Vishvesha Theertha Swamiji, 88, a senior seer of Ashta Mutt of Krishna temple, has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan (Posthumous) Award for Spiritualism. He passed away on December 29, 2019.
He was born on April 27, 1931, the second child of Sri Narayanacharya and Srimati Kamalamma, a devout couple from Ramakunja in a Shivalli Madwa Brahmin family. His pre-sannyasa name was Venkatrama. He was ordained at the age of 8. The head of the Bhandarakeri Mutt, Vidyamanya Theertha Swamiji, taught him shastras from that age and helped transform him into a knowledgeable and erudite scholar of Vedanta and Shastras.
The Swamiji assumed the first paryaya in 1954 and the historic fifth paryaya in January 18, 2016. He was the only one to complete five paryayas after Shri Vadiraja Swamiji of Sodhe Mutt. He was the founder of Poornaprajna Vidyapeetha and established an arts, science, and commerce undergraduate college in Siddapura. He also established an Ayurveda college in Siddapura. He ran many schools and colleges in Udupi and across the state. The seer considered treatment of poor patients as God’s service and established the Janata Kalyana Nidhi for serving the downtrodden and affected sections of society.
His reviewed untouchability from a human perspective and took steps to change it. He organised All India Madhva Conference in Udupi and Dharma Sansad in 2017.
Mysuru couple behind
India’s only Sanskrit daily
The editors of Sudharma, India’s sole Sanskrit daily, have been selected for Padma Shri under literature, education and journalism category. The two-page newspaper, brought out by KV Sampath Kumar and his wife Vidushi Jayalakshmi KS in Mysuru, will mark its golden jubilee this year. The first page of the paper is reserved for news, while features appear on the second.
It has a daily circulation of over 3,500 and the online edition is read by Sanskrit scholars in universities in Germany, Japan and many other countries. Sudharma was founded by Sampath Kumar’s father, Kalale Nadadur Varadaraja Iyengar, a renowned Sanskrit scholar from Mysuru, on July 15, 1970. Iyengar also played an instrumental role in the launch of a Sanskrit news bulletin on All India Radio. After his death in 1990, Sampath Kumar and Jayalakshmi took over.
Father of software products biz
Bharat Goenka’s Tally accounting software is an indispensable tool for millions of small and medium businesses in India today. The Goenkas had moved to Bengaluru in 1969 from Kolkata, where they were running a textile bobbins business. Bharat Goenka’s father at one point felt the need for a simple accounting software to use in the textiles business, and asked his son to work on it. Goenka, a self-taught computer engineer, developed one that worked very well. He then thought he could sell the software to other businesses. Thus was born Tally in 1986. It was one of India’s first software products, and it’s why Goenka is often called the Father of India’s software products industry. Tally has received a huge boost in the past few years from GST, because many more businesses now needed good accounting software to comply with the complex tax system.
Walking encyclopaedia on plants and trees
Tulasi Gowda, a resident of Uluvare village in Ankola taluk, has been conferred the Padma Shri, the second woman from the Halakki Vokkaliga community to be so honoured. Though Tulasi is illiterate, she has a deep concern for environment. She married Govind Gowda but was widowed as a teen and has no children. She firmly believed that if we love the trees, they’ll never disappoint us. Tulasi has planted more than 2 lakh saplings and knows the characteristics of trees and plants in the forest and what they can be used for, and has information about the water requirement of each plant, etc. As far as plants and trees are concerned, she is a walking encyclopaedia. The education department included a chapter about her in Kannada textbook of class 6. She has received many honours such as Rajyostsava Award and Vruksha Mitra Award. As a septuagenarian, she looks after the nurseries of the forest department.
Transport pioneer
Vijay Sankeshwar, 70, a three-time BJP MP from Dharwad North Lok Sabha constituency and one-time MLC, floated Vijayanand Roadlines Limited with a second-hand truck in Gadag in 1976. He gradually expanded services to Bengaluru, Hubballi and Belagavi. Today, VRL has grown into a massive logistics and transport company with 4,835 vehicles, including 362 passenger transport vehicles and 4,473 goods transport vehicles. Over the years, VRL has pioneered in providing a safe and reliable delivery network in parcel service.
Orange seller who built school
Harekala Hajabba, who was chosen for Padma Shri for social work (affordable education) on Saturday, regretted he could never attend school as a child. He didn’t want his children and other kids in his village — New Padpu, Harekala, in Dakshina Kannada — to miss out on education, so he took painstaking efforts in the 1990s to build a school. Hajabba didn’t let his background — he sold oranges and fruits for a living — to deter him. In 1999, the zilla panchayat supported his efforts. Initially, Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Lower Primary School, functioned in a mosque. He then built classrooms and a high school section was added.
Using yoga to help patients
Dr BN Gangadhar, 64, director of Nimhans, India’s premium mental health institute, has over 30 years of expertise in both clinical and academic aspects of mental health. After his MBBS from Bangalore Medical College in 1978, he took up psychiatry for specialisation from Nimhans in 1981. Dr Gangadhar is also known for introducing yoga therapy to psychiatric patients in Nimhans with a firm view that meditation and yogic asanas help patients with depression and schizophrenia.
