Books and Authors - Current Affairs for May, 2017

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unveiled translated volumes of Vachana in 23 Indian languages on the occasion of Basava Jayanti.

The 23 Vachana volumes were edited by late M M Kalburgi and have been translated into other languages by more than 200 people. P

Prime Minister also released the digital version of the work.

This is the first ever celebration of Basava Jayanti at the national level.

The translated volumes of Vachana was commissioned by the Basava Samithi at a cost of INR 2.5 crore rupees of which the Karnataka government has contributed 1 crore rupees.

The celebrations also coincide with golden jubilee of Basava Samiti that was set up by former Vice President B D Jatti 1964 to spread in Basavannas message.

Vachana and Basavanna: Know More

• Vachana is a prosaic form very much popular in the Kannada literature.
• It propagates values of universal brotherhood.
• It was penned by Basavanna and other saints.
• The 12th-century social reformer Basavanna used this style of writing to spread social awareness and bring equality in the 12th-century society.
• Basavanna was a 12th-century philosopher, statesman, Kannada poet and a social reformer who lived in Karnataka during the reign of the Kalachuri-dynasty king Bijjala I.
• He served as the chief minister of his kingdom.
• Basavanna rejected gender or social discrimination, superstitions and rituals.
• During his tenure as Chief Minister, he introduced many new public institutions like Anubhava Mantapa (“hall of spiritual experience”) that would facilitate men and women from all socio-economic backgrounds to have a healthy and open discussion on various spiritual topics.
• A 13th-century sacred Telugu text, the Basava purana by Palkuriki Somanatha offers a full account of Basava’s life and ideas.
• In 2003, former President of India Abdul Kalam inaugurated Basaveshwar’s statue in the Parliament of India.
• In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the statue of Basaveshwara along the bank of the river Thames in London.

From May 4, Bhilar, a tiny hamlet in Satara district of Maharashtra is to become India’s first ‘book village’.

The concept of book village is based on Britain’s Hay-on-Wye, which is a Welsh town located in the United Kingdom, famous for its bookstores and literature festivals.

Under this initiative, tourists and locals can come and read books, magazines, newspapers stacked at 25 artistically decorated locations around the village.

The books on wide-ranging subjects and 15,000 books in Marathi would be made available on these premises.

Some of the books that will be available for the readers are very rare and out of publication, including novels, reference books about Maharashtra and Marathi culture written by prominent authors.

Bhilar: Know More

• Bhilar is a small village located near picturesque hill station Panchagani in Satara district of Maharashtra.
• The village is popular for its strawberries. Near the village exists the British-era hill station of Mahabaleshwar.
• Bhilar produces nearly 100 tonnes of strawberry every year.
• Around 90% of the village’s population of around 10,000 is involved in strawberry farming.

• Hay-on-Wye is a village located in Wales of the UK and the world’s largest second-hand book centre.
• In 1972, a person named Richard Booth established a second-hand bookstore in an abandoned fire station and subsequently many followed, making Hay-on-Wye a book lover’s paradise.
• 30 bookstores catering to the needs of the village’s population of 1,500 people are there.
  Every year, the village hosts the Hay Festival, one of the world’s top literary festivals.