Mysuru: A titan of the Kannada literary world, Dr De Javare Gowda, or De Ja Gow as he was popularly known, who passed away Monday evening, was laid to rest in the grounds of his Sri Kuvempu Vidyavardhaka Trust in Jayalakshmipuram next to his wife, Savithramma’s memorial, with full state honours Tuesday afternoon.
A sea of politicians, literary giants, students and fans paid their last respects to him at his Vivekananda School, where his body was kept for public viewing.
De Ja Gow is survived by his son and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Mysore, Dr J Shashidar Prasad, daughter Shashikala , daughter –in- law, Revathi, son- in- law Dr Chandrashekar, and four grand children. He himself was twice Vice Chancellor of University of Mysuru, which he joined as a lecturer in 1946.
Besides penning 350 books, that included 30 biographies of prominent figures like former Chief Minister of Karnataka , Nijalingappa and Nelson Mandela , he translated Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and War and Peace, among others. His transliteration of Kuvempu’s Ramayana Darshanam and Ramayana Darshanam Vachana Chandrike went into 18 editions.
Besides contributing significantly to Kannada literature, he relentlessly worked to protect the Kannada language and promote it as a medium of instruction in schools and as the official language of the state administration. He also established the Sri Kuvempu Vidyavardaka Trust and Vivekananda School to educate the poor for free.
“It is the end of an era. Although he was eligible he was deprived of the Central Sahitya Academy award and fellowship, the Saraswathi Samman, Jnanapeeta and Bharat Ratna,” regretted director of Prasaranga and his close friend, Prof C Naganna.
Writer Latha Rajashekar recalled that “Saieeswara” was his last book. “He was writing it even over the last 15 days. Though he believed in God, he had a rational outlook and was against superstition,” she said.
Writer Kamala Hampana said, “He contributed hugely to securing Kannada classical language status. But he was upset that although a Kannada Classical Language Centre has been established, its not doing much work".
CM Siddaramaiah said it was a coincidence that he died on the same date his wife had passed away. De Ja Gow was the Vice Chancellor when he joined his first year law degree in 1969
