| After the down fall of Vijayanagara empire, Kannada was the official language only in Keladi and Mysore. Later, Keladi kingdom was annexed into Mysore in 1763 A.D. by Hyder Ali. During the rule of Haidar and Tipu Sultan, due to many reasons, Marathi speaking people coming from Tamilnadu gained prominence in the administration and were appointed as administrators and Marathi got the same position as Kannada in administration, though the Marathi speakers in the kingdom constituted a meager percentage of the population. Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan were suspicious of the literate locals, as they were more loyal to minor factions of the Wodeyar ruler. One can assess the importance given to Marathi, from the fact that, ‘Sanad’, issued by Tipu Sultan to a Muslim Khaji of Hoodigere village in Shimoga district, was in Marathi. Even after the fall of Tipu (1799), the dominance of Marathi continued and Mysore became the sole representative of Kannada. Even in Mysore province, Kannada was elbowed by other languages, especially by Marathi. Infact the prominence of Marathi was so high, that, there used to be ‘Double Daftar’ by which official papers were kept in two languages, namely, Kannada and Marathi. The English Commissioner, Mark Cubbon abolished this system of ‘Double Daftar’, and English became dominant in Mysore. As a result, Marathi gave way to English. Even though, Mysore’s administration was handed over to the Wodeyar ruler in 1881, Kannada did not get its rightful place. Even the primary schools in various parts of British Karnataka, (with the solitary exceptions of South Kanara) had either Marathi, Telugu or Tamil as medium of instruction. The Court and official languages were Marathi, Telugu and Tamil. The language of the stage, the platform and even of devotional Keertanas were not in Kannada. In this mood of apathy, there were few British administrators, who showed interest in the regeneration of Kannada, especially as medium of instruction. In 1826, the English Assistant Collector, Walter Elliot expressed his dissatisfaction against the establishment of Marathi schools in Bombay-Karnataka, thereby neglecting the language of the masses. In 1831, he established a Kannada school in Dharwad and for the next three years he himself managed its expenses. In the early seventies, due to the efforts of Mr. Russel and Deputy Channabasappa, the Education Inspector and the Deputy Education Inspector respectively, Kannada primary schools were started in Bombay Karnataka. Besides, a Training College was started first at Belgaum and which was later moved to Dharwad. At the same time J. F. Fleet, the commissioner of the Southern Division, produced his remarkable work “Kanarese Dynasties”, which played an instrumental role in creating awareness amongst the literate Kannadigas. This paper attempts to records all the important milestones, in the evolution of Kannada, in becoming the official and administrative language of Karnataka and the role of historizing the past glory of Karnataka. |
