Mangaluru : Riding high on the Karnataka cabinet’s decision taken at the Mangaluru cabinet meeting to recognise Tulu as the second additional official language for administrative and government purposes in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, Tulu organisations are preparing to celebrate Tulu Script Day with a series of events across the coastal region.
Rajesh Alva, founder of Tulu World Foundation, said the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy had declared Oct 10 as Tulu Script Day in honour of Puninchathaya. He said a variety of programmes would be held across Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Kasaragod and other places on Oct 9 and 10.
Events will be organised at Mulki, Karkala, Kasaragod and several other locations,” he said. While many people use Kannada, Malayalam or English scripts to write Tulu, efforts are being made to revive wider use of the language’s traditional script, according to Alva. He noted that numerous historical documents provide evidence of the rich legacy of the Tulu script and that continued research could reveal more about the language’s history and evolution. Meanwhile, the Tuluva Mahasabha has directed its state, district, zonal and local units to organise at least one programme in their respective jurisdictions. Planned activities include introductions to Tulu Lipi, training workshops, Puninchathaya memorial meetings, lectures on the history of the script, Tulu script writing competitions for students, book exhibitions and awareness campaigns aimed at promoting the use and preservation of the script.