Bengaluru: It's a matha with a difference. The Siddaganga Matha in Tumakuru was ‘of the people, for the people and by the people’ in the true sense. The matha knew no caste, colour or religion and was open to one and all. It ran on the lines propagated by 12th century social reformer Jagajyothi Basavanna.
The matha was run successfully for over nine decades by Dr Shivakumara Swamiji, the 111-year-old pontiff who died after a brief illness on Monday. In his death, Karnataka has lost a rare jewel who had dedicated his life for the service of humanity.
The popularity of the matha reached the pinnacle because of three reasons- free food, free education and free shelter to nearly 10,000 poor and orphaned kids irrespective of their caste or religion. The pontiff became dear to lakhs of people across the country through his service to society. He was hale and healthy till he was 109 but developed health problems in the last two years. Despite his ill-health, the seer preferred to spend more time in the matha amid a sea of devotees and students.
Dr Shivakumara Swamiji was born on April 1, 1907 to Patel Honnappa and Gangamma at Veerapura village in Magadi taluk in the present Ramanagara district. The seer had his primary education at Veerapura and Nagavalli, and secondary education at the government high school in Tumakuru after which he obtained his pre-university and degree qualifications from the Central College in Bengaluru. The seer studied English and was proficient in Kannada anf Sanskrit too. He was initiated into the Viraktashrama order in 1930 after the death of the senior pontiff. Having understood the importance of education, the seer continued free education in Sanskrit learning started by his predecessors, and also opened new Sanskrit schools.
He observed that many children had discontinued education midway due to the inability of their parents and decided to open schools to provide food, education and shelter free of cost to all children irrespective of their caste or religion. Now, over 10,000 students study in free schools run by the matha. The mutt runs over 150 educational institutions starting from kindergarten to professional colleges where over 40,000 students study.
According to mutt disciples, the pontiff used to visit villages to appeal to people to send their wards to the matha school which evoked a good response. The seer runs a chain of educational institutions purely on donations from the general public. He used to visit the houses of his devotees for the Paada Puja to spend the offering on dasoha. In recognition of his services to humanity, the Karnataka government honoured the seer with "Karnataka Ratna" award in 2006 after which he received the Padma Bhushan in 2015. His name has been recommended for the highest civilian award, Bharath Ratna by the Karnataka government and the proposal is pending before the union government. The seer was given the honorary degree of doctor in literature by Karnatak university, Dharwad in 1965.
The seer was called ‘Walking God,?’ ‘Kayaka Yogi’ and ‘Adhunika Basavanna’ by his devotees in recognition of his contribution to society. Dr Shivakumara Swamiji never used to have food without performing "Ishtalinga Puja" in the early hours of the day. His daily chores used to begin at 4 am and continued till 11 pm.
