Mangalore, August 18: Missionaries, especially the Basel Mission of Germany was responsible for rejuvenating and spreading Kannada literature to Europe, said B A Vivek Rai, Retired Vice-Chancellor, Hampi and Karnataka State Open University, after inaugurating a two day international conference to commemorate the bi-centenary of Rev Dr Hermann Moegling here on Thursday.
The conference is being organised by Karnataka Theological Research Centre, Mangalore along with Karnataka Sahitya Academy, Bangalore and Kittel Foundation, Mangalore at Bishop Jattanna Auditorium in the premises of Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore.
Mr Rai was appreciative of the works of Moegling, a German missionary, such as the publication of first Kannada newspaper 'Mangalooru Samachara' and a compilation of Kannada classics 'Bibliotheca Carnataca'. “We should understand the troubles he has endured 150 years ago to study and popularise several types of Kannada literature”, he noted.
Mr Rai, who is also a visiting professor of Indology to Wolfsberg University in Germany, revealed that there is a team of experts working to translate the works in German to Kannada and vice versa.
Prof T C Shivashankara Murthy, Vice Chancellor of Mangalore University, in his presidential address lauded the efforts of the missionaries in education, language and literature. He observed that it was due to the efforts of missionaries, the quality of education in the district was better.
Recalling a book on botany about 500 medicinal plants in Western Ghats published by the Basel mission in 1870, he felt that there was a great influence of the missionaries in popularising science across the region.
“We should be grateful to people like Moegling who have contributed to make our societies better”, he said.
Dr Hannibal Cabral, Principal, Karnataka Theological College, Dr Rathnakar Sadananda, Director, Karnataka Theological Research Centre, H M Maheshwarayya, Secretary, Kittel Foundation were among the dignitaries present during the occasion.
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