Satchidanandan also pointed out references to folk and

oral literatures. Citing several oral epics like Babhuki or Malle Maheshari in Kannada, the writer said the problems that plagued the early understanding of Indian literature continue to exist today. "A proper understanding of the roots of Indian literature has also been left out. Folk and oral histories of our language are where our roots lie," he said. The poet who writes in both Malayalam and English also pointed out the absence of northeastern literature in literary discourse till as recent as 20 years ago. He also said reducing Indian literature to one language and one religion is "extremely dangerous" politically socially and culturally. Satchidanandan discarded scholarly views of understanding of history and civilisation as "hierarchical". "The idea that we do not have any other future than to become another Europe or America is a very wrong reductive simplistic understanding of Indian culture to assume that our present is the past of the west," he said. So also he abandoned the idea of projecting Indian literature written through different languages. "One problem with this understanding is that it again does not take into account sufficiently the differences and specificities of the different languages." The poet said he preferred the middle path forth by the Booker shortlisted author U R Ananthamurthy who said when we look for unity in Indian languages we see their diversity and when we look for diversity of Indian literature we see the unity." "This dialectical paradoxical statement contains more truth than the other two views because we have had had several periods when the languages talked to each other's cultures their world views but also periods when they developed in isolation," he said. Giving examples, he pointed out how the once purely Persian literary form Ghazal has now been adopted by Hindi and Urdu and even Malayalam. "India is a mosaic of so many languages religions cultures and ethnicities and hence literature should take into account this diversity this great plurality ...," he said. Oriya writer and Jnanpith awardee Pratibha Ray also spoke at the event, which saw poetry recitations by noted poets in Hindi Assamese Manipuri, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Story readings and a session on myth memory and imagination: Tribal and oral literature was also held.