NASHIK, SEPTEMBER 16, 2011: September 15, 2011 the second day of the seminar on “Christian Contribution to Marathi Literature” organized at The Indian Medical Association in Nashik, was presided over by Mr. Vinayak Dada Patil, President of Yashwant Rao Chavan Foundation Nashik. The seminar had two eminent Marathi scholars as chief speakers. They were: Miss. Cecilia Carvalho, the former President of the Marathi Sahitya Samhelan and Mr. Uttam Kamble, the President of Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Samhelan.
The Seminar began with warm words of welcome by Mrs. Vedashree Thigle, who spoke about Marathi language as a huge current that has so many priceless contributions. In his words of welcome, Fr. Nelson Falcao clarified the purpose of the Seminar.
In her speech, Miss. Cecilia Carvalho emphasized that language is instrumental for a change in society; as Marathi language developed, the culture and Marathi literature too progressed. She compared Marathi literature scholars to a skillful tailor who measured, altered and fitted language as per the signs of the times. She was of the opinion that a language is not the monopoly of a particular country or religion and there need not be a compulsory link between a certain religion and a language. The talk had as its emphasis, not only the spread of Christianity through Marathi Literature, but also the growth of Marathi Literature due to writers who happened to be Christians.
The second talk by Mr. Uttam Kamble began with a series of questions such as who prepared Christian literature and what is the importance of a language to literature? He also asked who began the spread of Marathi as a language. The answer to the last question, he said, was that it was the Christians who began the spread of Marathi as a language. He also stressed that the Christian community is an indivisible part of the Marathi language; therefore it is implausible to compare and find differences as to who has contributed greatly to Marathi as a language. He felt that the overall Christian literature was still under the dominion of religion and had therefore failed to voice out sufficiently the social controversies of our times. He ended with praises for the great missionary Mr. William Carey who was the first to write the grammar for Marathi language.
The Seminar was privileged to receive the concluding comments from Mr. Viniyak Dada Patil, who stated that Marathi is for all and it is not a monopoly of any one particular community. The vote of thanks was given by Fr. Robert Pen, who thanked all the speakers and many Marathi Literature scholars and professors in the audience. The Seminar was the brain child of Mr. Francis Waghmare, a well known journalist of Nashik, who helped in carrying out the proceeding of the seminar in an efficient manner. A large group of students of philosophy from Divyadaan attended this seminar who found it insightful and an eye opener towards the contribution of Christian writers to Marathi literature.