Mangalore, February 5: Senior critic and playwright Prasanna said that culture is a way of life and is not to be preserved in museums.
He was delivering a lecture on “Kanaka: re-thinking culture” organised by the Kanakadasa Research Centre in Mangalore University.
Prasanna said that music, dance and Yakshagana were the “blooms and fruits” of a way of living.
There was a need to differentiate between culture and art, culture and society, he said. Even UNESCO had changed its definition of “culture” to mean “a way of living” rather than fine arts.
“Culture does not live in the shastras or universities. Kannada or Tulu is not kept alive by people from the middleclass. It is the people who speak no other language but Kannada or Tulu who keep them alive today,” he said.
“To understand Kanaka, a study of his literature only is not enough. One must look at his generosity and the troubles he underwent,” he said.
B Shivaram Shetty, convener of the centre, spoke on the occasion.
Vice-Chancellor TC Shivashankaramurthy delivered the presidential address.
Students rendered the keertanas composed by Kanakadasa.
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