Hailing from Adilabad town of Telangana, a social studies teacher translated the Mahabharata (abridged) into Gondi language.
Thodasam Kailas, who has named the translated version of the epic, Pandak Na Mahabharat Katha, says he took up this task with an aim to preserve Gondi language.
With distress in his voice, Kailas mentioned that our language is “disappearing”.
“Even people hailing from the Gond community do not speak their native language. And one of the reasons behind this is that they are not aware of it.
Our community is known for a rich culture of storytellers. Sadly, only a few of them are left. There is a need to preserve our culture for our coming generations, so I decided to write this book,” added Kailas, who dreams of including Gondi language in the 8th schedule of the Constitution.
He, further, said: “I have included many forgotten words in my book. I typed the entire five parts of the epic on my mobile phone. I have used Telugu script to write the book. Since Gondi script is available now, I will print it in Gondi script soon.”
Kailas took three months to write this book. He started on March 10, 2024, and completed it on June 10, 2024.
Kailash started with a YouTube channel to share his thoughts in Gondi. After he received a good response to his videos, he wrote a motivational book, which could not be preserved owing to lack of funds.
After finishing Pandak Na Mahabharat Katha too, he faced a paucity of funds. However, he managed to publish the epic, by bearing the expenditure himself.
Gondi is the language of the Gond Adivasi community, the original inhabitants of the Gondwana region in Central India, spread across parts of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Despite being spoken by nearly three million people according to the 2011 census, and claimed to be even more than that, Gondi is not formally recognised by the Indian state.
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