Book Brahma fest opens with conversation between languages

Book Brahma fest opens with conversation between languages On the first day of Book Brahma Literature Festival, panellists has a session titled 'Linguistic Hegemony: Indian Languages and the Federal Imagination'.

Key points

• Madhavan and Keshava Guha interacting during a session, at Book Brahma Literature Festival 2026 in Bengaluru on Friday.
• Speaking from my perspective, English like Hindi is hegemonic on the one side and orphan in India in plenty of States.
• We have plenty of residents from Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha working as domestic helps and drivers in Keralam.
• According to me, Akka Mahadevi is among the most modern writers in history.
• Ashadevi argued that the way Akka uses language and metaphors to counter patriarchy was complex, admirable and tough to translate.

Panellists M.S. Ashadevi, O.L. Nagabhushana Swamy, Divya Kalavala, N.S. Madhavan and Keshava Guha interacting during a session, at Book Brahma Literature Festival 2026 in Bengaluru on Friday. Photo Credit: ALLEN EGENUSE J.

"According to me, Akka Mahadevi is among the most modern writers in history. It is tough to translate her works not as she belongs to another historical time, but since she is far ahead from us in her thoughts and ideology, " remarked M.S. Ashadevi, academic, writer, and translator.

She was speaking at a panel session, alongside writers O.L. Nagabhushana Swamy, Keshava Guha and N.S. Madhavan, in the session titled "Linguistic Hegemony: Indian Languages and the Federal Imagination" on the first day of Book Brahma Literature Festival that was inaugurated on Friday here.

Ms. Ashadevi argued that the way Akka uses language and metaphors to counter patriarchy was complex, admirable and tough to translate. "So as to translate her works, the translator has to build a dialogue with her, understand the complex problems in society. It is not a question of transforming a historical voice into a contemporary voice, " remarked Ms. Ashadevi.

Talking regarding the nuances of translation, Mr. Swamy remarked translating Kannada works into English is always a tougher task. "When I translate works into Kannada, I can do many experiments, " he remarked, adding that English is more like a powerful rich relative that numerous a time creates a feeling of inferiority among individuals who don't understand or communicate in the language.

Mr. Guha argued that for today's youngsters, English is no more a colonial language or hegemonic but a language that can support them secure jobs and build a bridge with other countries in sharing knowledge. "They don't associate English with England or British, " he remarked.

"Speaking from my perspective, English like Hindi is hegemonic on the one side and orphan in India in plenty of States. Each State has its own literary culture and institutions that promote the language of the State, " he remarked, adding that English has no such institutional backing.

Mr. While Kannada, Tamil or Malayalam authors have their own audience who share same language and culture, guha elaborated on how English writers like him cannot rely on a particular audience.

"English might be hegemonic in business and commerce and society, but I don't think it is the same in the literature, " he contended.

Mr. Madhavan spoke regarding the osmosis created by migration. "We have plenty of residents from Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha working as domestic helps and drivers in Keralam. While workers' children are learning English to have better access to education, plenty of residents in my State have now learnt Hindi to communicate with them. This is how language difficulty can be solved when two different communities come together."

He highlighted that learning English has become essential as it bridges the gap to understand encyclopaedias and the scientific research works written in it. "However, one must not forget the essence of various regional and foreign languages like Russian, German, Portuguese and more."

Speaking earlier during the inauguration of the three-day event at St. John's Auditorium in Koramangala, festival director and writer Satish Chapparike described the fest as a celebration of readers and the richness of Indian language literature, especially from South India. "India has been always a country of plenty of languages, numerous histories and plenty of ways of seeing the world. But diversity is not an obstacle to our unity, " he remarked.

In practice, the first day of the event had a solo session on "Every journey deserves to be told" by actor and director Ramesh Aravind and a special screening of Vagachi Pani directed by Natesh Hegde, besides a number of panel discussions.

Taken together, the developments around book Brahma fest opens with conversation between languages point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.