education. He also donated his Dogri poems translated into English by a Canadian translator to the SMVDU library.
Mohan Singh, Sahitya Academy winner in Dogri and President Duggar Manch passionately recalled the contribution of the Dogri poets from medieval times to the contemporary period. “Poets like Gambhir Rai Dattu, Ram Dhan and Ganga Ram’s contributions cannot be forgotten in the development of Dogri,” he said and highlighted the wealth of writings on class struggle and social issues like exploitation and untouchability.
Prof Lalit Magotra mapped the growth of the Dogri literature from 1940 onwards and contribution of Dogri Sanstha towards Dogri literature. Dinubhai Pant, Vedpal Deep, K S Madhukar , Narinder Khajuria, Nilamber Dev Sharma played an important role in the Dogri literature, he added.
Lalit Gupta, a noted art historian and heritage expert traced the decline of Dogri to the introduction of Persian and Urdu in the official work of the Government in the pre Dogra rule. He emphasized the need for opening the Dogri Deptt in the SMVDU followed by study of ethnography, folklore, culture and performing arts.
Surinder Sagar, noted journalist of Dogri recalled the history of Dogri Journalism from the times of Maharaja Ranbir Singh to the present times. He informed the audience about the first Dogri magazine Martand during Dogra rule.
R K Sinha, Vice Chancellor SMVDU stressed the need for communicating in our mother tongue. “Unless and until we respect our languages, we won’t be able to respect our culture, civilisation and nation,” he said.
He stressed the need to promote Dogri at primary and secondary level followed by creation of Deptt of Dogri in Universities. Dogri needs to be made employment oriented like teaching, journalism, archives, archeology, linguistics and translations. He suggested the need for the Academy of Dogri.
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