Language's day out at Jain University

March 9, 2016 - PRLog -- The Department of Languages, School of Commerce Studies, Jain University, conducted a one-day national conference on 3 March 2016. The theme of the Department of English was “Art, Literature and Technology in Globalized Society”, whereas the Department of Sanskrit chose the topic “The Role of Subhashitas in creating Model Society”. “Hindi sahitya main pratirodh ke swar” (voice of resistance in Hindi literature) was the theme of the Department of Hindi. Prof. Mithileshwar Jha, Pro Vice Chancellor of Jain University, inaugurated the conference. In his inaugural address, he articulated on how he was exposed to Sanskrit learning at a very young age and how it influenced him positively.  He opined that the human mind gets enlightened through learning literature, whatever be the language.

The keynote speaker for English was Dr. H K Shivalingaswamy, Associate Professor, Department of Studies and Research in English, Tumkur University. “We need to move away from the thought that art is meant only for deriving pleasure because in a globalized society knowledge has been transformed into computed data”, said Dr. Shivalingaswamy, in his keynote address. He also mentioned the various perspectives of higher education by bringing in ideas of Allan Bloom, Humboldt, and Immanuel Kant. Mr. Arunesh Shukal from Bhopal voiced the keynote discourse for Hindi. Dr.M K Sridhar delivered the keynote address for Sanskrit. He emphasized on the role of Subhashitas in creating an ideal society and ensuring good governance. He quoted the Vedic texts and explained the relevance of the Vedic hymns to the modern society.

The consensus that emerged out of the 22 paper presentations in Sanskrit was that the Subhashitas should be imbibed and practiced from a very young age. Through inculcating the Subhashitas, one can learn to react in a balanced way to joys and sorrows. English covered diverse topics ranging from technology and language learning to technology and children’s literature. Participants presented 10 papers in English from various universities and colleges in Bangalore. There were 17 participants who presented papers in Hindi.