He was born on April 27, 1931, the second child of Sri Narayanacharya and Srimati Kamalamma, a devout couple from Ramakunja in a Shivalli Madwa Brahmin family. His pre-sannyasa name was Venkatrama. He was ordained at the age of 8. The head of the Bhandarakeri Mutt, Vidyamanya Theertha Swamiji, taught him shastras from that age and helped transform him into a knowledgeable and erudite scholar of Vedanta and Shastras.
The Swamiji assumed the first paryaya in 1954 and the historic fifth paryaya in January 18, 2016. He was the only one to complete five paryayas after Shri Vadiraja Swamiji of Sodhe Mutt. He was the founder of Poornaprajna Vidyapeetha and established an arts, science, and commerce undergraduate college in Siddapura. He also established an Ayurveda college in Siddapura. He ran many schools and colleges in Udupi and across the state. The seer considered treatment of poor patients as God’s service and established the Janata Kalyana Nidhi for serving the downtrodden and affected sections of society.
His reviewed untouchability from a human perspective and took steps to change it. He organised All India Madhva Conference in Udupi and Dharma Sansad in 2017.
Mysuru couple behind
India’s only Sanskrit daily
The editors of Sudharma, India’s sole Sanskrit daily, have been selected for Padma Shri under literature, education and journalism category. The two-page newspaper, brought out by KV Sampath Kumar and his wife Vidushi Jayalakshmi KS in Mysuru, will mark its golden jubilee this year. The first page of the paper is reserved for news, while features appear on the second.
It has a daily circulation of over 3,500 and the online edition is read by Sanskrit scholars in universities in Germany, Japan and many other countries. Sudharma was founded by Sampath Kumar’s father, Kalale Nadadur Varadaraja Iyengar, a renowned Sanskrit scholar from Mysuru, on July 15, 1970. Iyengar also played an instrumental role in the launch of a Sanskrit news bulletin on All India Radio. After his death in 1990, Sampath Kumar and Jayalakshmi took over.
Father of software products biz
Bharat Goenka’s Tally accounting software is an indispensable tool for millions of small and medium businesses in India today. The Goenkas had moved to Bengaluru in 1969 from Kolkata, where they were running a textile bobbins business. Bharat Goenka’s father at one point felt the need for a simple accounting software to use in the textiles business, and asked his son to work on it. Goenka, a self-taught computer engineer, developed one that worked very well. He then thought he could sell the software to other businesses. Thus was born Tally in 1986. It was one of India’s first software products, and it’s why Goenka is often called the Father of India’s software products industry. Tally has received a huge boost in the past few years from GST, because many more businesses now needed good accounting software to comply with the complex tax system.
Walking encyclopaedia on plants and trees
Tulasi Gowda, a resident of Uluvare village in Ankola taluk, has been conferred the Padma Shri, the second woman from the Halakki Vokkaliga community to be so honoured. Though Tulasi is illiterate, she has a deep concern for environment. She married Govind Gowda but was widowed as a teen and has no children. She firmly believed that if we love the trees, they’ll never disappoint us. Tulasi has planted more than 2 lakh saplings and knows the characteristics of trees and plants in the forest and what they can be used for, and has information about the water requirement of each plant, etc. As far as plants and trees are concerned, she is a walking encyclopaedia. The education department included a chapter about her in Kannada textbook of class 6. She has received many honours such as Rajyostsava Award and Vruksha Mitra Award. As a septuagenarian, she looks after the nurseries of the forest department.
Transport pioneer
Vijay Sankeshwar, 70, a three-time BJP MP from Dharwad North Lok Sabha constituency and one-time MLC, floated Vijayanand Roadlines Limited with a second-hand truck in Gadag in 1976. He gradually expanded services to Bengaluru, Hubballi and Belagavi. Today, VRL has grown into a massive logistics and transport company with 4,835 vehicles, including 362 passenger transport vehicles and 4,473 goods transport vehicles. Over the years, VRL has pioneered in providing a safe and reliable delivery network in parcel service.
Orange seller who built school
Harekala Hajabba, who was chosen for Padma Shri for social work (affordable education) on Saturday, regretted he could never attend school as a child. He didn’t want his children and other kids in his village — New Padpu, Harekala, in Dakshina Kannada — to miss out on education, so he took painstaking efforts in the 1990s to build a school. Hajabba didn’t let his background — he sold oranges and fruits for a living — to deter him. In 1999, the zilla panchayat supported his efforts. Initially, Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Lower Primary School, functioned in a mosque. He then built classrooms and a high school section was added.
Using yoga to help patients
Dr BN Gangadhar, 64, director of Nimhans, India’s premium mental health institute, has over 30 years of expertise in both clinical and academic aspects of mental health. After his MBBS from Bangalore Medical College in 1978, he took up psychiatry for specialisation from Nimhans in 1981. Dr Gangadhar is also known for introducing yoga therapy to psychiatric patients in Nimhans with a firm view that meditation and yogic asanas help patients with depression and schizophrenia.
Get the app