Two-day National Seminar on Sant Literature Concludes
Aligarh : “Sants are saviour of human life, and Sant literature has come true on the test of literary dignity and gives better direction to human life. The social, religious, economic and humanitarian side of saint literature is relevant even today”, said Prof. Mohammad Gulrez, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, AMU, while addressing the valedictory session of the Two-Day National Seminar on “Values, Social Consciousness and Relevance of Saint Literature”.
The seminar was organized by the Marathi Section and Punjabi Section, Department of Modern Indian Languages, AMU, in collaboration with the Punjabi Academy, Department of Languages, Government of Uttar Pradesh, on the eve of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
Prof Gulrez said, the services rendered by the saints, be it in Marathi, Punjabi, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Tamil or other languages are inspiring, who rekindled hope in the lives of the people who were lost in despair and darkness. Saint literature is a ray of hope for society that has become materialistic and human values are at loss.
National Film Awardee, Dr. Paramjeet Singh Kattu said, “Saint-Poets strongly opposed the orthodox beliefs and ideologies prevailing in the society. They imagined such a society that doesn’t discriminate on the basis of high and low caste.
Prof. MirzaAsmer Beg, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences said today discrimination among human beings on the basis of religion, caste, creed and colour etc. is at its peak. “According to the Saint-poets all kinds of discrimination are false. The differentiation among human beings is a sign of ultimate ignorance”, he added.
Presiding over the Valedictory Session Prof. Shailendra Lende, Head, Marathi Department, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University said “the social, cultural, religious and political situation of Bhakti period resulted in the medieval Bhakti period saint literature. Bhakti literature focused on removing ignorance and discrimination and bringing a ray of light in the form of knowledge. “The sages of the medieval period wrote poetry in the vernacular languages, that is why this literature reached the masses”, he added.
Prof. Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar, Chairperson, Department of Modern Indian Languages said, the Saint-poets kept raising their voice against the inconsistencies and inequalities prevalent in the society.
The session was convened by the Director of the seminar, Dr.Taher H. Pathan. The coordinator of the seminar, Prof. Kranti Pal presented a report of the seminar, while Prof. Nujum A proposed the vote of thanks.