In search of Saurashtra in Prakrita

My name is Ravikondda alias Ravindranath. Kondda.Rajaram. I have been always proud to say that I belong to a community called Saurashtra and also speak the language Saurashtra. Saurashtra language is one of the oldest languages next only to Sanskrit which comes to us from Vedic ages.

It is a well-known fact that we had migrated from Saurashtra area of Gujarat several hundred years back.  A couple of decades back a team from our Saurashtra Madhya Sabha headed by Sri.M.N.Rajaram, had gone to Saurashtra area of Gujarat in search of our roots. But unfortunately they did not find anything and returned empty handed.

It was my long-time dream to go in search of the roots of our Saurashtra community. I had always thought that Gujarat is too old a destination from where we had come and it is not possible to find our roots. Instead we had stayed for long in Vijayanagara kingdom and hence this could possibly be a place where we can search our roots.

So I and my wife went in search of our Saurashtra roots to Karnataka.  Based on various Historical facts, we headed straight to Shravanabelagola the holy town of Jains.

Our first visit was to the Adikavi Pampa Library, Department of Library, Government of Karnataka. We made a list of all the libraries which had Manuscripts and followed that trial.

 Bahubali statue in Shravanabelagola

Our next visit was to the “Bahubali Prakrit Vidyapeeth” in Shravanabelagola. We met the Registrar of this Institution, Mr.Manjiah.  On a detailed discussion with him, we came to know that the Prakrita which is being taught there is “Moola Prakrita”.  It is only from Moola Prakrita, that branched several other sub-divisions like Ardhamagadhi, Sauraseni Prakrita, Maharashtri Prakrita….etc.,  (It is important to note that our Saurashtra language is an off-shoot of Sauraseni Prakrita according to our elders)

Bahubali Prakrit Vidyapeeth

Our long term desire is to do Research in roots of ancient languages. 

I got my Diploma in Sanskrit from "Madras Sanskrit College" affiliated to "University of Madras". I have learnt chanting of Krishna Yajur Veda and learnt Vedic Sanskrit also.

To do further Research in Prakrita it was adviced that we take up the study of Prakrita and hence, my wife

Mrs. Savithri Ravindranath, Hindi Pandit,

B.A.,(Public Adminstration),

B.A., (Hindi),

M.A., (Hindi),

B.Ed., (Hindi),

Kovida (Sanskrit), &

Pracharak Dakshin Bharath Hindi Prachar sabha,

got admitted to Diploma program in Prakrita studies here.

 Meet with Registrar of “Bahubali Prakrit Vidyapeeth”

“National Institute of Prakrit studies and Research” at Sree Kshetra.

Our next destination was to the “National Institute of Prakrit studies and Research” at Sree Kshetra.

This is a Central Government funded Institution situated in about 10 acres of land with several buildings. 

Though the Director of the Institute Prof.B.S.Sanniah, was busy in a board meeting, he was kind enough to spare time with us and have detailed discussions. 

Then we were shown the Library of this Institute. This is a real treasure house for us since it contains hundreds of books written in Moola Prakrita and others like Sauraseni Prakrita. 

Then we were shown the Manuscripts section where about 50,000 Prakrita manuscripts are stored.

 

Most of the manuscripts are well preserved, but some of them are very old and in crumbling stages.

We have travelled all around Karnataka for several hundreds of kilometers gathering a lot of information and copies of manuscripts. All these speak hundreds of stories about our Tradition and Heritage.

Can this treasure of knowledge be used for the upliftment of our community people? Yes, certainly it can be used.  How?

After a lots of thought we have come to a conclusion that these can be used by our community people in many ways.  We are trying to patent these with the help of our Saurashtra Madhya Sabha.

Once these are patented then we will implement ways to benefit our community and our community weavers in particular. 

Then last but not the least, we will also try to establish a “National Institute of Saurashtra studies & Research”