Bengali gets 2nd language status in Karnataka

Bengali gets 2nd language status in Karnataka

 Posted by: Shubham Ghosh Updated: Monday, May 20, 2013, 16:07 [IST]

The various social and cultural organizations of Barak Valley in Assam have hailed the decision of the Karnataka government to declare Bengali as the second language in the state. The Bengali community in the state has been making the demand for long and the decision acknowledged it. The Barak Upothakya Bongo Sahitya O Sansriti Sammelan thanked the Karnataka government last week for declaring Bengali as the second language in the state. The decision means that the Bengali-speaking students in the state will be able to pursue their study in their mother tongue from 2013-14 academic sessions. The IT School in Sindhapur block in Raichur district of karnataka introduced Bengali language in the state for the firs time and it was followed by other schools soon. An occasion was recently held in the premises of the IT School where Bengali teachers were formally handed over the appointment letters by the education department officials. The Nikhil Bharat Bengali Samiti and All India Bongobasi Samiti have been backing the demands of the Bengalis in the state to acknowledge the language to the Karnataka government as well as the Government of India. The coming of the announcement just before May 19, which is celebrated as Language Martyrs' day in Barak Valley, has been welcomed here. Dipak Sangupta of the Barak Upothakya Bongo Sahitya O Sansriti Sammelan said it was an encouraging decision and that every state should give equal importance to every language. OneIndia News

Read more at: http://www.oneindia.com/2013/05/20/bengali-gets-2nd-language-status-in-karnataka-1220585.html

Navagunjara

In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Navagunjara is a creature composed of nine different animals. The animal is a common motif in the Pata-Chitra style of painting, of the Indian state of Odisha. The beast is considered a form of the Hindu god Vishnu, or of Krishna, who is considered an Avatar (incarnation) of Vishnu. It is considered a variant of the virat-rupa (Omnipresent or vast) form of Krishna, that he displays to Arjuna, as mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita, a part of the epic Mahabharata.The version of the Mahabharata, written by the Oriya poet Sarala Dasa, narrates the legend of Navagunjara; no other version has the story. Once, when Arjuna was doing penance on a hill, Krishna-Vishnu appears to him as Navagunjara. Navagunjara has the head of a rooster, and stands on three feet, those of an elephant, tiger and deer or horse; the fourth limb is a raised human arm carrying a lotus or a wheel. The beast has the neck of a peacock, the back or hump of a bull and the waist of a lion; the tail is a serpent. Initially, Arjuna was terrified as well as mesmerized by the strange creature and raises his bow to shoot it. Finally, Arjuna realizes that Navagunjara is a manifestation of Vishnu and drops his weapons, bowing before Navagunjara